The caller-identification company said that its unlisting tool allows people who have never used Truecaller to request the removal of their numbers from its active database.

The clarification follows a legal dispute over Truecaller’s processing of phone numbers and names belonging to people who have not registered for the service.

The applicants, including the Incorporated Trustees of the Data Privacy Lawyers Association, had asked the Lagos High Court to declare that Truecaller’s collection, storage and disclosure of non-users’ phone numbers violated their constitutional privacy rights and provisions of the Nigeria Data Protection Act.

They also sought orders preventing the company from processing non-user data, requiring the deletion of information already held and awarding ₦300 million in general and exemplary damages.

The court dismissed the applicants’ claims and rejected their requests for injunctions and damages. However, its reasoning drew an important distinction between consent and whether the applicants had provided sufficient evidence to establish an actionable breach of their fundamental rights.

The court rejected the argument that a Truecaller user’s acceptance of the company’s terms or decision to upload contacts automatically amounted to consent from people whose numbers appeared in that contact list.

“The user of the app voluntarily consented to the upload of contact details on the user’s phone to the respondent is insufficient to establish implied consent,” the court held.

It further stated that accepting such an interpretation of implied consent would undermine the privacy protections and definition of consent provided under the data protection law.

The court also said Truecaller, in the circumstances considered, had responsibilities as a data controller and processor to safeguard personal information and ensure that it was not disclosed without legitimate justification.

Olumide Babalola, chair of the Nigerian Bar Association’s Data Protection Committee and lawyer to the applicants, said that the dismissal should not be interpreted as a complete endorsement of Truecaller’s consent model.

“The only issue the court found, which helps them, is that we did not attach evidence of damages,” Babalola said, adding that this did not remove the court’s findings concerning consent and legitimate interest.

Truecaller has maintained that consent is not its only legal basis for processing the information. The company has pointed to public-interest and legitimate-interest provisions under the Nigeria Data Protection Act and the constitutional provisions relating to public safety.

The company said its caller-identification and spam-detection functions help people identify suspicious calls and protect against scams, fraud and harassment.

However, the court’s reasoning also indicated that legitimate interest does not automatically override a person’s fundamental rights. It noted that legitimate interest is limited where it conflicts with the rights, freedoms and interests of the person whose data is being processed.

Truecaller also argued that its service operates primarily as a “number-for-name” system, meaning a person searching for an identity must already possess the relevant phone number before information can be displayed.

The company said it does not automatically upload users’ address books. According to the judgment, contact information is uploaded in certain versions of the service only when a user activates an optional Enhanced Search feature and confirms they are authorised to share the contacts.

Truecaller said it would continue operating its Nigerian service and would not suspend or redesign the platform as a result of the ruling.

The company also said anyone, whether a user or non-user, can remove their number through its unlisting service.

It said that after a number is removed, it retains a one-way cryptographic hash to prevent the number from being accidentally re-uploaded when an active user synchronises a phonebook. Truecaller said the hash cannot be reversed to recover the original number.

The applicants are expected to appeal the court’s treatment of injury arising from the alleged privacy violations, according to their lawyer.

The case therefore leaves unresolved questions about how Nigerian data protection law should apply to services that process information supplied by one person about another, particularly in areas such as caller identification, contact discovery and social platforms.

The post Truecaller Says Nigerians Can Unlist Numbers After Privacy Case Ruling appeared first on Tech Digest News.

The Swedish caller identification company introduced Scam Checker on Sunday as a web and Android service, initially making it available in India before plans to expand it to Latin America, the Middle East and Africa, and Southeast Asia.

Users can paste a suspicious phone number, web link or message into the service. Scam Checker analyses submitted links by expanding shortened URLs, following redirects and comparing the final destination with Truecaller’s risk database and other fraud signals.

When users submit a message, the service can identify phone numbers or links within it and check for related reports from Truecaller’s community-powered ScamFeed.

More detailed information about a phone number, including the name associated with it, remains available through Truecaller’s existing service, which requires users to sign in.

The launch comes as online scams increasingly extend beyond traditional phone calls to SMS, messaging platforms and malicious web links. A 2025 GSMA survey of Indian adults found that among respondents who reported being scammed, 46% said they were approached through messaging apps, 37% through SMS and 32% through voice calls.

Truecaller estimates that about 14 million web searches are made each month to check suspicious phone numbers and links, a trend the company said helped inform the development of Scam Checker.

“When you need it, you’re usually somewhere else. The link shows up on WhatsApp. Your mum gets a message about a traffic fine. A friend forwards you a screenshot and asks, ‘Is this real?’” Truecaller CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala told TechCrunch. “What people do in that moment is search.”

Truecaller said its ScamFeed currently contains about 20,000 scam reports in India, with around 1,300 new reports added each week. Between September 14 and 20, the company said it assessed 12.9 billion messages globally and identified 20.3 million as fraudulent.

The company plans to expand the types of scams the service can identify and introduce screenshot uploads for additional analysis.

