Truecaller has certainly charmed its way into many smartphone users’ hearts since its launch back in 2009. It has undoubtedly been the reigning champ when it comes to Caller ID and Spam Call barring services for users over the decades.
As with everything about business, once you have introduced an innovative product, it picks up good traction. There will always be copy-cats who want to give you a run for your money, and boy hasn’t Truecaller been struggling to fend off new entrants into its niche market.
‘Call Reason’ Truecaller’s innovation to keep Things Spicy
In the spirit of fighting off competition into its niche market, Truecaller has been coming up with innovative ideas to keep the users interested. The latest offering being the ‘Call Reason’ feature that first went live for Android users on Tuesday [Oct-19-2020]. Word has it iOS users will, at the earliest, receive this feature at the start of 2021.
The new Call Reason feature allows users to make a note of why they are calling. This note will then be relayed to the receiver, who gets to read the message before they decide to pick, hangup, or ignore the call.
According to Truecaller, this feature was among the most requested features from users for the year 2020. So they decided to grant the masses their wish; albeit Android users fall first in line, with iOS users still waiting for it to roll onto their platform.
The feature only works if both the caller and receiver have the app installed. The receiver will then have the option of getting informed on the reasons for the call and better decide if they want to pick up or not.
Spammer new leeway?
With applications like Truecaller, spam callers have been having a difficult time getting through to their target victims. Mainly because these apps automatically block calls from known (established and verified) spammers or alert the receiver giving them the discretion to pick such calls or not.
With the introduction of the new ‘Call Reason’ on Truecaller, won’t spammers go out and be creative and give leading reasons on their notes to make someone pick up their calls? Well, to that, Truecaller says it will not be possible.
The earlier algorithm that identifies and categorizes spammers remains in place. Established spammers will still get it challenging to get through to people.
SMS scheduling and SMS Translation
As we mentioned earlier, the caller ID market niche is becoming crowded, and it is therefore incumbent on Truecaller to pull out the big guns or get kicked out of the market. In that spirit, the company keeps churning out new innovative features to keep users’ interest.
While the most recent feature is the ‘Call Reason,’ the company has also rolled out an SMS scheduling feature in the recent past. This feature allows users to type a message (or reply to a message) and then set a future date and time they would like the SMS to be sent out.
It has also introduced an SMS translate feature, where if you get an SMS in a foreign language. You can simply tap and hold on to the message and choose the translate with Google’s ML Kit.
Related: Truecaller now allows you send quick Flash messages to contacts
Big-Shark, Google has entered the waters.
Caller ID apps, like Truecallers and the competition, now have a bigger reason to worry, as Google announced it would be introducing a caller ID service. The service will be natively baked to the Android caller app. Yes, the phone will come out of the box with a caller ID application neatly integrated into it. With all the data mining powers Google has, it won’t be a surprise they can accurately and wholesomely capture the correct caller ID details and blow the competition out of the water. When that happens, and it could be free, Truecaller might become a hard sale.
Truecaller launches the Africa Launch Event at the CcHUB, Nigeria
Truecaller launches the Africa Launch Event at the CcHUB, Nigeria