Remember phone books? Yeah, they were once a thing, and now we don’t even need to remember anyone’s number by heart any more — but if you receive five calls from the same number before you’ve even had lunch, you do tend to recognise the numbers. The best part? You can now block those numbers so these calls, and other potential spammers’ calls, will not even reach you. Meet Truecaller.
There are a few spammer-blocker apps, but Truecaller is free and very capable, with real-time alerts if someone calling looks spammy, as well as the ability to identify most people who are calling. Remember that scary word: data? Well, Truecaller uses data from your phone to identify people, and that’s how it’s able to tell you who is calling if the number isn’t already saved in your phone. Don’t fret — the data collected is solely used to provide their service, and a great one at that.
How does it work?
It will alert you when a telemarketer or robocaller is trying to reach you by marking their name in red, and after the call you’ll have an option to block the number entirely. Truecaller will then take it upon themselves to block all numbers originating from that source.
The interface is very easy to understand, and there’s not much to set up. You would need to give Truecaller access to managing phone calls for the feature to work properly, but after the initial setup you will be set. If you find that a number has been spamming way too hard for your liking, just access the app and mark them as a spammer — this is the system they use to track spammers and alert people.
Where to find it
Take our word for it — this app is extremely helpful to anyone being bombarded with calls — people in marketing, CEOs, ‘callgirls’, and what have you. You can download it on iOS and on Android for mahala, and it’ll save you hundreds of minutes on the phone with that girl trying to sell you life insurance on whom you just can’t hang up because… shame… she sounds so nice.
