Truecaller’s spam-blocker and caller ID technology are coming to Cyanogen OS

Incessant calls from unknown numbers are frustrating and can at times be immensely distracting, which is part of why companies like Facebook and Google have as of late introduced new Android dialers with which they hope quash this problem. Both essentially crawl their respective social network and search databases for the number calling you trying to find a name or business match. In Facebook’s case, it allows you to “block” individual numbers, which really just sends calls from unwanted callers straight to voicemail.

It was announced by Truecaller today that Cyanogen, the popular Android OS based on the AOSP, will be getting the company’s caller ID service baked in, specifically to be part of the Cyanogen OS dialer.

What’s special about Truecaller is that it can be thought of as a sort of crowdsourced telephone directory. If you use Truecaller, it will look up numbers in its database as they come in and tell you who’s calling even when if not in your contacts, and will also let you know when a number has been reported as spam and let you do the same. The company has previously partnered with a number of manufacturers to preload the app, but this is the first time Truecaller’s services will be directly integrated into a mobile operating system.

The partnership with Cyanogen will see Truecaller’s spam-blocking and caller ID features integrated into the Cyanogen OS dialer on all future devices that ship with the OS. Those who already have a Cyanogen OS-powered device will receive an OTA update in the coming months with Truecaller included. While it will be baked directly into the dialer and not just added as a pre-loaded app, you’ll have the option to opt in or out when you start using the device. Cyanogen diehards will be glad to know that this does not affect the main open source CyanogenMod version of the software.

For the uninitiated, Cyanogen is a mobile OS built on the Android Open Source Project (AOSP) meaning that it’s the Android you may be familiar with, but with Cyanogen’s own tweaks and improvements to the “vanilla” Android experience—and none of Google’s official apps. Cyanogen monetizes the development of its OS by creating a spin-off commercial version, called Cyanogen OS, where it partners with different companies for services like mapping applications, packages it all up, and then sells it to an increasing number of OEMs including OnePlus and Oppo who preinstall it on their devices as the main OS.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VDS13YkbBf8