Verithiathe honest score on any app
Updated July 2026 · real, multi-region App Store reviews
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The verdict on

Truecaller

45
User verdict / 100 High confidence Divided

Truecaller is praised by some for its ability to identify and block spam calls, but a significant number of recent users express frustration over its perceived ineffectiveness, high subscription cost, and misleading 'free' advertising.

4.4★ lifetime (251,328) Free + in-app purchases since 2012 by True Software Scandinavia AB updated 0.2 mo ago recent negative 79% 120 reviews across 4 regions
Pricing and 'Free' Access Spam Blocking Effectiveness Value Proposition App Functionality and Bugs Data Privacy Concerns
5★147
4★23
3★41
2★74
1★715
recent reviews across 4 regions, vs the 4.4★ lifetime average

Truecaller is an app designed to identify callers and block spam, with many users appreciating its effectiveness in filtering unwanted calls. However, recent reviews indicate a growing dissatisfaction, particularly among iPhone users, regarding its ability to block spam, its premium pricing model, and issues with the free version.

What users like

  • Effectively identifies and blocks spam and unwanted calls for some usersR2R9R23R30
  • Provides peace of mind and saves time by filtering callsR30R95R158

What users complain about

  • Many users report that the app fails to identify or block spam calls effectively, even with premium subscriptionsR1R5R8R13
  • The app is frequently criticized for misleading advertising, claiming to be free but immediately requiring payment or a subscription for basic functionalityR6R10R12R14
  • High subscription cost (around $75/year or $10/month) is not justified by the value provided for many usersR1R7R8R18
  • Some users experience bugs, setup issues, or poor performance, including problems with the AI assistant and customer supportR8R15R28R35
  • Concerns about data privacy, with claims that the app collects and sells user informationR6R10
  • The free version is now considered largely useless or non-existent by many, often requiring ads or premium features for basic identificationR20R34R37R38

Latest update · v26.26

What the developer says changed (the verdict above weighs this against what reviewers report):

• Introducing Truecaller Travel eSIM to help you stay connected worldwide with instant mobile data while traveling. Available in selected markets, please check the description for more details. • We update Truecaller weekly to ensure it runs perfectly on your iPhone. • This update includes performance optimizations and bug fixes.

Recurring themes

Spam Blocking Effectiveness negative
Many users report that Truecaller, even the premium version, does not effectively block or identify spam calls and texts, with some claiming it blocks legitimate calls instead. This directly contradicts the app's primary purpose and developer claims of performance optimizations.R1R5R8R13
Pricing and 'Free' Access negative
A dominant theme is the frustration over Truecaller being advertised as 'free' but immediately requiring a paid subscription for any meaningful functionality. Users feel misled, especially given the high annual cost (around $75-$79/year or $10/month). The free version is largely seen as useless or non-existent.R6R10R12R14
App Functionality and Bugs negative
Reviewers report various issues, including the app not working at all, setup problems, inability to enter phone numbers, and the AI assistant not functioning or sounding unnatural. Some mention slow and unhelpful customer support.R8R15R28R35
Data Privacy Concerns negative
A recurring concern is that Truecaller collects user phone numbers and personal information, which some believe is then sold to third parties.R6R10
Value Proposition negative
Many users feel the app doesn't offer enough added value compared to free alternatives or built-in phone features to justify its high subscription cost. Some even claim it's 'worthless'.R3R7R13R19

Who it's for

Truecaller might be for individuals who are heavily plagued by spam calls and find that existing free solutions are insufficient, and who are willing to pay a premium for a service that, for some, effectively identifies and blocks unwanted calls R30R158. It is likely not for users seeking a free solution, those on a budget, or iPhone users who already use carrier-specific or built-in spam filters, as many find it doesn't offer significant added value for the cost R19R34.

Evidence note: The recent reviews skew heavily negative, with a strong consensus on the misleading 'free' advertising and the app's perceived ineffectiveness in blocking spam, especially on iPhone. While there are positive reviews, they are fewer and often less detailed, making the negative points more prominent in the recent sample. The developer's notes mention 'bug fixes' and 'performance optimizations,' but recent reviews continue to report bugs and lack of effectiveness, suggesting these issues persist.

Frequently asked

Is Truecaller free to use?
Despite being advertised as free, many recent users report that Truecaller immediately requires a paid premium subscription (around $75-$79 per year or $10 per month) for any meaningful functionality, with the free version being largely useless or non-existent R12R14R18R34.
Does Truecaller effectively block spam calls?
While some users find Truecaller effective at identifying and blocking spam calls R2R30R95, a significant number of recent reviews state that the app, even with a premium subscription, fails to block spam calls and texts, or only identifies them vaguely as 'likely a business' R1R19R34.
Are there issues with Truecaller's AI Assistant?
Yes, some users report that the AI Assistant does not sound natural or fails to work with certain carriers, even after purchasing a subscription R64R174R865.
Does Truecaller sell user data?
Some users express concern that Truecaller collects phone numbers and personal information, and then sells this data to other parties R6R10.

What reviewers actually said

Built only from these 120 real reviews (foreign ones translated). Superscripts jump to the quote here. Apple has no per-review links, so [ref] opens that app's reviews on the App Store.

