Truecaller redesigns app to enhance user experience

Phone directory app Truecaller on Wednesday said it has redesigned its app to help streamline calls history, SMS and instant messages conversations into a single tab for users.

The revamp has been done for both Android and iOS users globally.

The latest update includes two major features - a new full-screen caller ID, and smart SMS that helps users categorise their SMS.

"Communication in 2020 is easier in many ways, but also complicated by the vast amount of ways to connect with people and information. There is a need to streamline this experience, we believe," Truecaller Managing Director Sandeep Patil said.

He added that in recent years, Truecaller has become a communication hub where all spam - calls and SMS - are identified.

"With this update, we want to make it, even more, easier for our users to have streamlined communication," he said.

India is the largest market for Truecaller, accounting for 150 million monthly active users of its global user base of over 200 million monthly active users. As of October last year, one million were premium (paid) subscribers - who get access to an ad-free experience and additional call blocking features.

Under the new update, users can find all messages and calls merged into a single list on the Home tab.

Also, users will see a full-screen caller ID instead of the small floating pop-up seen previously.

The Caller ID will show colours to identify the type of call - blue for calls from contacts or unknown numbers, purple for priority calls from businesses or delivery services, red for known spammers, and gold for users with upgraded Gold accounts.

The Smart SMS feature will automatically sort messages into four distinct groups - Personal, Important, Others, and Spam - using on-device machine learning, the company said.

Financial and payment notifications will be placed in the 'Important' tab, helping users keep track of bills, payments and budgets.

Future updates will include travel reminders like flight delays, bus seat allocation, live tracking and updates on postal/courier deliveries, tax updates and hospital/doctor appointments.

The company said all processing happens offline and no message leaves the mobile device.

All transactional information is securely stored on the mobile, it said adding that this feature will be India-first for all Android users.