Hiya Extends Partnership With Samsung to Bring Its Leading Caller Identification and Spam Detection Service to the Note 7

SEATTLE, WA and NEW YORK, NY--(Marketwired - August 02, 2016) - Hiya, the leading source for caller identification and phone spam detection services, today announced that it has extended its partnership with Samsung to include the integration of its caller ID, spam detection and business search services into the Galaxy Note 7. Previously available only on the Galaxy S7 and S7 Edge, Hiya (formerly a division of Whitepages) will now integrate this seamless experience to help Note 7 users identify unknown callers and protect them against the increased threat of phone spam and scams. The service, already available for Galaxy S7 users in 16 countries, will also expand into 12 additional countries, for a total of 28 countries. Both Galaxy S7 and Note 7 users will now benefit from a better phone experience that includes:

• Caller Identification: By leveraging Hiya's proprietary data set that includes more than 600 million active mobile and landline phone numbers in the US and over 1.5 billion unique numbers globally, users will be able to make informed decisions about whether or not to answer an incoming call.
• Spam and Scam Detection: With Hiya's state of the art phone reputation service, users will have much needed context for unsolicited spam and scam calls, giving them peace of mind when answering or ignoring a call. The service also includes a spam button for users to easily report spam numbers, which will in turn help other users from falling victim to fraudulent calls.
• Nearby Business Search: Powered by a global database of local business information, users will be able to search directly within the native dialer to easily find nearby businesses for any and all of life's purchases and curiosities.

"As consumers worldwide continue to find themselves inundated with an influx of unwanted calls, we are pleased to further expand our partnership with Samsung to bring our best-in-class caller ID and phone spam detection services to even more users across the globe," said Alex Algard, Founder and CEO of Hiya. "Expanding our service to include Galaxy Note 7 users and further growing our footprint in the international arena gets us one step closer to providing the kind of phone experience that everyone with a smartphone deserves."

The issue of caller identification has come to the forefront in recent years as phone scam and text spam has significantly increased due to a lack of filtering at the carrier level and a rise in automated VoiP/OTT platforms that have driven the cost of communication down to fractions of a cent. Of the 665 MM incoming calls Hiya scans per month globally, nearly 35 MM are classified as "unwanted." In June, Hiya saw a more than 100 percent increase in scam calls as compared to the previous year.

As an issue impacting nearly every person with a smartphone, the growing phone spam problem has also caught the attention of regulators in the United States. In June 2015, the FCC announced that it would enable U.S. mobile operators to block spam. In April of 2016, Representative Jackie Speier introduced the ROBOCOP Act, a piece of legislation that would require telecom companies to offer consumers free optional robocall-blocking technology. The ROBOCOP Act was then almost immediately introduced to the Senate by Charles Schumer of New York. Finally, last week, Tom Wheeler, Chairman of the FCC, sent letters to major wireless and wireline phone companies giving them 30 days to come back with concrete, actionable solutions to address these issues.

Of the 200+ countries and territories that Hiya operates in, the following ten (in order, starting with the worst) have the worst spam/scam problems.

Hiya's integration with the Galaxy S7 and the Note 7 will now be available in 28 countries: Australia, Austria, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Hong Kong, Hungary, Israel, Italy, Mexico, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Philippines, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, the United Kingdom and the United States (on very limited devices).

About Hiya

Hiya provides enhanced Caller ID products and services designed to make the phone experience better. With a database of more over 1.5 billion unique numbers globally, Hiya leverages its expansive algorithms to identify unknown calls and texts and to monitor phone-based threats for consumers and businesses. Hiya screens more than 665 MM incoming calls per month, and has detected more than one billion robo, telemarketing and scam calls and texts to date. Hiya is available as a consumer app on Google Android and iPhone and is integrated into the phone experience for T-Mobile and Samsung Galaxy S7 and Note 7 users worldwide. For more information, please visit www.hiya.com.