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'WhoApp' Provides Users With Detailed Unknown Caller Information for Free [Updated]
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This could very quickly turn into an auto-dialer, a profitable one since it gets even more detailed info if you ignore the call (social media, their own FB), ironically denying calls is almost the point of the app. That is so wrong. I really want Apple to deny this app. I'm interested in my own privacy, but I've no idea if my contacts will use this.
People who use this and their contacts can be exploited in some way, I guarantee that. Hackers, stalkers. It's way too easy of an entry to personal information, it'll be abused.
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[doublepost=1463645296][/doublepost]MacRumors is doing a great disservice to it's readers by peddling an app like that.
A new iOS app launching today, called WhoApp, plans to provide its users with detailed information about unknown callers soliciting their smartphones. Created by developer TelTech, WhoApp promises to recognize calls from telemarketers, wrong numbers, and potential scammers by returning information about the unknown dialer's name, picture, address, and even a Google Street View image of their location.
The app works through a two-step process: when users receive an undesirable call from a number not stored in their iPhone, they hit the decline button to send the call to WhoApp. Next, the app dials back the number to your phone with all of WhoApp's promised data points, allowing you to make a better decision about whether or not the call needs to be answered or ignored.
TelTech created a similar app before, called TrapCall [Direct Link], but WhoApp notably differs from the company's previous unknown caller ID creation in that it's free to download and requires no subsequent in-app purchases or paid subscription services.
WhoApp has a few other features as well, including its own phone dialing pad that lets users look up information on a phone number to find more information about someone before hitting the dial button. TelTech also says that the app "learns and grows with every call," getting smarter with age in determining between different types of calls, from scams and telemarketers, to someone potentially important not yet stored in your smartphone.
Privacy and information gathering may be an issue for some users interested in WhoApp (the setup process requires access to an iPhone's address book, and it's heavily encouraged for users to connect to Facebook), but TelTech has launched a suite of call-related apps that have encouraged individual privacy. One of its previous creations, RoboKiller, won the FTC's anti-robocall competition last year, and another encourages identity protection by spoofing a user's real name and number on other smartphones to ensure anonymity.
WhoApp is currently available exclusively on the iOS App Store [Direct Link], but TelTech is additionally planning to launch the app on Android sometime this fall.
Article Link: 'WhoApp' Provides Users With Detailed Unknown Caller Information for Free
The trust lost by this post will not be compensated enough by payment from this shady company.
And same here. I don't answer numbers I don't recognise then do the Google thing-
Why can't someone do an app which googles the number while it rings then feeds back the result ??
I take it that you don't get constant calls? Because some of us do. I've also been very protective of my phone number over the years. Doesn't matter if you block a number when another one calls you. As several people told me, they're just spoofing numbers, so they can just spoof new ones and keep calling you. So I was also wrong, and there needs to be some kind of technical solution in place to do better checks on calls entering the network. Some of us also have landlines at work, and we get robo calls (a frequent one I get as an admin for a large website is from "Google" trying to get me to pay to get better SEO placement which is a big fat scam). My landline at work can't block calls like my iPhone can, and as I just said, the point is moot due to the spoofing.
This is a problem that needs to be solved by Apple. iOS9 added the ability to do lookups to caller ID as calls are coming in, I believed that someone would use that to make a app that would lookup any unknown caller on the fly. No one did as far as i know. You should not have to allow someone to upload your contacts and have access to your facebook account to solve this problem. Best answer would be for Apple to build a solution into iOS and allow us to have full control over it.
I have this problem so I downloaded this app yesterday morning before it was fully understood what all of the trade offs are. I'm going to uninstall it today. Not so much due to the privacy issues, which are real, but because it destroys the integration of calls on my phone. I do not want voice mail to be in a separate app , stored on a server that is not run by my carrier. My carrier server and my phone are integrated by design, this one is not and will not be.
This is real problem and needs a real solution. Apple should be the one to provide it.
I have this problem so I downloaded this app yesterday morning before it was fully understood what all of the trade offs are. I'm going to uninstall it today. Not so much due to the privacy issues, which are real, but because it destroys the integration of calls on my phone. I do not want voice mail to be in a separate app , stored on a server that is not run by my carrier. My carrier server and my phone are integrated by design, this one is not and will not be.
