Truecaller brings real caller ID to iPhone users

A popular ID program Truecaller has left iPhone users for a long time for not providing real-time caller ID — something its Android users have been enjoying for a while. Today, that is changing as the company is rolling out an update that brings true caller ID support to iOS subscribers.

The company was able to do this because Apple started it Automatic Caller ID Checking in iOS 18, allowing third-party caller ID apps to make calls to their server to get caller ID information. Notably, this is also the first major release from the Swedish company since then Co-founders Alan Mamedi and Nami Zarringhalam stepped down from day-to-day operations. in November 2024.

Today, Truecaller has over 2.6 million paying subscribers, of which only about 750,000 are on iOS. However, 40% of Truecaller’s revenue comes from iOS subscriptions. The company also gets 5X the number of conversations in its first session on iOS compared to Android and 80% more revenue from iPhone subscribers.

Considering the importance of the iPhone on the concept of Truecaller, the company continues to develop its iOS app.

In 2022, Truecaller restart it An iOS app focused on spam detection, because Apple allows the app to store large numbers locally.

“This made the whole caller ID. But it wasn’t enough because in countries like India, there is a big call service, and not everything can be found on offline sites,” Truecaller Product Manager Nakul Kabra told TechCrunch in an interview.

India poses other challenges for the company, including the influx of jobs, Calling Name Presentation (also known as CNAPdesigned to reduce spam. The service, which is currently being offered by local telcos, can be seen as a competitor to Truecaller.

Truecaller also updated its iOS app in 2023 with caller ID, but this affected an important part. interaction and Siri and it was not real time.

Until iOS 18 is released, Truecaller had to rely on a a locally stored dictionary of limited phone numbers on iOS.

To launch the new feature, Truecaller built a new server architecture and created a special, dedicated database for iOS, alongside its main database available for Android users. The Apple Phone app makes encrypted requests to this database and receives encrypted responses that are left on the client (iPhone) to display the caller ID in real time. This method is called “homomorphic encryption,” as the calculations use the stored data instead of translating them first, while encryption is done to the client to show the caller’s information if it matches the data stored on the server.

Kabra told TechCrunch that Truecaller has developed a way to connect two databases so that data can be stored between them.

“At the moment, there may be a little delay because these requests are put in a queue, and the encryption we do takes time – and is very expensive… But it shouldn’t last more than a few hours,” he said. .

TechCrunch tested live caller ID under Truecaller’s beta program last week and found that the feature provided real-time caller ID information most of the time, though it sometimes missed.

The premium version of Truecaller for iOS starts at $9.99 per month, per person, or $74.99/year. The company also offers its family plan for iOS starting at $14.99/month or $99.99/year with a Gold subscription ending at $249 per year.

Users can enable the Live Caller ID Lookup feature via iPhone Settings > Apps > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification.

On iOS 18, Truecaller has also changed its look and feel with the caller’s name appearing in bolder form than their number. Now, Truecaller is working on supporting photos to appear in caller ID for iOS users.