Features To Include While Developing Caller ID App Like Truecaller
Like millions of people, are you also tired from receiving endless spam calls and SMS?
Do you wish to develop a Caller ID App to combat this problem?
If the answer is yes, you need to first understand the complex algorithm behind these apps and the expectations of the users!
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.
Interestingly, 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.
Important Note: There is a difference between scammers and spammers. Remember not all the spam messages contain scams. Scams are sent to trick the user to disclose your personal information. It is more into stealing and frauds.
WHAT IS A 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 A CALLER ID APP 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. This 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-Ficonnection.
Note: You might receive certain calls even after marked as spam from the companies you have earlier dealt with. For instance, receiving verification calls on the purchase of a new SIM card from spam marked numbers is quite common.
FACTORS THAT SHOULD BE KEPT 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.
TARGET AUDIENCE
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.
MOBILE 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
Millennials won’t have enough time to bear any lags in the modern day apps. They will not think twice before uninstalling unresponsive apps. So you must make sure you have a speedy database to ensure an efficient app performance. Considers 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 extra vigilant with this 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.
WHAT SHOULD BE THE ESSENTIAL FEATURES IN YOUR CALLER ID APP?
If you are planning to develop a caller ID app, you have ample of features to incorporate in it. Keep reading on to know some of the essential ones!
1.RECORD PHONE CALLS
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.IDENTIFY 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.CALL HISTORY AND CONTACT BACKUP
This is a new feature introduced recently by 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.FINDING NUMBERS WITH THE HELP OF CAMERA
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. Try incorporating this feature from Truecaller clone script.
6.CALL BACK NOTIFICATION
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.BLOCK NUMBERS
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.
