Truecaller, Google tie up to improve video calling

Leading communication app Truecaller has tied up with Google to integrate the tech giant's video calling app Duo within the Truecaller app.

"With valuable partners like Google, we are bringing all your mobile communications and transactions under one roof with the safest and most efficient experience possible," said Nami Zarringhalam, co-founder and CSO of Truecaller, in a statement.

According to the agreement on Monday, Truecaller integration with Google Duo will be available in the coming months for Android and iOS as a permission-based service, where users will be able to opt-in and out at any time.

"Video calling should work for everybody, regardless of what platform they are on. Our aim is to make video calling simple, fast and available to everyone," said Amit Fulay, Head of Duo at Google.

"With this Truecaller integration, we're able to bring a better video calling experience to millions of new users," Fulay said.

Along with this integration, Truecaller also announced a completely new redesign of the Android app that will include a broader array of features, including SMS filter, Flash Messaging and Truecaller Pay.

The SMS filter allows user to instantly see who has sent an SMS and allows it to filter out all spam messages.

The Flash Messaging allows you to send quick pre-defined messages to any Truecaller user to let them know if you're in distress, you're on your way, your location, or that you've reached home.

With Truecaller Pay, any Android user in India can now send or receive money securely over their mobile phone. For this, the company has partnered with ICICI Bank.

The company also announced that TrueSDK -- Truecaller's unique tool for developers -- was contributing over one-third of daily user on-boarding and verifications for its partners.

"Number of apps leveraging TrueSDK has grown by over eight times and daily signups/verifications with TrueSDK have gone up 15 times," the compnay said.

Truecaller also partnered with Airtel to launch "Airtel Truecaller ID" to extend the caller ID feature for Airtel users who use feature phones.

With this subscription-based service, all feature phone users with Airtel mobile service can now use "Airtel Truecaller ID" to see who's calling.

These users will get a Flash SMS about the identity of the number before the call hits the users mobile.