The most used app for identifying unknown callers, Truecaller, has launched the biggest update to its platform for the Indian market specifically. Not only will the new update help you identify unknown numbers and block spam calls, but it will now also let you video call them, or pay contacts.
Truecaller calls it the “largest brand and product transformation ever” and has launched specific products for India as well. At the first annual “Stay ahead” event in New Delhi, which gathered the founders and key partners across the industry, the company announced some interesting partnerships.
“We have been able to build a mobile identity platform and ecosystem that more and more people are relying on a daily basis to build safe and meaningful services on top of it – and today we’re finally able to showcase the true potential of Truecaller,” said Alan Mamedi, CEO, and co-founder, Truecaller.
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Truemessenger’s smart features
Android users will now have the same spam blocking capabilities for text messaging by integrating SMS directly into the Truecaller app. This means identifying who you don’t know, sending more emojis to who you do, and sending those who bother you straight to the spam inbox.
In Truemessenger, you will be able to see the sender’s name and confirm it as spam, and block numbers by series or specific patterns. This is a huge deal considering the number of telemarketing SMS people get here.
Truecaller Pay and UPI integration
The company has announced a partnership with ICICI Bank to launch payments solution for its users. Truecaller users will be able to create their unique Virtual Payment Address (VPA) in the app, and can instantly send or receive money using any Unified Payments Interface (UPI) supported bank. The transaction will be handled by ICICI with Bank Grade Security.
This is an amazing opportunity for Truecaller to grow amongst Indian users, where demonetization played a big role. Also, Truecaller makes it easier for Indians to send and receive money through any UPI supported bank, so you don’t have to download the app for specific banks.
All the contacts are always available on Truecaller, so you don’t have to add a specific contact to your phone. The company will make sure your details are safe and secure with you.
Google Duo integrated into the app
Google and Truecaller have tied up to integrate Google Duo, the video calling service on the app. This means that other than normal calling, you will be able to make video calls to the other person.
While we don’t know how it will benefit people, but I’m sure a lot of people are interesting in seeing unknown callers. Again, this drops the reason for you to have Google Duo separately since one app with does more than one job.
Truecaller integration with Google Duo will be available in the coming months for Android & iOS as a permission-based service, where users will be able to opt-in and out at any time. The duo can get a little creepy if you opt-in for the service, so most of the users will anyway try to have it switched off, which might defeat the purpose.
Airtel Truecaller ID for Non-data users
“We are proud to introduce a first of it’s kind partnership with Airtel to launch Airtel Truecaller ID to extend our caller ID feature of Truecaller to Airtel’s non-data users that use feature phones. The identification of unknown numbers will be delivered to users via Flash SMS before the call hits the user’s mobile,” the blog said.
Airtel users in India will be able to use this Airtel Truecaller ID feature on their phone and get flash messages with the name of the caller. It is a subscription based service, but will definitely connect the offline users to the online world.
There are plenty of feature phone users in India, and this service is specifically targeted at them because feature phones can be tricked by telemarketers and spammers. We hope Truecaller extends this feature to other telcos as well.
Truecaller 8 seems to have brought a lot more features to India only, considering a large number of callers and subscribers here. It also makes sense for the company to invest in a country of over 1.3 billion people, where the number of phones sold everyday increases.
Source: Truecaller
