Samsung has two tools for screening calls, and your software decides which one you get. The newer one is called Call screening. It's only on Galaxy phones running Android 16 with One UI 8.5 or higher, and it lets Galaxy AI answer unknown callers for you while you read a live transcript. Older Galaxy phones have Bixby Text call, where you answer the call yourself and Bixby does the talking while you read and type.
To see which one you have, open the Phone app, tap More options (the three dots), then Settings. If Call screening is in the list, follow the first set of steps below. If it isn't, use Text call. Samsung notes that menus vary by model and software version, so the wording on your phone may differ slightly.
Turn on Call screening (One UI 8.5 and up)
- Open the Phone app.
- Tap More options, the three vertical dots in the top right corner.
- Tap Settings, then Call screening, and turn on the switch.
- Turn on Auto screen calls if you want unknown callers screened automatically.
- Optional: choose a Language for the transcription and a Voice for the assistant, including its speech speed.
What a screened call looks like
When a call comes in, you can swipe the green icon to answer, swipe the red one to reject, or tap Call assist and then Call screening to hand it to Galaxy AI. It vets the caller and shows you a live transcription, and you can accept or reject the call at any point while it's talking. Once Galaxy AI has connected, Text call lets you answer the caller with a preset or custom message instead of your voice.
Samsung adds a few practical notes:
- Standard call rates from your provider may apply while a call is being screened.
- The feature may not work if the phone's storage is nearly full.
- Conversations and summaries show on the screen even when the phone is locked.
- If your call list shows missed calls you never saw ring, the AI may have answered an unregistered number and the caller hung up. That leaves no missed-call notification.
Bixby Text call on older Galaxy phones
Text call needs switching on once:
- In the Phone app, tap More options, then Settings, then Text call, and turn on the switch at the top. If you're asked to download a language pack, get it from Galaxy Store.
- Back on the Text call screen, tap Language and pick yours, then tap Voice. That's the voice callers will hear.
- Under Quick responses, edit or reorder the ready-made replies, or add your own.
When a call comes in, tap Text call and swipe up on the green Answer icon, or tap Call assist and then Text call. Bixby tells the caller you're using an automated voice. Their words appear on your screen, and you reply by tapping a quick response or typing, which Bixby reads out. You can switch to a normal voice call whenever you like. Afterward, the transcript stays in the Phone app's Recents tab, marked with a speech bubble. On One UI 5 phones, Wi-Fi calling has to be turned off before Text call will work.
Blocking unknown numbers and spam
Two more switches sit in the same Phone settings menu:
- Block numbers › Block calls from unknown numbers blocks any caller who isn't saved in your contacts or identified by Smart Call.
- Caller ID and spam protection, once it's on, lets you block all spam and scam calls or only high-risk scam calls. Samsung says Smart Call may not be available with every carrier or model.
Think twice before using the first one on a business number. Every new customer is a number you haven't saved.
Limits for a business line
Samsung's screening is well made for a personal phone. On a business line, it runs into three problems. It belongs to one handset. It decides who counts as unknown from that handset's contacts, so every first-time customer is a stranger to it. And a caller who hangs up on the assistant may leave only a line in your call list, with no missed-call notification to catch your eye.
VettedCalls moves the screening off the phone. Every call forwards to us first, and callers who get through ring you in the Cloud Softphone app. Priority Passthrough lets customers who say one of your selected priority words ring straight through to you, regardless of the time of day. Every account starts with six, including "urgent" and "emergency". A caller who sounds like spam and then doesn't press 1 or 2 gets a flag on a registry shared by every VettedCalls customer, and 10 counted flags block the number for all of them. On Receptionist, missed calls are picked up by an AI receptionist. It asks what the caller needs and which days suit them, and the summary and transcript land in your dashboard. The exceptions are priority calls and saved contacts: miss one of those and it goes to voicemail. How a call moves through VettedCalls is on the call screening page; pricing and features cover the plans and the rest of the app.
Setting up VettedCalls on a Galaxy
The Android setup has one extra step on a Samsung. After you install Cloud Softphone from Google Play and tap Activate VettedCalls in the welcome email, set the app's Battery setting to Unrestricted and add it to Never sleeping apps. Then dial your carrier's forward-all code from the Phone app: **21*NUMBER# on most carriers, *72NUMBER on Verizon and carriers that run on Verizon. You keep your number, and the Android setup page walks through each screen.
Other phones work differently. The Android call screening overview compares brands, Google call screening covers the Pixel, and there are guides for iPhone call screening and Google Voice call screening.