Google Messages adds an opt-in mode that checks unknown senders with cloud Gemini models

On October 14, 2026, Google announced a set of scam protections for Android. The main one is Enhanced protection, an opt-in setting in Google Messages that rolls out over the coming weeks. With it on, Scam Detection sends conversations with unknown senders to Google's Gemini models in the cloud, on top of the existing on-device check. Google also added safeguards for screen sharing and call forwarding, two tricks scammers use to steal passwords and one-time codes.

What Enhanced protection changes

Scam Detection in Google Messages has so far analyzed messages on the phone itself. Google says scammers now hide their intent in slow conversations that build trust over many messages. In Enhanced protection mode, those conversations with unknown senders are analyzed by cloud Gemini models through Private AI Compute. Google says data there is encrypted and processed in a dedicated secure space that no one but the user can access, Google included. This part works on Pixel 6 and later, Galaxy S24 and later, Galaxy Z Flip6 and Z Fold6 and later, and other devices with AICore.

The same mode adds two link checks. Gemini Nano, the model that runs on the phone, uses real-time web signals to judge whether an unfamiliar link is safe before it is opened. That needs a Pixel 10 or later, a Galaxy S26, a Galaxy Z Flip8 or Z Fold8, or another select device. Links from numbers not saved in contacts also get a redesigned warning that asks the user to pause before tapping. That warning was limited to some countries or to Android Advanced Protection, and it now works on Android 6 and later.

Calls and screen sharing

Android already hid sensitive fields in its own apps during screen sharing. It now also blanks login fields and payment screens in Chrome and Android WebView, the component that shows web pages inside other apps. Separately, Android will block apps from turning on call forwarding in the background, a trick scammers use to receive one-time passcodes. If someone persuades a user to type a forwarding code on the dial pad, known as an MMI code, Android warns before it takes effect.

For bank impersonation, Android checks with official banking apps whether the bank actually placed an incoming call and hangs up on calls that fail the check. Google says this blocked more than 3 million spoofed calls for Banco do Brasil and Itaú Unibanco alone since June, and that Revolut customers are covered too.

When it arrives

The features reach devices on different schedules, and the post adds that some may not be available in all countries.

• Enhanced protection in Google Messages: an opt-in setting, rolling out over the coming weeks.
• Screen-sharing protection in Chrome and WebView: rolling out in October on Android 15 and later.
• Call-forwarding protection: from early December on Pixel and other select devices.
• Scam alerts in chat notifications: expanding from Pixel to phones from HONOR, Motorola, OPPO, OnePlus, Xiaomi, and other makers, which Google says will reach hundreds of millions more users later this year.