As it is reportedly stated, the rate at which the spammers are operating everywhere has hit all-time highs, presenting real threats on a day-to-day basis not only for private institutions, but also for the governmental ones. This has caused real threats that not only risks the safety of personal information regarding users but also poses a continued challenge to both private and governmental institutions.
With the increase of spam calls and scams, a lot of people are moving towards caller identification apps such as Truecaller. With more than 400 million users worldwide, it has really started to set itself as a leader for identification of unknown calls and blocking against spammers. However, Truecaller has been under higher scrutiny lately due to privacy concerns and accusations of data misuse.
To know the answer of the question ‘is Truecaller safe?’, keep reading this article.
Is Truecaller Safe?
Let’s now check out if this caller ID app is safe or not.
Data Collection Practices of Truecaller
Data Collection Practices of Truecaller:
At the core of the Truecaller privacy debate is the wide data collection policy within the app. For it to work as a caller ID service, Truecaller needs access to contacts and call history. This way, it can maintain a huge database of phone numbers and corresponding names which are then used to tell who is calling.
While Truecaller insists the data is collected just to enhance its spotting of spam, critics maintain that the company has gone beyond what is necessary. There have been charges that Truecaller collects and stores user SMS messages, which could be used to build detailed financial profiles of its users.
Moreover, Truecaller’s “Enhanced Search” has been criticized for auto-publishing the contact information of users, along with names, phone numbers, and e-mail addresses. All this raises a thin cloud over certain possible misuses and how little it really leaves to the user’s control.
Security Breaches and Data Exposure
Security Breaches and Data Exposure:
There is more to data security shortcomings reported for Truecaller than just privacy implications. In 2019, reports came out the that personal data of millions of Truecaller users had been exposed on the dark web. This brought to light that there possibly were some lapses in the data storage and protection measures taken by Truecaller.
Privacy advocates have criticized Truecaller for not doing enough to address these security concerns. This distrust was further enhanced by the poor response of the company to the data breach, further destroying trust in its will to protect user privacy.
Transparency and User Control
Transparency and User Control:
One of the key criticisms against Truecaller is the lack of transparency in data collection and usage policies. The company may claim to be upfront about the information it collects, but several users raised concerns regarding opaqueness in their privacy policies and the difficulty in managing their personal data.
For example, there have been reports that users find it hard to deactivate their Truecaller accounts, or removing their information from the app’s database. This has been raising concerns that Truecaller does respect the privacy of the individuals.
Possible Alternatives
Possible Alternatives
Due to these privacy and security concerns, many users have been reported to look for alternatives in terms of applications that will help in caller ID and spam blocking. Apps such as Hiya, Mr. Number, and CallApp have all been giving users similar functionalities to what they get on Truecaller but probably with better and more robust privacy protections.
But many of these applications may also be requiring data access, thus making their privacy practices not so considerably different from that of Truecaller.
Therefore, it is important that the users must look into the pros & cons of the caller ID apps, and especially the potential risks to their personal information.
Conclusion
The debate surrounding Truecaller’s safety and the questions it raises on privacy practices are rightly ongoing. The company is constantly under numerous allegations for the misuse of data and security vulnerabilities, which are high. Even though information on the identification of callers and blocking of spams could be useful in the app, the concerns that have been aired over data collection and handling can’t just be ignored.
You can visit the official website of Truecaller to learn more about its safety feature.
