Getting a telemarketing call on your smartphone during dinner is definitely among the top 10 most annoying things in the known universe. While Google’s own dialer can detect incoming telemarketers if their number is registered on its own blacklist, lots of dubious service providers out there have no registration anywhere. Should I Answer is an app that fills the gap here, supplying info on the phone number when a call comes in to warn you if it’s got negative ratings from other app users.
Web-based caller ID services are nothing new. Usually these involve databases where anybody can give an opinion about an unknown number they’ve received a call from and warn other people if it’s some sort of fraud, spam, or just an annoying joke. Should I Answer? uses sites like this to display a simple color code indicating whether to respond.
The app doesn’t replace your default dialer. In fact, it doesn’t send any notifications at all if you get a call from someone in your contacts. It only appears if you get a call from an unknown number, so the level of intrusion is minimal.
What’s really cool is that the app works retroactively, meaning once it’s installed you can look over your recent calls and see what the app says about them. If nobody’s rated a number yet you can always be the first to do it – the app itself will suggest you do so, actually.
