Google Messages may soon gain a new shield against SMS blasters

Google Messages is one of those Google apps that has steadily been improving (as it should be, given that it’s the default messaging app on several Android flagships). We’ve spotted features like real-time location sharing and Trash functionality in the works. The newest feature we’ve now spotted is aimed at protecting users from messages sent via SMS Blasters.

What is an SMS Blaster?

SMS Blaster is a portable device that mimics a legitimate cell tower. These are used to send mass text messages to mobile phones within a certain radius unlawfully.

Google mentions that the most common use case for an SMS Blaster is to inject SMS phishing messages onto devices. Fraudsters typically do this by driving around with the SMS Blaster, sometimes even in their backpacks.

SMS Blasters usually force nearby phones to connect to them by downgrading them to 2G. This then opens the SMS Blaster to bypass carrier spam filters, enabling it to effectively deliver phishing scam messages directly to users.

Protecting against SMS Blasters

To protect against SMS Blasters, Google recommends users disable 2G on their phones. The same blog post from 2024 also mentions the following:

Android also provides effective protections that specifically tackles SMS spam and phishing, regardless of whether the delivery channel is an SMS Blaster. Android has built-in spam protection that helps to identify and block spam SMS messages.

To specifically protect users against SMS Blasters, Google Messages v20260306 beta includes code that enables protection against them.

There isn’t much information beyond this piece of code on how Google intends to go about protecting users against SMS Blasters. The company often uses on-device AI and ML models to detect and filter such spam messages and warn users about potential fraud, but it’s not clear if any of these will be used here. It’s also unclear whether this is a new way to protect users or a rehash of an existing method. Either way, having a toggle or some dedicated protection within the Messages app would always be appreciated, just in case users cannot turn off 2G on their phone.