  1. [R2] 5/5 · US Excellent and unique app: It helps me a lot in identifying callers and blocking annoying calls with ease. · translated
  2. [R9] 5/5 · US The best program ever. · translated
  3. [R23] 5/5 · US Art: A legendary program for identifying intruders and suspicious numbers. · translated
  4. [R30] 5/5 · US Truecaller: Truecaller is extremely helpful for identifying callers and blocking spam calls. It provides peace of mind.
  5. [R95] 5/5 · US Extraordinary App: I love how True Caller app filters Spam and suspicious callers, it is a time saver.
  6. [R158] 5/5 · US Spammers are using AI to target you. Fight back with your own AI ally.: I recommend this app to everyone, especially busy professionals without secretaries and/or in a situation to be targeted by spam and cold calls. I find that the more I opt-out of contact lists, the more calls I get. Basically I’ve indicated that I’m a real person, and they have my phone number to sell to others. And spam c
  7. [R1] 1/5 · US Misses too much: If you get a lot of spam, look elsewhere. I have max settings on and there are still spam calls getting through. I refuse to give them even more money. I won’t be renewing.
  8. [R5] 1/5 · US Useless: Nothing changed waste of money.
  9. [R8] 2/5 · US Not effective: I’ve been using Truecaller for 1 year. I’m not renewing. It simply doesn’t work well enough to justify the price. The support is very slow and terrible - often taking 1 week to respond. There have been several extended outages over the past year.
  10. [R13] 2/5 · US Disappointed: I have been plagued like many of us with multiple spam calls & texts every day for over a year. I read a lot of positive reviews about True Caller. After months of using this paid app & hoping it would reduce my calls & texts, nothing has changed. This app has not helped me one bit! Plus I am unable to find any information about the callers. There is no advantage to using this app o
  11. [R6] 1/5 · US They steal info and sell it!: I went through the sign up and then got hit with the pay wall which ofc, and right after saying “free” online but then when you try to deactivate your account AFTER putting your number they tell you pretty much that you have to accept that they’ll SELL YOUR INFO!!!!!!!!!
  12. [R10] 1/5 · US Scam: There is no functionality to the app they just want your name and number to sell elsewhere.
  13. [R12] 1/5 · US Not free: Maybe I missed something. I expected some services of the app to cost, but website said free reverse lookup. Well, after they collected my phone number and email true caller wants $79 a year to proceed. Wasted my time with their bait and switch advertising.
  14. [R14] 1/5 · US Do not buy: Downloaded the app and immediately blocks you from going further unless you pay for “premium”. There’s nothing free about this app
  15. [R7] 1/5 · US Scam: The search results were less than that of the free apps. lol. And for $74.99. WOW
  16. [R18] 1/5 · US Not free: It should say in the first line of the description: $75 per year, so that people don’t waste their time on setup. I won’t pay unless I see the app is working, which for this kind of app can take weeks.
  17. [R15] 1/5 · US Buggy app: Full of bugs hardly works as intended
  18. [R28] 1/5 · US Does not work: Installed the premium, immediately didn’t work. This is a scam in itself
  19. [R35] 1/5 · US The app doesn’t w: Did everything and the app didn’t work
  20. [R20] 1/5 · US Too much add: Too much add
  21. [R34] 1/5 · US Poor Value and not free: Doesn’t work. Every time I get a scam call it just says “likely from a business” only to pick up and see that it’s a scam call. It looks like that it doesn’t really do a good job at detecting spoofed numbers and only works with some known numbers and only some at that. No matter how many times I report a number as spam it just keeps coming even on the max blocking setting.
  22. [R37] 1/5 · US App is no longer free on AppStore: It sucks this app used to be free and it is still free on Android but iphone users have to pay for it. It sucks !!
  23. [R38] 1/5 · US No Add supported free version: It’s nit free
  24. [R3] 1/5 · US My experience with Truecaller: Absolutely worthless, offers nothing extra that you can already obtain on the Internet. Complete rip off!
  25. [R19] 3/5 · US Wasn’t what I expected - not worth it for me: I really wanted this app to solve a heavy spam-call problem on my iPhone with Verizon. Installation was easy and Premium activated correctly, but in my experience it didn’t identify or block significantly more calls than Verizon Call Filter and Apple’s built-in spam features already did. It may work better on Android, but on iPhone I didn’t find enough
  26. [R205] 3/5 · US Free Version Is Basically Useless Now: Doesn’t works a bit, previously after showing an ad it would atleast identified the number but now ig they shifted to paid platform completely. Such a L move. what should be my title for app store review for truecaller
  27. [R64] 3/5 · US Not as good as it used to be: The AI assistant doesn’t sound natural like it used to last year. And now with Siri being able to do the same thing, why should I spend $75/year for a fake sounding ai voice when I can just use Siri for free?
  28. [R174] 3/5 · US True caller assistant cannot work if your carrier is Cspire: Truecaller Assistant cannot work if your carrier is CSPiRE, even after paying for a subscription.
  29. [R865] 3/5 · AU Does the job: The basic features work well enough. Although I have opted for the upgrade version. The only issue so far is the assistant does not activate and support aren't very supportive. Instead of assisting me they have emailed back the same troubleshooting guide that the app uses and it still does not work.

Synthesized from 120 recent App Store reviews · updated July 2026 · View on the App Store