Why Shouldn't we use Truecaller?

      We get hundreds of calls a day, where some may be spam and some may be unknown and there are few people who wouldn't attend a call until and unless they know the name of the caller and here comes a role of an app called Truecaller and of course we all know what is Truecaller. 

    This is the most recommended app that everyone suggests to install and it is pre-installed in most of the devices. It's an app that identifies the name of the unknown caller who is calling you and it also blocks spam calls. But do you think that installing this app on your device is safe?

Before knowing that let's know-how does true caller work.

    When you install an app like Truecaller it asks permissions to access your contacts, SMS, Microphone, Camera, etc., You cannot use this app until and unless you give access to these permissions and you may think that by granting access to these permissions there will be a good user experience but the game starts here after gaining all the access in your device it stores your data in their server before installing this application read their privacy policy or user agreement to know what are the details they are fetching from your device.

    In simple ways, Truecaller works by fetching your contacts and showing it to others and you get the detail of unknown contact which was fetched from some other device. This is called Crowd Sourcing.

   You use Truecaller free of cost without spending any money to identify the unknown caller and this makes you think that granting permission to access your contacts is worthy. But do you think this app is trustworthy?

   

How does Truecaller earn?

   As many of the app developers, True caller earns its revenue through its ads and paid apps but this is just a small amount where the rest of their revenue is earned through your data, this may sound silly but believe me, your data are worth more than golds and silver. These data are sold to advertisers and they utilize these data to sell the right products and services to you.

   There is a pop up after you finish a call and the app asks few questions regarding the details of the caller like who is the caller, profession, is it for business, etc., and you answer for these questions and these answers are stored in their server in a hierarchical manner to sell this to their advertiser, Truecaller has another service called Truecaller business. For example, you own a telemarketing business and you call few peoples to get leads but you have been marked as spam and you have been automatically blocked by the Truecaller application and to reduce the spam rating you need to pay to Truecaller so your spam rating gets reduced.

   Data thefts are done by every company but the theft done by Truecaller is in Huge number. They have also launched UPI services for money transfer and bill payments. The users of Truecaller had previously reported that the app had automatically created a UPI id without the knowledge of the user and the company said that it was caused because of a bug. But think for a sec to create a UPI Id you get an OTP on your device and you have to enter this OTP on the app. The UPI id can't be created without these steps and we cannot say this as a bug. Truecaller as permissions to access SMS and when you get an OTP it is accessed by Truecaller to create a UPI id and this shows that how dangerous it is to use Truecaller, if you download this application you are giving the data's of your friends and family who are not using Truecaller and there are over 500 million downloads in the play store for this application and this should be the app that should be banned in our country.

    A lot of you might think it would be impossible for you to know the details of an unknown caller but your privacy is more important than the name of the unknown caller.

   If you still want to know the name of the unknown caller then you can try this method as I do.

   Create a new Gmail account and do not use the mail id you use regularly as Truecaller can access contacts even from your mail.

    Then go to the Truecaller website and create an account using newly created mail id.

    Then go to options of your browser and then select add to Home screen and this creates a web application of Truecaller site.

    Then open the application and enter the caller id to know the identity of the person.

   

      This may be difficult for you entering the unknown caller id whenever you get an unknown call but this method gives information by saving your privacy.

     And remember information is wealth. You may not know the value of your information but when this information reaches the right person. It is more valuable than gold to him. So always be aware do not share your information with anyone at any cost and be careful while giving permission to any applicable and always know the purpose of the permission before you grant access.