Truecaller Faces a Privacy Scrutiny in 2020

The very famous and well-established Swedish app Truecaller is indeed one of the best and most useful services that has been introduced well to the markets, and it's indeed incredibly utilized and benefited from by millions of people from all around the world. The ID - identification - service, Truecaller, has been around for more than ten years; the app came to the spotlight in 2009 and it's an effective, multi-functional call identifier app that's best known for helping users everywhere identify who's calling them at any given moment. Truecaller is available for both iOS and Android devices and it has got a fan base of millions of people from different countries and regions. 

The next big step for Truecaller involves expanding and increasing its services by providing financial credit for small and starting businesses. But in recent months the topic of online privacy and user's online rights has been revisited and discussed heavily with popular apps and social media outlets such as Facebook and TikTok being constantly scrutinized and under attack for their double-standards regarding privacy status. Unfortunately, Truecaller has been lately yet another example of how the privacy policy and standards of each and every app and service will be scrutinized meticulously in the coming years! 

It's undeniable that Truecaller is highly effective in hindering fraudsters, stopping spam calls and somehow identifying suspicious callers - or even stalkers! But when it comes to privacy and data protection, users usually prefer their apps and favorite services to be straightforward with their online privacy criteria and data protection standards. Some experts have been examining the way Truecaller functions and how much data and private info the app actually collects! Initially, when you download and install Truecaller, then sign up, all of your details and phone info are immediately copied and uploaded to the app's server - including name, contact lists, smartphone system, device ID, and others. After that the app's system starts a matching process where each contact number of yours is assigned to an ID - which consequently means that Truecaller is basically creating a massive data base of millions of users' numbers from everywhere in the world. 

The working mechanism of Truecaller of course dictates that a database is essential to provide the user with the right info about who's calling. But rumors say that the Swedish app is in fact gathering more data than what actually appears to the customer. The data base of the ID app goes beyond names and numbers; Truecaller collects other details such as geographical locations, IP address, SIM card info, apps installed on the device, device ID and type, web browsers, messages and email addresses too. Truecaller has indeed faced a couple of privacy issues in the past - such as some system bugs - and if the app is truly collecting extra data from its users, then an official statement is required to justify the need for these private - unauthorized - data collecting processes, and also to clarify how much security is provided to protect the user's personal and discreet info from any possible futuristic breaching or compromising. 

The Topic of The User's Online Privacy is Stirred More Often Lately 

Truecaller Has Been in The Market for More Than 10 Years Now