Introduction

Unwanted calls and messages can be very annoying, especially when you are in the middle of an urgent meeting or something like that. According to the stats, in the year 2018, India is the 2nd most spam plagued nation in the world. Brazil is taking the lead with over 37.5 spam calls in a month, with an increase of 81% from last year.

Telecom operators are the major source of spam calls and SMS in India. They are solely responsible for 91% spam calls in the country. Telecom customers were literally fed up of these calls and SMS and started demanding a solution to this issue. It was high time when the app developers started searching for applications that can filter these unwanted incomings.

Some revolutionary apps like Truecaller, PRANK DIAL, Call Spoofer, and many more were introduced to the world. A caller ID App can help you in many ways. Unfortunately, spammers too have turned smart and started using computer generated numbers to spoof the actual numbers they are calling from. They generally have the first few digits of phone number similar to yours, to make it look familiar to you.

Caller ID app?

A caller ID app is mobile app solutions designed exclusively to identify and control unwanted or spam calls and SMS. According to a report published by Truecaller, one of the best caller ID app, spam calls in India has doubled since the last year.

Despite various regulations issued by TRAI, Indians are yet to receive respite from these spam calls and messages. Caller ID app offers various advanced features that identify and trace unknown and spam numbers and categorize them for you. For instance, you can get spam SMS in a different section of your message box labeled as ‘spam’ to enable you to save your time in filtering them.

How does it Work?

Caller ID apps derive their powers from its own user community. When a user signs in the app for the first time, the app seeks permission to access his/her contact list and other data stored in the smartphone. The app then merges the uploaded contact list with its existing phone detail database. On a successful signing up process, the user can easily search phone numbers on the app and can look at their current location and other details. All the caller ID apps come with a live caller identification feature which enables the user to see the identity and location of an incoming call. Answering or rejecting the call is at the discretion of the user thereafter.

Caller ID apps receive this information in a two-fold approach. They store a list of top spammers in the user’s mobile phone to enable the users in identifying spam calls and SMS even without an internet connection.
If you find an incoming call from a non-listed number, live lookup feature comes for the rescue. The user can see the details on his main screen. Live caller identification requires an active internet or Wi-Fi connection.

The best alternative of Truecaller for Android or  iPhone

In the market, there are various alternative presents of Truecaller application. These applications are offering features equivalent to Truecaller. Here is the list of alternative apps or competitors of Truecaller that are offering either equivalent or advanced features than Truecaller.

  • Showcaller
  • CallApp
  • Whoscall
  • Mr. Number
  • Hiya
  • Caller ID
  • Callblock

The above-mentioned applications have gained good user reviews as they don’t collect much user data at the same time provide accurate caller information. If you are looking for designing your own Caller Id app, you need to be aware of these alternative applications as they might be your potential competitors.

Factors to keep in mind during Developing a Caller ID App

· Concept Proofing

The first question you need to ask yourself before initiating the development process is “Is this important and will it solve the problems of the users?” Make your analysis crisp and short to get the best answers in a short period of time.

· User Needs

Make sure that you know your audience before you start your Caller ID App development process and can successfully tap them. Focus on the expectations of the users and try to incorporate them into your app. Plan and design your app according to user preferences and their demands.

· Application Platform

There are two major mobile platforms in the world; iOS and Android. You must be clear in your planning which platform you will be choosing to launch your app. iOS apps include Objective-C or Swift coding language. Whereas, Andriod applications include Kotlin or Java coding language. Though you can also go for a combined app for both platforms with the help of Xamarin, Ionic, etc.

· Database 

User won’t have enough time to bear any lags in the modern day apps. They will not think twice before uninstalling an unresponsive app. So you must make sure you have a speedy database to ensure an efficient app performance. Consider factors like size of data required to be stored, data structure, accessibility, security, and scalability of data to make this happen.

· Payments 

We live in a virtual world where artificial intelligence is no more a new concept. You must develop an advanced app that accepts payments from various online modes as most of the users prefer to pay through online modes.

 

· Security

This is one of the most important factors that should be kept in mind while designing a mobile app. Smartphones have a lot of personal information like bank details, pictures, passwords, etc. Broken cryptography, poor authentication, data leakages, and so on are some common security challenges in an inefficient app. You need to be very careful about these one in your caller ID app development process!

· Future Prospects

Last but not least! Design an app that holds strong future prospects for your company. Making an app for short term gains is not a good idea. You need to analyze its future before starting the project. Taking inspiration from apps like Truecaller can be a great help.

 

Essential Features in Caller ID App

If you are planning to develop a caller ID app, you have many features to incorporate in it.

1. Call Recording

A modern-day caller ID app should be efficient enough to enable the users to record important phone calls. This will save their mobile space from downloading a different call recording app.

2. Identification of Spam and Unknown Numbers 

Needless to mention that your mobile app solutions should have advanced coding so as to trace unwanted and spam numbers. The higher efficiency displayed here, higher will be your reputation in the market.

3. Backup of Call History and Contacts

This is a new feature recently introduced in some of the best caller ID apps. Users can rest assured about their data and contacts if they have an option to take its backup.

4. Integration with other Apps

You must have witnessed that some advanced caller ID apps have integration with other apps as well. For instance, you can find WhatsApp contact option when you click on any contact. Similarly, integrating with a video calling app is also a good idea.

5. Help of Camera for Finding Numbers

Nowadays you can easily find the details of a phone number with the help of your mobile camera. Try to incorporate this feature in your app as well to enhance its popularity.

6. Notification  for Call Back

Adding a callback notification is will add to the popularity of your app. Activate call back notification to enable your users to get a notification when the other person is free to take calls.

7. Numbers Blocking

Last but the most important feature is to enable users to block unwanted phone numbers. The blocked numbers will no longer be able to contact the users in the future. This can be one of the key features in a caller ID app.

Conclusion

Truecaller is one of the most popular caller ID app in the world. This app authorizes the user to take control of the calls and SMS they want to receive and putting a full stop on unwelcomed ones. It introduced the Truecaller SMS feature that bifurcates messages into different sections like spam, others, etc.

There is no second thought that caller ID apps have come as a boon to the users who want to focus on their work rather than wasting time in attending spam calls and messages. If you too wish to design an app like this, make sure you incorporate innovative features in order to attract a large number of users.