Truecaller, the firm specializing in caller identification, has unveiled its call recording and transcription offerings for paying customers in India, its primary market. This feature is accessible to premium users on both Android and iOS platforms, offering transcriptions in English and Hindi languages.
Back in June 2023, Truecaller launched call recording for premium users in the U.S. and now extends this functionality to India. A notable difference lies in the regulatory framework: in the U.S., receivers are notified with a beep sound when a call is being recorded, a requirement absent in India.
For Android users utilizing Truecaller’s dialer, a dedicated recording button is visible within the app’s interface. Alternatively, for other dialers, Truecaller presents a floating recording button.
On iOS, the process diverges due to Apple’s CallKit restrictions. To record incoming or outgoing calls, users must navigate to the Truecaller app post-call initiation, accessing the “Record a call” feature located in the search tab. The app initiates another recording line, necessitating the manual merging of calls to commence recording.
Upon call completion, the app processes the audio and notifies users when transcription is available. Recordings on iOS are stored locally, with the option to store them in iCloud.
Despite facing challenges in recent quarters, Truecaller’s Q4 2023 results indicated revenue of $41.14 million, marking a 4% decline year-on-year. Annual revenue for 2023 totaled $167.34 million, down 2% year-on-year. Consequently, Truecaller stocks have depreciated by over 15% year-to-date.
However, amidst this, the company observed an 11% increase in monthly active users, reaching 374 million, and a 12% surge in daily active users, reaching 305 million. Notably, the Indian user base accounts for over 70% of both metrics. Although ad revenue decline contributed to overall revenue reduction, user revenue grew by over 20% in Q4.
Truecaller aims to incentivize customers to purchase its premium plan, starting at ₹79 ($0.95) per month or ₹529 per year ($6.38), which includes call recording features.
Recent recommendations by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for a caller ID service, “caller name presentation” (CNAP), didn’t deter Truecaller, as it doesn’t view the service as competitive.
In a recent investor note, stockbroker Numis acknowledged that Truecaller might not witness rapid improvements in the Indian ad market. Instead, the company focuses on expanding subscriber revenue, particularly in the U.S. and selected markets in Latin America and Africa.
