Understand what Truecaller really does

We do not sell user’s data, and we don't have any plans of doing so either. That’s not how our business works. Instead, we keep the free version running by showing ads, and we offer paid Premium subscriptions for people who want additional features and a smoother experience. It’s a straightforward model that lets us stay transparent and privacy-focused.

We do not collect or upload data from your phonebook or contact list and make them public for everyone to see. While we do request permission to access your contacts, this local access is required in order to determine if the number on an incoming call is already saved on the device or not.

The names you see in Truecaller come from suggestions made by other users within the app. Truecaller works as a community-driven service where millions of people contribute names and spam reports to help improve accuracy for everyone.

Truecaller maintains a strong, well-structured privacy framework that ensures we follow global privacy laws, including the EU’s General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) and India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act 2023 (DPDP Act). We constantly review and update our practices to keep up with new laws and new technology. This approach helps us offer a service that protects your privacy and not only meets local requirements around the world, but often exceeds them. For more information, check out our Privacy Center.

We do not listen to or record your calls. Our app does not have access to your call audio. Our features like caller ID and spam protection work by identifying numbers and patterns, not by monitoring conversations. All call-related actions happen on your device, and your audio stays completely private. Protecting user privacy is fundamental to how Truecaller operates, and listening to calls goes directly against our policies and purpose.

Truecaller does not read, store or access your personal messages. Your SMS or its content, like one-time passports or OTPs — never touch our servers, unless you have consented to share them as feedback. Our app only uses local permissions on your device to detect spam messages and identify important details in your messages like OTPs and other information. All processing happens directly on your phone. This privacy-first design helps us build smarter features without compromising security. Protecting user privacy is central to how Truecaller works, and our entire platform is built on trust, transparency, and user control.

This is not true and goes against our core mission to build trust in communication. Our entire purpose as a platform is to identify, filter and reduce such unidentified calls for users. Our business relies on the trust of the people who use our app. Allowing more spam would undermine our credibility and weaken our primary feature, which is spam blocking.  

We identify and block billions of spam calls globally, and we offer some blocking options for free. Users who upgrade to Premium get an ad-free experience and enhanced blocking capabilities.

Our success depends entirely on fighting spam, not promoting it.

We do not steal or collect your personal information. We are a permission-based service where users are in full control of all aspects of data that can be processed. To add to this, Truecaller does not ask for unnecessary permissions. Each permission that we request is tied to a particular feature:

Calls: We collect your name and phone number, and basic call  information (like incoming/outgoing numbers) to verify your account, enable Caller ID, block spam, and display your call history.

Contacts: We access your contacts only on your device to identify callers and show your saved names (e.g. “Mom”). Please note that we do not upload your contacts.

Messages: The SMS functionality of Truecaller is designed to work completely offline. All SMS content is processed locally on the device. Since no information leaves your phone, Truecaller does not access any information to track or target you or build financial profiles of any individual. For more information about how we process your data, visit our Privacy Center.

We do not provide a searchable directory of random numbers and people can not input a name and get a number. Your profile is private by default, if someone wants to see your number, they need to send you a contact request. 

You can easily remove your number directly from Truecaller’s website. Once we verify it’s really you, your number will permanently disappear from public search results within 24 hours — no questions asked! The only exception is that numbers marked as spam or fraud by the community cannot unlist. 

We do not build financial profiles of anyone. We have no access to your banking activity, credit profile or any other information that could be used to create a financial profile. We access limited SMS data only, and they are processed directly in your phone — they never touch our servers.

That might have been true years ago when the app was much heavier, but the current versions are highly optimized to work across the widest section of devices at all different price points. The service runs mostly in the background using minimal battery and resources.