As Apple unlocks iOS, Truecaller’s useful Live caller ID finally works on iPhone

A convenience that Android phone users have had for years is finally arriving on iPhone too. Truecaller, a leading global communications platform and the makers of the popular spam detection app, have released live caller ID for iPhone users. This comes after Apple has allowed developers access to a Live Caller ID Lookup framework in iOS 18.2, signalling an increasingly more open approach with third-party app integrations. This specific framework is developed for apps such as Truecaller, with encrypted access to details on an incoming call screen, to be able to provide call identification. Truecaller and Apple detail that the caller identification lookup will be based on homomorphic encryption. This encryption method converts information into ciphertext (encrypted text that cannot be read without an authentication key; also used for secure email), which can be analysed without having to decrypt the original data source. Apple, in documentation for app developers, explains that an on-device app authenticates the user device with a temporary ID, the system runs multiple round protocols with the information server, while the server doesn’t learn about specific tokens and therefore the identity of a user. “We see tremendous potential and growth in our iPhone user base and parity with Truecaller’s Android experience has been top of their wishlist. This update does that and more while preserving privacy for all calling activity,” says Rishit Jhunjhunwala, CEO of Truecaller. HT has been testing the Truecaller beta versions over the past couple of months, and results suggest that the caller ID functionality for incoming calls from unknown numbers is successfully invoked for all such calls, if Truecaller has relevant data on that specific number. This is exactly how Live caller ID has worked on Android, over the years. There are quick visual cues too on the call screen as your phone rings — you may notice a green tick for verified businesses or entities, and a red warning icon for numbers other users have also reported as spam. To report a number, a user needs to open the Truecaller app, and select the numbers they would like to report as spam. If you notice incoming call instances wherein the identification isn’t done, the reasons could include poor Wi-Fi or mobile network connectivity at the time, or the phone aggressively closing apps to save battery in case of low charge level. The option for manual search remains too. Apple’s change in approach, coincided with iOS 18, giving developers ability to integrate broader functionality deeper within the operating system. Something that was broadly locked away, for years. Another example is third-party apps being allowed access to the iPhone’s NFC or near-field communication chip and the Security Enclave components — this means payment apps can enable tap-to-pay functionality for iPhone users. It also opens up possibilities for wider contactless ecosystem compatibility, including digital keys and third-party tags. The Camera Control hardware in the latest iPhone 16 Pro phones, may be walking a similar path of welcoming more app functionality, in the coming years. The updated Truecaller for iPhone also refines automatic blocking of spam calls — users have the choice between top spammers (these would be the most active spammers) and all spam calls. In our experience, having kept the toggle at the latter, more aggressive blocking option, some spam calls still filtered through (though of course, identified by Truecaller on the call screen). The Family Plan premium subscription, which till now needed to be led by someone who had set up Truecaller on an Android device, no longer has those restrictions. Essentially, a family in which every member has an iPhone, can now subscribe too. It costs ₹ 249 per month or ₹ 1,490 per year and can be shared with four additional users as part of one subscription. Mind you, the Live caller ID on iPhone will be available as part of the Premium subscription (this is priced ₹ 99 per month or ₹ 899 per year) or the aforementioned Family Plan. For users who remain on the free tier, manual number search as well as a limited caller ID of Verified Businesses, will be enabled. Late last year, mobile service provider Bharti Airtel toggled the switch to enable a network-level “suspected spam” labelling for calls and messages being delivered to users on their network. In the first 2.5 months, Airtel claimed to have flagged as many as 8 billion spam calls and 0.8 billion spam messages. While this ideally will have the scale if deployed effectively, the methodology to mark specific calls and messages with the labelling remains opaque—though Airtel insists AI is at play and there are multiple factors that define it. Just this week, Airtel announced a partnership with Bajaj Finance, to build a digital platform for financial services — this could mean calls from Bajaj Finance’s tele callers may no longer be marked as “suspected spam”, if they already were. Spam calls and messages, with their increased volume in the past year, have been a reason to worry for the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which last year, asked mobile service providers to implement enhanced traceability of messages and disconnect numbers being used to make promotional calls or messages. However, results have varied.