Setup guide
How to Use Block Guard So It Passes the Checklist
A spam call blocker is only as good as its setup. These eight steps get Block Guard: Spam Call Blocker from a fresh install to a tuned configuration that protects trusted callers, blocks by pattern, filters texts, and changes strictness on a schedule.
Eight steps
From Install to Tuned
- 1
Install from Google Play and finish setup
Open Block Guard: Spam Call Blocker after installing and work through the first-run prompts. Grant the call permissions so the app can screen calls. Grant SMS permission only if you want text filtering.
- 2
Whitelist before you block anything
Add family, work, school, medical, pharmacy, and any service that calls from a known number. On a business phone add key customers, suppliers, and your bank. This list is checked before every rule.
- 3
Pick a protection level
Light: block private numbers and known spam, let unknowns ring. Moderate: add unknowns to voicemail. Strict: only contacts and whitelist ring. Most people should start at moderate and let the log justify going stricter.
- 4
Add spoofing and pattern rules
Turn on spoofed-call controls where your device supports them. Add a prefix rule for your own first six digits if neighbor-spoofed calls are a problem. Add area-code or pattern rules only once the log shows a repeating shape.
- 5
Turn on text filtering
Enable SMS and MMS filtering, confirm any default messaging prompt Android shows, and add the senders of legitimate codes and alerts to the whitelist. Start with the default keyword patterns.
- 6
Create a second profile and a schedule
Save your daytime setup as one profile. Make a stricter Sleep or Closed profile that lets only the whitelist ring. Add a schedule so the switch happens on its own.
- 7
Back it up
Once it is tuned, run an encrypted backup with a password you will remember. A tuned setup takes hours to rebuild after a reset or a new phone and seconds to restore.
- 8
Review the log daily for a week
Each blocked call shows the reason it was blocked. Whitelist any real caller. Narrow any rule that caught one. Tighten only against shapes that keep repeating.
Protection levels
Light, Moderate, or Strict
These are starting points, not presets in the app. Each is a combination of the handling choices Block Guard exposes.
| Level | Who it suits | Settings |
|---|---|---|
| Light | People who get occasional spam and cannot afford to miss unknown callers. | Private numbers to voicemail. Known spam blocked. Unknown and international callers ring. Spoofing controls on. |
| Moderate | Most personal phones. | Everything in Light, plus unknown callers to voicemail and a prefix rule for neighbor spoofing set to voicemail. |
| Strict | Sleep hours, or phones belonging to someone targeted by scam calls. | Only contacts and whitelist ring. Everything else is silenced or rejected. Use it as a scheduled profile rather than an all-day setting. |
Optional
Adding AI Risk Scoring
Adaptive AI call risk scoring is a Premium feature managed through Google Play. It scores calls that have already passed your whitelist and rules, which makes it the right tool for a brand-new number nobody has reported yet. If you enable it, set risky calls to voicemail. That keeps a wrong score from costing you a call while you learn how it behaves on your phone. The free layers keep working whether it is on or off.
Troubleshooting
Quick Fixes
A customer or friend was blocked
Whitelist the number first. Then read the log reason: a prefix or area-code rule that caught a real person should be changed from reject to voicemail or narrowed.
Spam is still getting through
Confirm permissions are still granted and the expected profile is active. Then look at what got through: if the calls share an area code, prefix, or shape, add a rule for it.
The schedule did not switch profiles
Check the schedule is enabled, the days are right, and the times do not overlap another schedule. Confirm the phone clock and time zone.
Text filtering is not catching anything
Reopen the app and confirm SMS permission and any default messaging prompt. Check that filtering is enabled in the active profile and that the sender is not whitelisted.
Keep it honest
Re-run the Checklist After a Month
After a month of use, go back through the checklist with your own log in front of you. Are real callers still getting through? Are the reasons in the log the ones you expect? Has the spam volume dropped? If the answer to all three is yes, leave it alone. A spam call blocker that is working is one you stop thinking about.
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Read the guide →Best Spam Call Blocker for Business Phones
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Read the guide →Put Block Guard Through the Checklist Yourself
Free to install on Android. Whitelists, unknown-caller and private-number rules, area code and prefix filters, spoofing controls, SMS filtering, profiles, schedules, and a log that explains every block.