Google's Nexus phones will now warn you about spam calls

Remember how bad spam was before the advent of Gmail? Google's free webmail service and its filters reduced spam emails from a menace to a mild nuisance; now, spammy calls might soon also be a thing of the past. 

On Monday, Google announced its Google Phone app — available on Nexus and Android One devices — will start warning users about potential spam calls. 

This new functionality will become available as soon as you update to the latest version of Google Phone.

IMAGE: GOOGLE

Users will have the ability to block and report spammy numbers, as well as report that a call labeled as spam was not spam. For instructions on how to turn spam protection on and off, go here.  

Google did not detail how the spam protection works in its announcement, but the feature's help page says that your phone "may need to send information about your calls to Google," meaning it'll likely combine a known database of spammers with user-submitted info to determine which calls are spammy.

The new feature officially only works on Google's Nexus phones or devices that are part of Google's Android One program. For everyone else, Google Play will report the app to be incompatible with their device. If you have Android 6.0 or later, you can, however, install the APK file directly from here.