India
has one of the fastest growing online/ mobile populations in the world and is
facing many of the same challenges of uncontrolled malware, diverse cybercrimes and mobile abuse that the global Internet community has been fighting for
years. India might be winning the battle but losing the war on spam
calls. While data shows that unsolicited phone calls and texts from
telemarketers are on the decline, WhatsApp and Internet-based spam is on the
rise, industry experts say. Calls from telemarketers can eat up your monthly
minutes, or just plain waste your time. If you're tired of answering or calling
back there are so many apps to help you.
Image Source: CrimeJail.com |
Cell
phones are a fantastic way of communication, but they come with unexpected
surprises like unwanted phone calls. You don’t know with whom your mobile
number is shared when you fill a random form of subscription for various
services, or may be the cell phone number allotted to you belonged to someone
else. Or, your number mistakenly appeared in some directory. Regardless of the
cause, solutions are popping up ranging from downloadable apps and 3rd party
services that can help manage the experience.
Propose
a technology that will stem the flow of unwanted calls, and the industry will
definitely listen -- but if it's Facebook that is doing the proposing,
suspicion and fear follow that interest. Facebook is developing a new Android
dialer that leverages the social network’s massive database of phone numbers.
After trying its hand at ephemeral messaging and news reading apps, Facebook is
all set to launch a phone dialer and caller ID app, called 'Hello' for
Android users. Facebook is working on a caller ID system for phones that would
diminish spammers' ability to fake or spoof the origin of calls. Other players
like Nimbuzz have come out with their own similar approaches. We must
admit, the thought of Facebook adding caller ID app to its ranks never got the
right kind of encouragement and why would it, after all F.H has been only
released officially in US right now. But when has that ever been the reason to
not use an app, especially with Android? Just download the F.H apk file and you
get all the features right onto your phone.
Nimbuzz
recently launched its new call management platform called Holaa. Holaa
is basically a free caller ID app. It is available only on Android. Holaa!,
like Truecaller, allows users to see details like the caller’s name, photo and
location during an incoming call live. It also helps block spam calls from
pesky spammers or other unwanted callers. The app regularly provides additional
information about phone book contacts, which the user can add to their
directory by using the ‘Merge’ feature. Users can also share contact
information for both phone book contacts and unknown contacts with their
friends using a share option allowing the sharing of names, mobile numbers,
photos and e-mail addresses.
Holaa App |
Truecaller delivers an experience that goes beyond the limitations of today’s phonebook
apps so that people always have access to the right information, people and
businesses they need. It lets you search for contact information (based on name
or number), identify incoming calls, block calls you don’t want to receive, and
make personal contact suggestions based on time and place – so you never have
to leave the service to find the right contact.
TrueCaller |
It is very good apps I think. Nowadays, telemarketers and scammers are really frustrating. They even call us at nights, or weekends! I usually just report some of suspicious numbers to police department or some other authorities. Beside that, I also put and share their numbers to my Twitter page, Facebook feeds, or some sites like http://whycall.me to let people know about them. With all of these apps, I am sure it will be easier for us to decide whether those are legit numbers/calls or not.
ReplyDeleteYou do the right thing then . :)
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