
Truecaller
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Review Truecaller
Block unwanted calls and texts, compromise your privacy in the process
Author: Jay Feldman
Date: 02 Jun 2017, tested on ASUS Nexus 7 (2013)
Interesting functionality, simple interface, modern design
Not worth the price, privacy invasion, arguably useless, glitches, lags a bit
Truecaller for Android is a caller ID and blocking app. Most of the features are redundant, but a few aren't half bad.
Truecaller aims to be your own personal assistant, screening calls and texts for you by blocking texts and calls from people you add to a black list. It also has an extensive database of known spam callers and can automatically reject those calls automatically. I’d say the spammer list is the one truly valuable thing here. The reverse number look-up is also convenient, but I find manually Googling a number myself yields better results. The premium paid version adds little functionality, the most valuable of which being the removal of glitchy ads that bog down the app’s performance.
The app requites you to submit your telephone number for verification. Truthfully, this step is just an excuse for Truecaller to invade the privacy of their users and expand their own database of phone numbers; it’s blatant data mining and serves no other real purpose. Even deleting your account explicitly says it will not remove your number from their database. For this reason alone, I call this app an epic fail. Leave the spying to the NSA, thank you.
The app layout is nice. Everything is easy to follow and find again. The menus aren't needlessly bogged down and the color scheme is pleasing to the eye. An unfortunate glitch of this app is, sometimes when calls come in the answer button is cut off the screen; get thanks Truecaller, I can see who’s calling but can’t answer.
*Privacy Tip* Truecaller will call you upon setup to verify your number is real, but beware, once you give them your number, they will NEVER remove it from their database. For reference, one of the screenshots I included with this review is of the Truecaller robo-caller that verified my number.
Truecaller is truly a redundant app. Every cell phone already has caller ID and many internet security suites already offer black and white lists to block incoming calls and texts. Sure, the spammer list is decent, but nothing you can’t already do on your own. And the blatant invasion of privacy with the signup process, and the inability to remove your own number from their database, makes this app an epic fail. Thanks but no thanks.
Final ratings
Usefulness 6/10
Usability 7/10
Originality 5/10
Design 7/10