Online directory service Truecaller has introduced an alternate dialer app called Truedialer for Android and Windows Phone that provides information about the number users are about to call and also allows them to search unknown numbers on Truecaller.
How this works is that once an user start typing a number, the app starts searching for relevant information on the user’s phone book and on Truecaller database and autocompletes missing information about a specific number.
One can then save this information to their phonebook for later use. It also provides this information for all the previous calls in the user’s call log. The service however needs an active data connection or WiFi to look up contacts outside of the phonebook.
It also warns users when they are about to call a spammy number, powered by Truecaller’s spam blocking service and provides information on the number of users who have reported that particular number as spam. Other features include the ability to switch between numeric and alphabetic keyboards, swipe on a contact to view details or send a text message.
Considering that Truecaller is known to have privacy issues, there might be some concerns on the user information collected by Truecaller through this app, possibly to strengthen its database. A company spokesperson however told Gigaom that they do not store any call data coming out of Truedialer.
Interestingly, Truecaller also stressed on the fact, both to Gigaom and on its official blog, that both are different apps and complement each other in terms of service, although users can expect more functionality from its directory service in Truedialer in the future.
Truecaller is backed by Atomico, Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (KPCB) and Sequoia Capital and had raised $60 million from these investors earlier in the month. It had also raised $18.8 million from Sequoia Capital in February this year. India is the biggest market for TrueCaller with the company recently claiming that more than 50% of its user base is from India.
Also read:
– Truecaller just got creepier: Lists all searched names and numbers on its website
– Truecaller takes down the Recent Searches page that shouldn’t have existed to begin with
– Issues the TrueCaller hacking raises about apps & their makers
