Truecaller, a widely used caller identification platform with over 500 million users, is entering a challenging period. Growth is slowing in its largest market, India, and competition is increasing from telecom networks and smartphone makers.
India has been a huge driver for Truecaller, accounting for over 350 million users, or about 70% of its global base. The high number of spam and unwanted calls has made the app more than just a caller ID service; it’s become an important part of everyday communication.
Now, this position is shaping the company’s next phase. Truecaller has launched features like AI Assistant and Family Protection to help make money. It also added tools like Community Suggestions to stay relevant as competition grows. This comes as India sees more telecom-led solutions like Calling Name Presentation (CNAP), special numbers for verified business calls, and AI-based spam protection.
Meanwhile, smartphone companies like Apple and Google are adding caller identification and spam-blocking features directly into their phone systems. As competition heats up, Truecaller’s growth is starting to slow. Data from Sensor Tower shows that downloads from India dropped 16% year-over-year in 2025, while global downloads fell 5%. This reverses several years of growth. Separate data from Appfigures shows downloads peaked at 175 million in 2021, fell sharply in 2022, and have since stayed around 120 million annually. India is still Truecaller’s biggest market, but its share of downloads has gone down from over 70% at its peak to the mid-50s in recent years. This suggests new user growth is gradually shifting to other markets.
Investors are closely watching Truecaller’s changing growth. The company’s shares have dropped about 78% since its 2021 IPO and are down around 37% this year, showing investor worries about its future growth and business model. CEO Rishit Jhunjhunwala told TechCrunch that a key question from investors has been about CNAP’s impact in India. He also admitted to recent difficulties in parts of the business without giving more details.
CNAP, an initiative from India’s telecom regulator and implemented by telecom operators, shows caller names based on official records at the network level, without needing third-party apps. This overlaps with some of Truecaller’s main offering, but it’s more limited. Truecaller’s Jhunjhunwala said the company sees CNAP not as a problem, but as proof that the problem needs solving.
“Truecaller works as a global platform with a much richer and smarter intelligence layer – covering spam detection, fraud prevention, business identity, and user context across calls and messages,” he said. “This allows us to go much further than simple caller ID.” Bharath Nagaraj, director of equity research at Cantor Fitzgerald, said CNAP might slow user growth but probably won’t seriously harm Truecaller’s main business in the short term. Instead, he pointed to problems in the company’s advertising segment, partly due to changes from Google, as the more immediate challenge.
In its last earnings call, Truecaller said it lost about one-third of ad traffic from its biggest partner in August 2025. Analysts on the call identified this partner as Google. Jhunjhunwala blamed the drop on an unresolved “algorithm issue,” while CFO Odd Bolin said the partner still accounts for more than a third of total revenue. The company is now adding new partners and building its own ad exchange to rely less on any single platform.
But even having its own ad exchange might not fully solve the problem. Advertising is still very competitive, with brands able to spend across many digital platforms, Nagaraj said. “You can show your ads on Truecaller, but you can also show them on Facebook,” he noted.
