NordVPN has brought its message protection feature to iOS, where it screens texts from unknown senders and flags scams before the user acts, and has launched HangUp, a free standalone call-screening app, on the iPhone at the same time. Both have been on Android since earlier this year.
Message protection checks each SMS from an unknown sender against phone reputation data, URL analysis and content categorisation. A suspicious message triggers a notification naming the threat type and what to do, and flagged texts open in a safe view that stops links being tapped by accident. A dashboard shows what has been caught. NordVPN says it does not store the content of calls or messages, and the feature works with or without the VPN switched on.
HangUp identifies incoming calls in real time and sorts them into categories such as scam, telemarketing, survey, debt collection or fraud. Users can block whole categories automatically and see a log of what was blocked and why. It needs only a free Nord account, not a NordVPN subscription, and is on the App Store.
Domininkas Virbickas, product director at NordVPN, said: “People get a lot of messages in a day. Delivery notices, bank alerts, codes, reminders. When they all look alike it gets hard to tell which one is real.” He said HangUp is free because the quickest way to limit the damage is to put a warning in front of as many people as possible.
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