Truecaller is an app that offers smart calling features such as, caller ID, spam block, etc. It has grown to become a hugely influential startup with over 1.6 billion phone numbers in its database. It has a simple model of pulling together phone numbers from public sources and willing members. The way it works is this. You install the Truecaller app and then give the app the permission to access your phonebook.
If your friend, who has your number stored on his/her phone goes ahead to download and install the Truecaller app, the moment he/she is asked for permission to access her phone book and she replies ‘yes’, all the numbers on his/her phone book, including yours gets transferred to the Truecaller database, without your consent.
This is, in spite of the fact that you may not like the service. This means that Truecaller does not really need your permission to import your data into its database.
Thankfully, there is a way to get your phone number out of the Truecaller database, if you wish to do so. Here are the steps for you to follow:
- Visit truecaller.com/unlist
- Enter your phone number below, including the country code
- Answer the optional questions
- Verify that you are Human and
- Hit ‘Unlist’
If you have registered an account with Truecaller, you need to deactivate it first in order to un-list. Note that it might take up to 24 hours before your number gets deleted.
Hope this has been of help to you.
