Setup guide
How to Use Block Guard as an AI Spam Call Blocker
Block Guard checks calls in a fixed order: safe list, hard rules, AI risk score. The fastest way to a setup that works is to configure it in that same order. This guide does exactly that, then covers text filtering, profiles, schedules, and the log review that keeps everything accurate.
Six steps
Set It Up in the Order Calls Are Checked
- 1
Install and grant permissions
Install Block Guard: Spam Call Blocker from Google Play and finish the first-run prompts. Allow the call permissions so the app can screen incoming calls, and the SMS permission if you want text filtering. Without these, nothing downstream can run.
- 2
Build the safe list
Add family, close friends, work, school, medical offices, pharmacies, and any service that calls you from a known number. Whitelist a prefix or area code only if you genuinely trust every number in it. This list is checked before every other layer.
- 3
Set the hard rules
Turn on the rules you are already sure about: blocked numbers, private-number handling, international handling if you never expect overseas calls, and spoofed-call controls where your device supports them. Add area-code and prefix rules only after you see a pattern in the log.
- 4
Choose AI risk-score handling
Enable Adaptive AI call risk scoring and decide what a risky score does. Voicemail is the right first choice. Move to silence or reject only after a week of log review shows the scoring fits your calls.
- 5
Turn on text filtering
Enable SMS and MMS filtering, add the senders of legitimate codes and alerts to the safe list, and start with the default keyword patterns. Check the message log for anything caught by mistake.
- 6
Review the log and tune
Open the blocked-call log daily for the first week. Whitelist any real caller. Write a pattern rule for any spam shape that repeats. Adjust the AI handling last, and only if the log shows it is too loose or too strict.
Handling choices
What Should Happen to Each Kind of Call
Every category can have its own outcome. These defaults keep the AI useful without letting it cost you a real call.
| Call category | Recommended handling |
|---|---|
| Trusted contacts and whitelists | Ring. Cannot be overridden by any rule or score. |
| Blocked numbers and blocked patterns | Reject or hang up. These are calls you have already decided about. |
| AI-flagged calls | Voicemail to start. Silence during sleep or focus profiles. Reject only after log review. |
| Unknown callers with a low risk score | Ring during everyday hours so new contacts can reach you. Silence under stricter profiles. |
| Private or withheld numbers | Voicemail for most people. Reject if you never need to receive hidden-ID calls. |
Reading the log
The Log Tells You Which Layer to Adjust
Each blocked call carries a reason label. Learning to read them is the whole skill of running an AI spam call blocker well.
- Whitelist means an exception allowed the call. If that surprises you, the exception is too broad.
- Block list or pattern means one of your hard rules fired. Real caller caught? Narrow the rule.
- Area code or prefix means a geographic rule fired. These are the rules most likely to catch a real neighbor, so review them first.
- Anti-spoofing means the call failed a verification-related check where your device supports it.
- AI risk means the score did it. Fix a single wrong call with the safe list, not by turning the AI down.
- Strict mode or non-contacts means the active profile blocked a caller outside your contacts. Expected under Sleep, surprising under Everyday.
- Mode or schedule active means a profile switch changed the handling at that moment.
Advanced
Profiles, Schedules, Modes, and Backup
Profiles
A profile is a saved set of handling choices. Keep an Everyday profile that lets low-risk unknown calls ring, and a Sleep or Focus profile that lets only trusted contacts through. Switching profiles changes handling without touching your rules or safe list.
Schedules
A schedule activates a profile automatically by day and time. Sleep hours, work blocks, and family dinner are the usual cases. Confirm the schedule is enabled and the phone clock and time zone are correct if one does not fire.
Block Guard Mode
A quick protection mode for when you want the phone quiet right now without rebuilding settings. Check that your safe list still rings under it before relying on it during an important day.
Backup and restore
Once the setup is tuned, use encrypted backup so it can move to a new phone or survive a reset. Keep the password somewhere safe. A backup with a forgotten password cannot be restored.
Troubleshooting
When Something Is Not Behaving
A real caller was sent to voicemail
Add the number to trusted contacts. Then check the log reason: if it was a prefix or area-code rule, narrow the rule; if it was the AI risk score, leave the handling on voicemail rather than loosening it for everyone.
Spam is still ringing through
Confirm permissions are still granted and the active profile is the one you tuned. Look at the ringing calls in the log: if they share a shape, write a pattern rule; if they do not, move the AI handling from voicemail to silence.
Texts are not being filtered
Reopen the app and confirm the SMS permission and any default messaging prompt Android showed. Then check that filtering is enabled in the active profile.
A schedule did not switch profiles
Check the schedule is enabled, the days of the week are correct, and the start and end times do not overlap another schedule. Verify the system clock and time zone.
One rule to remember
Fix One Call With the Safe List, Fix a Pattern With a Rule
Almost every setup problem comes from adjusting the wrong layer. A single real caller who was blocked belongs on the safe list. A shape of spam that keeps returning belongs in a pattern rule. The AI handling should change rarely, and only when a week of log entries says it is consistently too loose or too strict. Keep to that and the setup gets better every time you look at it.
More on AI Spam Call Blocking
Go deeper on how AI-assisted detection works, where it fits with rules you control, and how to keep the right calls ringing.
How AI Spam Call Blocking Works
A plain-language look at the signals an AI spam call blocker weighs and why a risk score beats a static list.
Read the guide →AI vs. Blocklist Call Blocking
Where blocklists, carrier filters, and AI-assisted scoring each win, and why the strongest setup uses all three.
Read the guide →AI Call Screening on Android
How AI-assisted screening decides what happens to an unknown caller: ring, silence, voicemail, or reject.
Read the guide →AI Spam Text Blocker
Extending AI-assisted spam protection to SMS and MMS: fake deliveries, smishing links, and repeat senders.
Read the guide →AI Spoofed Call Detection
Why spoofed local-looking numbers fool blocklists and how pattern rules plus risk scoring catch them.
Read the guide →Try an AI Spam Call Blocker That Explains Its Decisions
Block Guard pairs Adaptive AI call risk scoring with blocklists, unknown-caller handling, spoofing rules, SMS filtering, and a blocked-call log that shows why each call was stopped.