Today, caller ID app Truecaller blocks 38 to 40 billion spam calls every year for its more than 374 million users. Now, in an effort to get more people to join its premium membership, it’s tweaking its filtering technology. A new “Max” update for Android premium subscribers uses AI to block every single call that doesn’t come from an approved contact, or that its AI determines might be spam, TechCrunch has learned, even if they’re not already listed on Truecaller’s Database. Previously, lockdowns and other actions were guided by numbers listed in the database and proactive screening of individuals.
This update only applies to Android: Apple doesn’t allow Truecaller (or other caller ID services) to check a caller’s spammer status to automatically block calls on iOS. Therefore, Truecaller provides iPhone users with a more basic service based on CallKit.
These moves come at a critical business time for the company. In the fourth quarter, Truecaller’s revenue fell 4% year over year, with sales of $41.52 million. Meanwhile, in India – Truecaller’s largest market with 259 million users – the Indian telecom regulator recently proposed a Truecaller-like caller ID service that would be implemented across the country. all The country’s telecommunications network to better deal with spam. The proposal currently faces opposition on privacy and technical grounds, but if implemented it would pose a direct competitive threat to Truecaller.
The new feature underscores Truecaller’s belief that there may be business opportunities for those who are tired of spammers’ insidious ways – even if the fix may come in the form of missing spammers from unknown numbers and non-spammers who may actually be welcome for the price of the phone call.
Truecaller also relies on the current interest in all things artificial intelligence: caller ID and spam protection are two of Truecaller’s core features, and it’s betting that any reservations about artificial intelligence are likely to be driven by curiosity about how it does Truecaller’s main job And that offset… while also increasing premium sign-ups in the process.
The app’s premium plans range from $9.99 per month to $99.99 per year, depending on factors such as the number of users covered.
The new feature also shows how Truecaller is trying to introduce more proactive automation and subsequently expect users to be less proactive themselves. Truecaller always provides subscribers with a list of all calls it may block, including international numbers not listed in the user’s contacts, hidden numbers and unknown numbers. But to get the most out of the app, users must participate and adjust their own lists. All content with the ID iffy will now be blocked by default.
“There are at least some people who are very aware of the app and they’re asking for it,” Kunal Dua, Truecaller’s vice president of search, said in a conference call.
This isn’t Truecaller’s first AI feature: it offers an AI assistant that can screen calls to identify the caller’s reason for calling the user. (Other non-AI features include cloud calling and call recording.)
The artificial intelligence powering Max has been in development for some time. Dua said Truecaller has been testing “multiple algorithms” on its marketplace to identify spam numbers, and each machine learning algorithm is learning from user feedback.
But Apple will need to make a major shift to launch the service to iOS users. Last year, Truecaller brought instant caller ID support to iOS, although this was more limited and required iPhone users to go through the process of setting up instant caller ID.
It will be interesting to see how users react to the overall nature of the feature that can sometimes make mistakes. The app currently warns users that the feature “may block legitimate businesses.” Still, Dua said the system is expected to improve over time as it gets more spam call data.
“Obviously, we do our best to distinguish spam from legitimate businesses. But in some cases, some legitimate businesses may temporarily [blocked],” he said. “We would like to believe that this is temporary until our community, until our AI algorithms recognize that this is a legitimate business… We are very confident that if we call someone trash The email sender, then the probability is very, very high, 99.999 times out of 100.”
If a machine learning algorithm mistakenly flags a number as spam, users can unlock the number, which also helps train artificial intelligence.
After updating the Truecaller app to v13.58 or higher, users can find the new spam blocking feature through Settings > Blocking.
