You look at your phone but the number is not on your contact list. Well, that is no longer a problem, not if you have the Truecaller app on your phone.
In fact, the byword of one of Truecaller’s co-founder and chief executive, Alan Mamedi is:
If you download Truecaller, you will never have to worry about saving contacts to your phone book, everything will be in the cloud.
Further, if you receive a call from a number you don’t have, you will be shown that information, and if there is a sales call coming in, you will be informed and warned about it. What’s more? If you want to make an outbound call and you would like to know if your friend is available or is on a phone call, then Truecaller is your go-to guy.
But Really, How Does It Work?
Truecaller uses a database of more than two billion phone numbers to tell you who is phoning you! On certain smartphone operating systems, it will show the person’s name, where they are from, and in many cases even display their picture!! And below is how they mine this immense wealth of data.
Whenever you receive a call from a number and Truecaller cannot detect it, then you, as a user, can actually add that information. And when you do, it simply becomes part of the data in the archive.
But Truecaller doesn’t just rely on users for data, they also partner with different data providers to fill in the empty gaps. It is this crowd-sourced information that it then uses to recognise nuisance calls and prevents them ever taking a second more of your time.
But I Don’t Want My Information In Their Database!
If you are particularly fastidious about your privacy, this may pose a concern for you. Even if you refrain from sharing information with the app, your friend who has your phone number and other details may choose to share the name and numbers on their contact list (including yours) with the app, hence, putting you out there in a world that you want no part of, and sharing your information with people you do not know!
This, exactly is the aspect of the company that is open to scrutiny.
So, Is There a Way Out?
Alan Mamedi, doesn’t believe this to be an issue, and he explains why:
We made it super easy for anyone to un-list their number on our website, we don’t require any verification or such. This has been the case since Day One. It’s part of our philosophy that it should be super simple to just un-list your number.
You just go on our website and then it’s gone forever.
So, there really is a way out; just follow those simple steps and the world may well be unaware of your existence!
Quick Facts About Truecaller
- Alan Mamedi and his friend Nami started the company in 2009 in Nami’s one room apartment.
- Within the first week of its release, they had 10,000 new users. There are currently 200 million users globally, up from 100 million last year.
- It is used as a safety precaution by women in India who use it to verify the cab driver who is calling them, or see if they have friends in common with the cab driver before climbing in, given the cases of rape in that country.
- The Truecaller app gets on the average 63 new users per minute.
Source: BBC Business