This is real problem and needs a real solution. Apple should be the one to provide it.
Truecaller does the same thing already.. It has over a billion phone numbers and has been around for years... It has an app or go to truecaller.com to see it. All your numbers are already uploaded, especially all US and european numbers xD Developing country ones might be harder to find.
Yep! I was so excited about this app. I installed it and was quickly disappointed. It didn't pick up on one of the junk calls I am trying to avoid. Then I realized that it had forward my voicemails to their number, and I could only access them through the app. I was ticked off by this, and deleted the app. My VM would not work, and it to a call to my carrier to have my VM reset. That was easy enough, but I am SO NOT IMPRESSED!
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On top of everything else, my husband got an odd email from me, which was clearly a phishing scam. I don't know if this is a coincidence or connected to this nightmare. I'm angry with myself for being too impulsive and not being more diligent in checking the facts!
Yeah me too. I think this needs to a lesson. In today's world you can no longer just trust that an app will just do what it says. There has to be a business model to make money, we all need to remember that even though it seems obvious.
Great discussion. I wish I had read through it before installing the app (which I've now uninstalled).
And Truecaller, like this app and many others, is at risk from legal challenges in respect of data privacy legislation. It is capturing, storing and processing personal data (PII) without the explicit consent of the individuals or data subjects. That at the very least is a dodgy basis based on current EU data privacy laws, and is certainly contrary to the new version due to come into effect in 2017. If I was a data privacy lawyer in the EU I'd be licking my lips in anticipation...
I get robo calls every day and by forcing them to voicemail, they eventually go away. Even these robo callers have efficiency requirements and costs, and it does not do any good for them to keep my number on their list when they figure out after some period of time that I am not going to answer their calls.
Capitalism works even with robo callers. Just ignore them, they'll go away because even they have to have returns for the cost they are spending. But, and this is important, once you answer one robo caller, then you are doomed. They pass around the "you answered" list and you can never get off of it.
I've never answered one except at work, where I'm required to take calls from all sorts of phone numbers. My iPhone still gets random calls all the time. I never answer them, and when I search them, they're spam and scammers. It hasn't stopped. I don't think you know what you're talking about. And I have no idea what any of this has to do with capitalism? I said there needs to be a technical mechanism in place to prevent spoofing. Who can argue against that?
The U.S. government cannot legislate against/regulate junk calls. The existence of the "Do Not Call" list today proves this. It's existed for years and having your number(s) on it seems to do very little to absolutely nothing, from my personal experience.
Apps do not have access to information about calls you make or receive. The lookup is only done by iOS itself (it can search the emails on your device for the caller ID).
I don't really see much value in it since reverse lookup is not reliable and doesn't help against robocalls from spoofed numbers, which is the majority these days from my experience.
Your right I probably should have said "Freedom" instead of "Capitalism". What if I want to report my neighbor for breaking the law, but don't want anyone to know that I reported it. I'm OK with preventing spoofing as long as the ability to place anonymous phone calls is not removed. Freedom requires anonymity. I think one reason people don't report more crimes today is that they don't trust the police to keep their report and phone number confidential. It used to be you could just go to a pay phone and remain confidential. We have lost that ability since cell phones don't have an anonymous button.
There are legitimate cases for anonymity, but IMO accusing someone of a crime is not one of them. The accused has a right to know who reported him. And anonymity also enables abuses like "Swatting" and other forms of stalking.
You can always suppress your caller ID (the iPhone even has a menu setting for that). The police may still be able to get your number, but most private entities will not. Spoofing should be prevented IMO, but there is no easy technical solution given that there are hundreds or thousands of providers that would have to agree on a common verification method.
might as well keep using it now. did you think they were going to erase all of your information after you deleted the app?
Ok so same deal here - but simply deleting the app does not change this, does it? I'm looking into how to deactivate the whole thing.
Christ, way to go MR on suggesting we all install spyware.
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Per the website:
"WARNING: Deleting WhoApp from your phone will not de-program your phone, and you will not receive your voicemails."
To fix this go to http://www.whoapp.co/#/support then "How do I turn off WhoApp?" and follow the instructions for your service provider.