The move also comes as Truecaller faces changes in India’s caller identification market. India’s telecom regulator recently required caller-ID and call-management apps to share user-submitted spam reports with telecom operators, while telecom networks and smartphone makers are expanding their own caller identification and spam protection systems.

“Caller ID was the first problem we solved, and it’s still how most people find us,” Jhunjhunwala said. “But scams moved to a more multi-channel approach with links and messages, and increasingly to voice and video. Our protection has to follow the scammer.”

The post Truecaller Launches Scam Checker For Phone Numbers, Links, Messages appeared first on Tech Digest News.

Other leading markets in the region include Egypt, South Africa, Kenya, Algeria, Ghana, and Jordan, where the app is active on between 20% and 45% of connected smartphones. Globally, Truecaller serves over 450 million active users and has been downloaded more than a billion times since its launch in 2009.

Truecaller Chief Executive Officer Rishit Jhunjhunwala attributed the growth to increasing smartphone adoption and mobile data access in MEA. “These are mobile-first markets where your mobile number is the primary identifier, and Truecaller has always grown organically in such markets,” he said.

The company said it is strengthening its operations and partnerships in the region to sustain growth, noting it blocked nearly 56 billion unwanted calls globally in 2024 alone.

The post Truecaller Reaches 100 Million Active Users in MEA, Nigeria Among Top Markets appeared first on Tech Digest News.

The call recording feature, first introduced in June 2023, was initially exclusive to paying iPhone subscribers before it expanded to Android. However, due to Apple’s restrictions on native call recording, Truecaller had to use a workaround involving a recording line merged with the calls. Kabra noted that this method increased the complexity of the feature and drove up costs significantly.

Users on X (formerly Twitter) shared screenshots of a notification from the app stating, “We are discontinuing the Call Recording feature on Truecaller for iPhone.” The alert also urged users to download their saved recordings, as all files will be permanently deleted after September 30.

The post Truecaller to Remove iPhone Call Recording Feature by September 30 appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – Truecaller, the world’s leading global communications platform, today launched a brand new version of its iOS app for users around the world. Traditionally, Truecaller has always worked a lot better on Android, but that is set to change now!

The iOS app has been completely re-written from the ground up to be lighter (smaller app size), more efficient (works faster, even on the older iPhone 6S) but most important of all, it offers 10 times better spam, scam and business call identification compared to the older version of the app.

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This change has been brought about by an all-new architecture that can more effectively take advantage of CallKit, Apple’s own technology framework designed specifically for calling apps. The app also has a complete design refresh that may seem subtle at first but often leads to far shorter times for both initial onboarding as well as day-to-day navigation through the app.

Truecaller on iOS has always been a challenge because of the specific platform restrictions and differences from Android, ” said Alan Mamedi, Co-founder and CEO of Truecaller.

Adding: “Over the years, we’ve been working hard to bring powerful features like Call Alerts, a dedicated widget and search extension to iOS but the live caller ID always eluded us – till now! We’ve been working closely with Apple and we realised the only way to solve this problem for our iOS users was to throw out all the old code and completely rewrite the app. A lot of iOS users have been waiting for this update for a long time and I’m excited to finally be able to say that we have built the best performing spam/scam blocking for iOS. ”

Highlights of the new iOS app:

10x better Caller ID, 10x better protection against spam and scam  Smoother and faster onboarding for new users

Enhanced detail view when you search for numbers

New Premium purchase flow with easier feature comparisons

Redesigned search extension (from Phone > Recents > Share Contact)

Updates coming soon:

More precise SMS filtering that works completely offline (If enabled, Truecaller can also auto-categorize all finance SMS, promotions, online orders and travel updates)

Automatic blocking of top spammers

Detailed statistics on spam marked numbers

See and view comments on spam marked numbers for additional context  Redesigned widget for even faster number search.

The post Truecaller Launches  Improved iOS App appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECHDIGEST – Truecaller, for many phone users, is an app that helps to identify unknown callers. That, of course, was the original purpose of the app. But today it is being used for real-time spam reporting, thus allowing accurate and quick protection from scams, telemarketers, fraud, and more.

The communications platform, Truecaller is forging ahead with the announcement of new features for Android users that are expected to be rolled out in the coming weeks.

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A Voice Call Launcher for VoIP calls, a Passcode Lock for SMS inboxes, improved Call Logs, simplified and fast Call Reason, face filters for Video Caller ID, and an AI Smart Assistant are among the new features. All of these features will allow users to communicate in a safe, hassle-free, and efficient manner.

Here are the 5 new features coming on Truecaller:

Face Filters for Video Caller ID: Built-in templates have been introduced to Truecaller in order to provide a more personalised and unique calling experience. This feature allows users to take selfies and employ VR-powered filters, allowing them to be more creative.

Enhanced Calls Logs: Truecaller’s call logs have been modified to allow and support up to 6400 entries, up from 1000 in the older version. Users will be able to search call logs for call records as an outcome of this.

