PhoneShield vs Hiya: protection for your phone, or a front desk for Mom’s

The short answer

If you want to protect your own smartphone, start with Hiya. If you are looking after someone else’s phone, look at PhoneShield.

Hiya is one of the largest call-protection companies in the world. Its app is free for caller ID and basic spam blocking, and its paid tier costs a few dollars a month. It works on the phone it is installed on, for the person holding that phone.

PhoneShield does a different job. A family forwards a parent’s line, mobile or landline, to PhoneShield and runs it from their own account. Reported scam numbers are turned away, family rings straight through, strangers tell a front desk who they are, and Nora, a live assistant, answers questions and takes messages. It costs more because it does more of the work for someone who may not want to do it themselves.

What Hiya is

Hiya sells two apps for consumers. Hiya: Spam Blocker gives free caller ID, basic call blocking and spam reporting; Hiya says “Basic protection is always free.” Hiya Premium adds a Call Screener, AI voice and deepfake detection, fraud call detection, advanced blocking and visual voicemail. Hiya AI Phone answers calls, asks callers their name and purpose, and transcribes and summarizes calls.

Hiya’s data is its strength. It says it analyzes more than 28 billion calls a month and protects more than 550 million people, and its technology runs inside Samsung’s Smart Call and AT&T’s spam labeling. Those are Hiya’s own figures.

Where Hiya is the better choice

• Price. Free caller ID and basic blocking; Premium at $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year on the App Store. PhoneShield is $29.99 a month.
• Scale of data. Billions of calls a month tell Hiya about a number very quickly. PhoneShield’s shared list and daily FTC complaint data are far smaller.
• It may already be on your phone. Many Samsung phones and AT&T lines have Hiya-powered protection built in, with nothing to install.
• Warnings during the call. Hiya Premium listens during a call for AI-generated voices and known fraud tactics and warns you. PhoneShield does not listen once you pick up (more on that below).
• Breadth. Android and iPhone, the United States and Canada, English and French.

For a capable adult guarding their own smartphone, those are good reasons to choose Hiya.

A phone someone else looks after

Hiya is built for the person holding the phone. The app has to be installed and set up on that phone, and on iPhone its Call Screener asks for Silence Unknown Callers on and Live Voicemail off. Hiya says its Premium subscriptions “cannot be shared through Family Sharing on either Android or iOS.” Its help pages describe smartphones on mobile carriers; we found no option for a landline.

PhoneShield starts from the other end. The family sets it up, with the parent’s agreement. Her phone needs one change, call forwarding, made once on her phone. After that the family manages favorites, “expecting a call” passes and a short note for the assistant from their own account, and PhoneShield tells them if forwarding is ever switched off. A forwarded landline works too; calls that pass ring her mobile or the PhoneShield app.

A question, or a conversation

Hiya describes its screener asking unknown callers to state their name and reason, then deciding whether to connect them or showing you what they said. We found no description of it answering a caller’s questions.

PhoneShield has two steps. The front desk asks who is calling and why, and decides in seconds. When a caller needs more, Nora takes over: a live voice assistant who listens while she speaks, so callers can interrupt her. She answers simple questions from the note the family wrote and takes a message with a name, a number and the reason. That matters for the calls a parent should not miss, like the doctor’s office moving an appointment.

Screening alone has a limit that our own calls show plainly: scammers often give a believable name and reason. That is why PhoneShield also refuses numbers other PhoneShield lines have confirmed as scams, numbers with repeated FTC complaints, and known scam scripts from new numbers. How PhoneShield identifies scams explains it.

During the call: a real trade-off

Hiya Premium keeps listening after you answer, for cloned voices and fraud tactics such as urgent payment demands, and warns you mid-call. That is a genuine protection, and PhoneShield does not offer it.

PhoneShield made the opposite choice. Once a call rings you and you pick up, PhoneShield steps out: nothing you and the caller say is transcribed or analyzed, no AI is on the line, and no audio of any call is stored. Its work happens before the call reaches you. Which you prefer depends on how you weigh a warning during the call against a conversation nobody else hears.

Side by side

Which one to choose

• Choose Hiya for your own smartphone, especially if price matters or you want warnings during a call.
• Choose PhoneShield for a parent or anyone you look after, for a landline, or if you want real callers to reach a live assistant instead of a fixed question.

See PhoneShield pricing, or read how to set it up for a parent.

Questions people ask

Sources

All Hiya pages read October 7, 2026. Features and prices change; check Hiya’s site for the latest.

• Hiya Spam Blocker: free and Premium features
• Hiya Spam Blocker on the App Store (prices)
• What is Hiya Spam Blocker Premium
• Hiya: Premium and Family Sharing
• Hiya: Call Screener on iPhone
• Hiya AI Phone and on the App Store
• Hiya AI Phone launch, January 2025
• Hiya and Samsung partnership, April 2025
• Hiya Caller Reputation and carrier partners, September 2025
• hiya.com (call volume and people protected)