What is Truecaller? How does it work? Is your privacy being exposed by it? If yes then how to protect your privacy and be secure? Things you must know if you are using the Truecaller application!
Nowadays, privacy is a big issue. Recently we heard about Facebook and twitter data leak. Even in these companies, our data isn’t 100% secure. So, what about other companies? Among all of these, let’s take a look at the working of Truecaller, the effects of Truecalller on your privacy, and possible solutions to be more secure.
NOTE: Here, I'm not demoting the Truecaller application. I just want to aware you about the reality.
We will be discussing the following points in this article:
Let’s get started without wasting much time!
What is Truecaller?
Truecaller is developed by the Swedish company True Software Scandinavia AB. In simple words, it is a worldwide number lookup service. It finds contact details globally given a name or telephone number and has an integrated caller ID service to achieve call-blocking functionality and social media integration to keep the phonebook up-to-date with pictures and birthdays. The client is available for Android, BlackBerry OS, iOS, Series 40, Symbian s60, Firefox OS, Tizen, BlackBerry 10, and Windows Phone.
How does Truecaller work?
Do you ever wonder about the working of Truecaller? How do you get the name of an unknown number on your device within a second? How is it possible? Actually, you are responsible for that! Wait, what?! I’m responsible? how, Jaykishan? Yes, you read right! Let me explain it to you.
When you install the Truecaller application in your device, it asks for some permissions which include permissions related to SMS messages, read and write permission for contacts, approximate and precise location, take pictures and videos, modification to sd card contents, audio settings, account information and few more! Most of the people give those permissions without even reading all of them! This mistake makes their work easy!
They can track you, read your messages, read and modify contacts on your device, record your conversation, access your accounts on your device, and much more! Truecaller doesn’t have its own data stored in the database. When you install this application on your device, it uploads your contact list with all other details to its database.
Thus, Truecaller contains lots of data fetched from its users worldwide. By using that data, the AI system of Truecaller provides information about an unknown number.
So in short, it takes data from its users and provides it back to the user.
What about your privacy?
Do you ever think that what can be done with your personal data fetched by Truecaller? Do you want to know how your data can be used once it’s fetched? Just keep reading and you will get all the answers.
Once the Truecaller community got your contact and other details, they have full access to it as per the privacy policy. They work with some third parties and may share your data with any third party. Third parties working with Truecaller can collect information such as device identifier, IP address, or identifier for advertising and more! (Check “Third-party use of cookies” in the privacy policy.)
Truecaller makes money by showing ads. Apart from that, it also makes earnings by sharing your data with third parties. By using the paid version, someone can dig more information about any number! Thus, in return for some amount they provide more information about any number!
However, the community doesn’t expose everything about any of its users. But what I mean to say is, if you are using the Truecaller application, just forget about protecting your privacy.
What is the possible solution?
Now, if you are the kind of person who doesn’t care much about privacy in the digital world then you don’t have to panic. Just keep using the application. But if you are very concerned about your privacy then go ahead!
what should you do to protect your privacy? Should you stop using Truecaller? The answer is no! You can still use it. But how? Let’s see!
Don’t use the Truecaller application. Just remove the application from your device and start using Truecaller in a browser. But wait, don’t hurry! Still, it will take as much information as it can take from your email account in the browser. So, don’t use the account which is linked to your social sites. Be sure that the account by which you are signing up is fresh and does not contain any personal details about you.
That’s it! Now you are good to go. Let me know your opinion on Truecaller. Stay secure, safe and updated!
Thanks for reading the article. I hope it was helpful to you. Still, if you have any queries, feel free to comment down below. Also, spread the knowledge by sharing it with your friends and family.