Improved Call Reason: The caller can add an Instant Call Reason in Truecaller. For the messaging, there are also various defaults. “It’s urgent,” “Can we Talk?” will be some of the alternatives. In addition, the user can write any custom call reason.

Passcode Lock for SMS: Truecaller is adding a text message lock to enhance privacy. Users will be able to add an extra level of security by using a passcode lock. You’ll be able to use biometric or fingerprint authentication if your device supports it.

Voice Call Launcher: Truecaller’s Voice Call Launcher makes it simple to identify all of your contacts who are willing to speak on Truecaller Voice. The new function is only available for VoIP calls.

The post Truecaller Introduces 5 New Features To Enhance App appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST – Truecaller, the world’s most trusted and accurate Caller ID and telephone search engine, is rolling out a new feature to further augment the user experience. The new feature Smart SMS has been introduced based on user feedback and is designed to cater to the evolving needs of our consumers. It offers a host of new services to make day-to-day communication a lot more convenient. Smart SMS is powered by state-of-the-art machine learning models that adapt based on the feedback you give it. It supports users with important messages from banks, billers, travel companies, delivery companies and so much more.

Smart SMS also helps users stay protected from spam and fraud. Only the essential information within an SMS is highlighted and all SMS messages are categorised and easily accessible. From keeping track of your expenses to last minute changes to your travel, Smart SMS is the future of SMS that will make life a whole lot easier. Commenting on the new addition, Zakaria Abdulkadir Hersi, Director of Business Development & Partnerships Africa at Truecaller said: “Roughly 80% of SMSes one receives daily are from businesses, disengaging users from important/useful messages.

To combat that, SMS apps need to become smarter by filtering out spam and categorising useful information. At Truecaller, we constantly strive to offer the best user experience by adding unique features that fit in with our core mission: to make communication safer and more efficient for everyone. Truecaller has evolved into a powerful communication hub and for the people who wish to use the app to its fullest, we want to streamline the experience as much as possible for an efficient calling and messaging experience for our end user.” Truecaller uses the same powerful algorithms used to identify spam callers in SMS as well. The SMS intelligence is built into the app itself and it can work offline – nothing leaves your device, including all OTPs, bank SMSes and financial information. The feature also offers a Smart Inbox that identifies unknown SMS sender numbers and SMS sender IDs are resolved to business names with logos.

The post Truecaller Launches Smart SMS Feature In Africa appeared first on Tech Digest News.

TECH DIGEST – The enterprise solution makes business calls tamper proof and increases consumer safety by preventing fraud and scam calls.

Truecaller, the world’s most trusted telephone search engine and caller ID service, has introduced a new identity solution for businesses to bolster safety and eliminate fraud.

Africa is a growing market for Truecaller, with more of the population switching to smartphones, there is a pressing need to increase trust in communication as the rise in fraud and scams using spoofed identities is on the rise across the continent.

As of today, there are over 43 million active users of Truecaller in Africa.

The enterprise solution dubbed Truecaller Business Identity allows businesses to verify their identities using a green verified business badge, accurately presenting the name, photo and the logo of the organization.

The new solution brings greater trust and efficiency in communication between businesses and clients as it gives confidence to consumers, knowing that the caller is a verified business by Truecaller.

Apart from adding trust and reducing the possibility of fraud, a Verified Business badge can be a big boon for startups and businesses who are brand conscious and want to accurately present the name of their entity, logo and give their customers the satisfaction of knowing exactly who they are conducting business with.

The new feature also allows businesses to drive efficiency in their communications while improving call-pickup rates for genuine and important calls.

Speaking during the launch, the Director of Business Development in Africa, Zakaria Hersi, said, “Fraud continues to be a major issue across Africa and as a company, Truecaller wanted to provide solutions on a business level as well as a personal level. Trust is at the heart of everything we do and with so much of our lives lived through our phone, we need to ensure that our communication happens in a safe environment.

Truecaller Enterprise has been set up with the strong intent of building solutions for businesses that will not just improve the efficiency of their communication but also provide significant value and safety to consumers in their day-to-day lives.

“Truecaller is ready to scale the offering to a significant number of businesses globally ensuring that the ever-growing community of users can trust more calls coming from these businesses making communication safer for everyone. Our robust verification process helps consumers identify calls that can be 100% trusted to be initiated by a particular business. Over a period, this can result in drastic reduction of frauds and scams that happen over phone calls.”, added VP & Head of Truecaller Enterprise, Sony Joy.

Apart from the green Caller ID and green Verified Business badge, a verified business on Truecaller gets a verified tick mark icon and can lock their brand name and profile photo. This lets consumers know exactly which calls to trust. Importantly, consumers will continue to see the number of spam markings as usual, and they retain the right to mark verified numbers as spam or block them completely.”

Importantly, Truecaller’s spam algorithms will continue to work in the same way and the Truecaller global community of over 270 million active users will be able to mark calls that are potentially spam/scam/sales calls, even if they have a verified badge and Caller ID.

The post Truecaller Introduces Anti-Fraud Enterprise Solution For Businesses appeared first on Tech Digest News.