SPAM PROTECTION

Spam protection is nothing but avoiding unnecessary calls and messages from persons or businesses which are not available in our contacts. They usually get our phone numbers via websites or other sources where our contact details have been shared to be safe you can track calls simply with these software. Example: If we are opening a bank account based on our CIBIL SCORE, whether he/she may receive calls from concerned bank credit card departments.

We cannot say it as spam; people who need credit cards will get benefited. Those who have or don’t want a credit card will get irritated. So those who don’t want these calls again, they mark it as spam and block it. Attending and acknowledging spam callers may lead to falling us into their trap whenever a user receives a call from an unknown number he can’t be able to find. Whether it is a spam call or not, to discover that he may install some third-party applications to prevent spam calls. Based on my suggestion, I have selected three apps for spam protection.

Ø TruCaller

Ø Hiya

Ø Whoscall

TRUCALLER:

TruCaller is a smartphone application that helps users to identify and spam calls. The true caller was developed by Sweden based software company True Software Scandinavia AB. It was initially released for Symbian OS and later launched for Android and iOS users. It is one of the top freest applications for spam protection and trusted by millions of users. In addition to spam call protection, it will also prevent spam messages. It requires an active internet connection to display the calls from an unknown number. 

Accurate caller database will have millions of contact numbers which are collected from users and stored. If more than one user reports the same amount, then it will automatically reject calls and messages from the number. It will also help to find the name of the unknown person who makes calls. True caller is also having an additional feature called TrueCaller Pay, which is an exclusive feature in India to send and receive money from the users with the help of NCPI. 

In July 2013, Trucaller servers were hacked by the Syrian Electronic Army, where user data was collected information about the users. TruCaller contains so many ads because this user gets irritated. Only paid users can get premium and free services.

HIYA:

Alex Algrad developed a hiya app from Seattle U.S. It was initially developed for Whitepages. It is an online telephone directory for the US for the verification of business and people records. Later it was collaborated with Samsung mobiles and to provide inbuilt caller id and spam protection functions. 

Hiya partnered with iPhone, AT&T services, and ZTE mobile phone manufacturers to extend its support in call protection and spam filtering. When comparing with TruCaller, Hiya was not that popular because of the competitive features. 

Comparing TrueCaller, Hiya may have a lesser database that leads Hiya to become less popular among markets. If any unknown number matched with spam data stored in the database, then the call will get automatically rejected. Compared to TruCaller, Hiya offers free services to users with no ads. Its user-friendly design makes efficient call and SMS blocking. Compared to Trucaller, Hiya service was limited.

WHOSCALL:

 Whoscall is nothing but an acronym of “Who is calling?”. It is a caller ID and Spam number management application developed by Gogolook, a Taiwan based company. This app was available on iOS and Android platforms. 

This app has an additional functionality as an Offline search database, which will help users to find unknown numbers without any network connection. It will allow important calls and reject unwanted calls. Around 31 countries in the world use Whoscall Application. In 2013 Whoscall was rewarded with Google play the best app across the Asian Continent. 

The essential features of Whoscall are

• Showcard,
• Lightning Identification,
• Number management and
• Offline database.

Show Card: It is nothing, but users can store the details regarding their business.

Lightning Identification: With the speed of lightning, it helps to identify the telemarketers and spam callers.

Offline Database: It provides details of the telemarketers even without an active internet connection. Number management: It helps to group the contact numbers to specific groups. E.g., it helps group contacts, which are all from the student category.

CONCLUSION:

       Spam callers are creating a nuisance to users by making calls and sending messages. To prevent them, we may use some third-party applications. By using these third-party applications, Million dollar questions have been raised regarding the privacy and security of the user. This application will have access to read messages, accessing the device location, and call logs. 

These applications will access contacts to save the numbers in their databases. This not only affects the privacy of users but also it affects the privacy of other persons who are available in contacts. A better way to avoid spam calls is to attend the call and confirm it. Once it gets approved, then use an inbuilt call block facility to prevent calls from the number in the future. It may also lead to loss of important calls, so it is better to use call blocking functionality in mobile phones.