Truecaller can now tell you why someone is calling you even before you pick the call

Truecaller: Truecaller to now tell the reason for why someone is calling! Caller identification app Truecaller has updated its caller ID functionality to now include the reason for the call. The feature, called Call Reason, allows users to put in the reason they are making the call, and with this, the recipient would be able to see whether the call is being made for business, personal or urgent reasons. This is a significant addition to its core functionality that identifies callers, which made the app highly popular since its launch back in 2009. Apart from this, the company has also decided to introduce two new features regarding SMSs, allowing users to now schedule their SMSs or translate messages. These new features are being released worldwide for Android users at the moment.

While the Call Reason is a huge value addition by Truecaller, which hopes that this would lead to an increase in call pick-up rates, the company is already facing competition in this functionality by Google. The search engine giant had earlier announced a Verified Calls feature, which it would incorporate in its default Google Phone app after the testing is complete. Truecaller is at a disadvantage as compared to Google in this regard, since Truecaller’s functionality would only be helpful for users, whereas Google would add the feature to the Phone app. Google, while announcing the feature, had stated that as per studies it was found that people were more likely to answer business calls if the reason for the call was mentioned.

Truecaller said that the feature was the most requested one in 2020 worldwide. It is extending the existing caller ID feature, allowing the caller to make a note of why they are calling, defining the prime reason. The reason would be visible during the call and even if the recipient misses it. However, it would work only if the recipient is also a Truecaller user. The caller would be able to select from the pre-defined reasons or make a custom note.

Businesses would also be able to use this feature to set a customised text before each call, and this, Truecaller hopes, would help in increasing user engagement.

The feature has been rolled out to Android users starting Tuesday and it will be available for iOS users early 2021.

Moreover, keeping in mind the possibility of spammers using this feature to trick people into attending their calls, the company said that its existing algorithms to prevent spam and scam calls would continue to be in use to limit any abuse. Moreover, the reasons sent by the callers would remain private between the callers and recipients and would not be accessible to Truecaller.

Moreover, the SMS experience on Truecaller would also be upgraded now, with a dedicated ‘schedule SMS’ icon, located next to attach and emoji icons. With this, users would be able to set the date and time when they want the SMS to be sent. The feature is already being rolled out for Android users.

Apart from that, the company has also added a feature to translate SMSs with the help of Google’s ML Kit to help translate the content of the message from a foreign language. For this, the user would need to hold onto the message and in the pop up, select the ‘Translate with Google’ option. While this feature would be rolled out for Android-based devices in the future, it is not clear whether iOS users would get this feature or not.