SpamResponse, available for Android through the Google Play store, is a unique new solution to a problem that is becoming ever larger; SMS or text messaging spam.
If you have had a mobile number for a few years, there is a good chance that you may become prey to weird or spammy messages through your text messaging app.
These can sometimes be harmless links to sites, or of the ‘want to make easy cash?’ variety but they can also take on a more sinister tone, such as scammers pretending to be from your bank, or from the government.
They are annoying in their most harmless form but they can also prove to be pretty dangerous, especially for more vulnerable people. When you combine this with many SMS apps half-hearted spam filters, especially those built in with phones, and you have a recipe for a genuinely bad messaging experience.
That is where SpamResponse comes in. Designed from the ground up to potently deal with SMS spam, this app has a laser-like focus on dealing with these unwanted messages.
When you boot the app up, it looks like a standard SMS app, with a list of your most recent messages. You simply scroll down until you find the spam message you don’t like, swipe right on it and the sender is reported for spam. You do have a few seconds grace to ‘undo’ your choice in case you swiped on the wrong message.
You can also press and hold to select multiple messages at a time. One of the best aspects of the app is the contact filtering, which if turned on stops the app from displaying anything from anyone in your contacts list, which not only makes finding spam messages faster, but removes the risk of you accidently reporting a friend.
You also get a nifty history report of all the messages you have reported as spam, with dates and times. It is important to understand that SpamResponse won’t stop spam arriving on your phone in the short term, but will help everyone in the long term, as it works with the industry to report and remove scammers.
The app explains itself well, with good guides on app usage and how it uses your data. One thing I would like to see it a bit more of an attractive user interface, as what is there now is perfectly functional, but could look a lot better, in my opinion.
Overall, if you want to help in the fight against SMS spam, then SpamResponse is a great tool to beat back the rising tide of unwanted texts.
