Facebook app upgrades call ID, takes aim at spammers

Caller ID is smart - as long as the person calling you is already saved in your contact list. But it's annoying to get a call from an unknown number - especially from some spammer.

Well, Facebook is here to help.

Its newest app, called Hello, allows users with Android phones to see Facebook profile information on whoever's calling. When the call comes in, you will see the what the caller has already publicly shared on Facebook. That means, you can see who's calling even if you don't have their number saved on your phone.

"It's really cool because incoming and outgoing calls will be matched with the Facebook profile," CNET associate editor Dan Graziano told CBS News. "So if I was to call you, because my number is stored on Facebook, you would see my profile picture. You would see that I am an associate editor at CNET and I live in Manhattan."

The new app also allows users to block unwanted calls and choose to automatically block calls from commonly blocked numbers. Blocked calls go straight to voicemail.

Facebook Product Manager Andrea Vaccari, writing on the new app, said it goes well beyond just being a fancier caller ID.

"You can also search for people and businesses on Facebook and call them with just one tap," he wrote in a press release. "So if a friend tells you about a new restaurant in your neighborhood, you can use Hello to find their hours, make a reservation and get directions, all without leaving the app."

But what about privacy concerns?

Graziano said that should not be an issue - partly because callers can adjust what they want people to see.

"It's pretty much the same info that's on your profile right now when you do a public search," he said. "You can go into your privacy settings and change it to something else. So you can have friends of friends seeing things, the public seeing things or no one seeing anything."

Hello only works on Android phones because Apple phones won't let apps interact with phone calls.