Our application is not a malware: Truecaller on alleged list of banned apps

Truecaller says it is investigating why it’s on a list of applications banned for Indian Army personnel.

These apps were allegedly being used by Pakistani and Chinese agencies to hack into smartphones. (REUTERS)

Truecaller on Thursday responded to various media reports on an alleged list of applications banned for personnel of the Indian Army by Union Home Ministry. The company said that its application is not a malware and that it has already launched an investigation into the matter.

"In response to certain reports, we would like to clarify that we are a Sweden based company. We are not sure why the app is on this list, but we're investigating. Truecaller is not a malware, and all our features are permission based and are disabled by default," said the company in statement.

"For additional clarity, when you download Truecaller from the app store, Truecaller needs access to certain capabilities to provide you with a richer experience."

For instance, permission to receive data from Internet is required to receive push notifications. Similarly, access to read phone status and identity is required to detect EVENTS like incoming calls, answering calls and ending calls, the company explains on its updated support page.

Earlier, various media reports claimed that Home Ministry had issued an advisory against a number of applications after receiving inputs from intelligence agencies such as Research and Analysis Wing (RAW) and National Technical Research Organisation (NTRO).

The alleged list includes names of applications, mostly Chinese, such as Weibo, WeChat, UC News and UC Browser along with native applications on Xiaomi smartphones such as Mi Community, Mi Store, Mi Video Call. These apps have been accused of functioning as spyware on the mobile phones.