Truecaller faces mounting pressures as its development matures

Truecaller is likely one of the world’s most generally used caller identification platforms, with greater than 500 million customers. Now it’s getting into a tougher section as development slows in its largest market and competitors intensifies throughout telecom networks and smartphone platforms.

A lot of Truecaller’s development has been pushed by India, which accounts for over 350 million customers, or about 70% of its world base. The quantity of spam and undesirable calls has turned the app from a easy caller ID service right into a extra embedded layer of on a regular basis communication.

That place is now shaping its subsequent section. The corporate has launched options reminiscent of AI Assistant and Household Safety to drive monetization, alongside instruments like Neighborhood Strategies to remain related as competitors intensifies. This comes as telecom-led options reminiscent of Calling Identify Presentation (CNAP), devoted quantity sequence for verified enterprise calls, and AI-based spam safety achieve traction in India. In the meantime, smartphone makers together with Apple and Google proceed to construct caller identification and spam-blocking capabilities into their working methods.

As competitors will increase, Truecaller’s development is beginning to sluggish. Information shared with TechCrunch from Sensor Tower reveals downloads from India fell 16% year-over-year in 2025, whereas world downloads declined 5%, marking a reversal after a number of years of development. Separate knowledge from Appfigures reveals downloads peaked at 175 million in 2021, dropped sharply in 2022 and have since hovered round 120 million yearly.

India stays Truecaller’s largest market, however its share of downloads has declined from over 70% at its peak to the mid-50s lately, pointing to a gradual shift in new person development towards different markets.

Truecaller’s shift in development dynamics is being carefully watched by traders. The corporate’s shares have fallen about 78% since its 2021 IPO and are down round 37% to date this yr, underscoring investor considerations about its development outlook and enterprise mannequin. Chief Govt Rishit Jhunjhunwala instructed TechCrunch that one of many key questions from traders has been across the influence of CNAP in India. He additionally acknowledged latest headwinds in components of the enterprise, with out elaborating additional.

CNAP, an initiative pushed by India’s telecom regulator and is being applied by telecom operators, shows caller names primarily based on KYC information on the community stage with out requiring third-party apps. This overlaps with a part of Truecaller’s core providing, however is extra restricted in scope.

Truecaller’s Jhunjhunwala mentioned the corporate doesn’t see CNAP as a disruption however as validation of the issue.

“Truecaller operates as a world platform with a a lot richer and dynamic intelligence layer — spanning spam detection, fraud prevention, enterprise identification, and person context throughout calls and messages,” he mentioned. “This enables us to go considerably past primary caller ID.”

Bharath Nagaraj, director of fairness analysis at Cantor Fitzgerald, mentioned CNAP might sluggish person development however is unlikely to materially disrupt Truecaller’s core enterprise within the close to time period. As a substitute, he pointed to strain within the firm’s promoting section — pushed partly by adjustments from Google — because the extra instant problem.

“In case you have a look at the earnings for the corporate, 65%–70% of it now comes from advert income. And that impacted not too long ago,” Nagaraj instructed TechCrunch.

In its final earnings name (PDF), Truecaller mentioned that it misplaced roughly one-third of advert site visitors from its largest associate in August 2025 — a associate analysts on the decision recognized as Google. Jhunjhunwala attributed the drop to an unresolved “algorithm concern,” whereas CFO Odd Bolin mentioned the associate nonetheless accounts for greater than a 3rd of whole income. The corporate is now including new companions and constructing its personal advert trade to scale back dependence on any single platform.

However even shifting to an in-house advert trade might not absolutely tackle the problem. Promoting stays extremely aggressive, with manufacturers in a position to spend throughout a number of digital platforms, mentioned Nagaraj. “You possibly can present your adverts on Truecaller, however you may as well present them on Fb,” he mentioned.

In-app income continues to develop

The strain on promoting comes at the same time as different components of Truecaller’s enterprise are on a unique trajectory. Information from Appfigures reveals that whereas downloads have plateaued lately, gross in-app income has risen sharply — from $600,000 in 2017 to $39.3 million in 2025. It has already reached $13.4 million this yr as of April 20.

Month-to-month income generated by in-app purchases on Truecaller is now constantly above $2 million and nonetheless climbing, per Appfigures.

Truecaller’s presence on iOS has additionally grown from lower than 5% of its whole downloads in 2020–2021 to round 11–12% lately, per Appfigures, highlighting a shift towards higher-value markets. The corporate has stepped up efforts on Apple’s platform, together with launching real-time caller ID for iPhone in early 2025 and rolling out characteristic updates to enhance parity with its Android app.

Nonetheless, Apple not too long ago expanded its call-screening capabilities, which might scale back the necessity for third-party apps amongst iPhone customers.

One other key pillar of Truecaller’s monetization technique is its enterprise providing, Truecaller for Enterprise, which permits corporations to confirm their identities and talk with prospects by way of calls and messaging. The section has been rising steadily, with income rising 39% in fixed foreign money in 2025. Truecaller’s Jhunjhunwala mentioned the corporate is increasing the platform globally by opening its chat providers to companions and providing instruments reminiscent of verified enterprise caller ID to assist enterprises confirm identification and attain prospects.

Alongside its enterprise push, Truecaller has additionally been increasing its client subscription enterprise, which has over 4 million paid subscribers globally, as extra customers go for options reminiscent of superior spam safety, AI-based name screening, and an ad-free expertise.

Previously, Truecaller has been criticized over the way it builds and maintains its huge database of telephone identities. An investigation by The Caravan raised questions on consent and knowledge assortment practices, significantly in India, the place knowledge safety legal guidelines have to date been much less stringent. Truecaller has denied wrongdoing and maintains that it complies with relevant rules, however the debate underlines the broader problem of balancing utility, scale, and person privateness.

Regardless of all these challenges, Truecaller sees vital room for development. The corporate is targeted on addressing the rising complexity of communication, Jhunjhunwala mentioned, as spam and rip-off calls grow to be extra refined with advances in AI. Equally, it plans to develop throughout all three income streams — promoting, enterprise providers, and premium subscriptions — because it seems to be to maintain development throughout markets. Whether or not that will probably be sufficient, nonetheless, might rely upon how shortly it might probably adapt as caller identification shifts from standalone apps to the community, and to the telephone itself.