6 overlooked Google Messages features I started using to stop relentless spam

Spam messages are a big problem. Despite all the anti-spam measures that Google and carriers have put in place, such texts slip through the cracks and land in my inbox almost every day.

I used to delete such messages and move on, assuming that there was not much I could do about it.

Over time, though, I discovered that a few Google Messages features and small habits can have a big impact and reduce the amount of spam reaching my inbox.

Related

How I use Google Messages to stay organized beyond texting

There's hope for your messy inbox

Posts 7
By  Irene Okpanachi

Spam protection

There are only so many messages that you can manually report as spam every day.

That's why the first thing I did to tame the spam in Google Messages was to enable its built-in spam protection. Like most other messaging platforms, the feature screens incoming text messages.

Spam protection is typically enabled by default. However, in some cases, I've had to manually turn it on from Google Messages Settings > Protection & Safety > Spam Protection.

The feature works by analyzing the content and pattern of each text message to determine whether it's spam or not.

For most common everyday spam messages, this is a very effective feature. So, package delivery links, fake lottery messages, and other spam are taken care of.

Scam protection in Google Messages works in real-time. There have been instances where I unknowingly engaged with a scammer, only for Google Messages to flag the conversation before I shared any personal information.

While spam detection in Google Messages works on-device, it sometimes sends the contents of unencrypted messages to its servers for spam detection. Such signals are also used for training Google's AI models to improve spam detection.

Report spam texts

For the longest time, I'd delete spam texts in Google Messages and move on.

However, given how often they landed in my inbox, I realized that deleting them was not solving the problem. It only helped temporarily clean up my inbox and little else.

So, now whenever a spam message slips through Google Messages' filter, I make sure to block the sender and report the message as spam.

It takes a few extra seconds and taps, but it helps Google identify similar scam texts and block them from landing in my inbox (and everyone else) in the future. More importantly, it blocks that sender from contacting me again.

To report a message as spam and block the sender, open the conversation in Google Messages, tap the three-dot overflow menu button in the upper-right corner, and select the Block & report spam option.

While doing this has not eliminated every spam text from landing in my Google Messages inbox, I've noticed I'm now getting fewer repeat messages from the same scams.

Unsubscribing from promotional messages

Spam texts don't necessarily come from unknown senders. Promotional messages from brands and businesses are also a type of spam: unsolicited marketing messages that clutter your inbox.

I never knowingly subscribed to most such messages, yet a few such texts landed in my inbox every day for months.

A few years ago, I'd receive maybe one or two such messages a month. Fast-forward to a few months ago, and that number had jumped to four or five messages every day.

Typically, I'd ignore such messages. But after my patience ran out, I started unsubscribing from all such promotional messages. That's a few extra taps and minutes of my time that I had to spend doing something I didn’t want to do.

But it was worth it, as after a few months of doing this, I noticed that I don't receive promotional messages at the same frequency as before, both from brands I recognize and from businesses I've never heard of.

An Unsubscribe button appears at the bottom of promotional messages from registered senders in Google Messages. Tap it and follow the prompts to stop receiving future messages from that sender.

Auto-delete OTPs

While trying to tame and make sense of my Google Messages inbox, I realized there's another type of clutter: OTP texts.

I typically receive six to eight one-time passwords every day from various services. Over time, those messages add up and contribute significantly to the clutter in my inbox.

While these OTPs are necessary for authentication, I don't need to keep them around forever. Worse, they only made it more difficult to find the conversations I wanted to read and respond to.

So, I turned on the option to auto-delete OTPs after 24 hours in Google Messages. Located under Messages Settings > message organization, this feature removes OTPs and passcodes from businesses 24 hours after they land in my inbox.

Since enabling this feature, my Google Messages inbox feels a lot less cluttered.

Mute persistent senders

I can block texts from scammers. I can unsubscribe from promotional messages from brands and businesses. I can auto-delete OTPs after 24 hours to keep my Google Messages inbox clutter-free.

But there's little I can do about texts from my banks, credit card issuer, Amazon, and other services I use regularly.

They are all valuable messages, which I can't miss. Sure, I don't always need to read them, but I may need to see them later to know what's up.

The problem is that the sheer volume of such texts makes them overwhelming and hard to manage. And given their importance, I can't block such senders.

So, I did the next best thing: mute these conversations. Texts from banks, Amazon, and food delivery services now land silently in my inbox, so my phone is not always buzzing.

It reduces distractions and still gives me the flexibility to go through these texts when I have time to catch up on everything.

To mute a conversation in Google Messages, open it, tap the three-dot menu in the upper-right corner, and select Mute notifications.

Don't reply to suspicious texts

In a bid to reduce spam landing in my Google Messages inbox, I also stopped replying to suspicious texts. This is more about a change in habit than a Google Messages feature.

Many spam texts ask you to reply with "STOP," "YES," or "NO" to unsubscribe or confirm something.

While legitimate businesses sometimes use these replies to manage your subscription preferences, scammers can also use them to confirm that your phone number is active and being monitored.

Due to this, I stopped replying to such texts.

Instead, I only interact with texts from known businesses, especially when Google Messages shows an Unsubscribe button. Every other promotional or service-related text is ignored or blocked.

You can't stop spam, but you can reduce it

While these overlooked Google Messages features helped reduce the spam texts landing in my inbox, they did not completely stop them. And honestly, I didn't expect them to.

Scammers are smart and constantly finding new ways to reach businesses. Likewise, businesses will keep coming up with innovative ways to grab your attention with promotional offers.

But by using the above spam protection and organization features in Google Messages, I've been able to reduce and tame the clutter in my inbox.

The best part is that none of these tips takes more than a minute or two to set up or implement.

Combined, they vastly improve the experience of using Google Messages and help prevent my inbox from overflowing with spam and promotional messages.