Caller ID in Android

[chillipig]

I posted this in XDA yesterday but no reply so far just thought the Neowin community might help shed some light.

 

Hi

Something occurred to me when watching an iphone owner answer a call the other day, the phone displays the actual area of the country (UK) that the caller is from as opposed to just the number.
After wondering how I never realised before jsut how useful this is I've been looking all over the place for a 3rd party who makes such an application but the only two I can find seem to be by pretty unreliable indian based developers.
If anyone can answer what apple use in ios to do this I'd be very interested in knowing because as its built into the firmware its got to be 99.9% reliable.
 

[Skiver Veteran]

I'd imagine it's just based on a database of known area codes etc. My Android does and has done this for quite some time now.

[chillipig]

Really? What phone do you have, i've never seen this on Android.

[Skiver Veteran]

I've got the Nexus 5X, I know I've seen it happen on my friends Nexus 6 and I'm almost certain it did this on my Nexus 4 too.

 

If you have an HTC or a Samsung it may be something they bumped out with their custom roms.

[chillipig]

OK thanks, will try and see whats different with those ROMs as I have an S5

[HawkMan]

Wy not use something like TrueCaller so you get the full who is actually calling ? 

[dragon2611]

Just now, HawkMan said:

Wy not use something like TrueCaller so you get the full who is actually calling ? 

Truecaller is pretty decent as long as you have a Data connection for it to do the lookup, it will list the company calling if known and if it's a reported scammer/spam callcentre. 

[chillipig]

Was just looking for national area codes but with high reliability. Truecaller gets permission to upload your own contacts for sharing with everyone as I understand.

[adrynalyne]

3 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

Wy not use something like TrueCaller so you get the full who is actually calling ? 

Privacy concerns?

 

 

[HawkMan]

1 minute ago, adrynalyne said:

Privacy concerns?

 

 

if you have privacy concerns over truecaller, you probably shouldn't be using an android phone to start with... or phone... 

[adrynalyne]

8 minutes ago, HawkMan said:

if you have privacy concerns over truecaller, you probably shouldn't be using an android phone to start with... or phone... 

When is the last time Google managed this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/29/a_hundred_million_truecaller_users_vulnerable_to_privacy_bug_security_bod_says/

 

I have more faith in Google to keep data safe than this company.

http://thepublicprivacy.com/2016/02/07/truecaller-in-the-crossroad-between-privacy-and-data-protection/

 

If someone is naive enough to believe otherwise, that is on them.

[Jub]

34 minutes ago, Skiver said:

I've got the Nexus 5X, I know I've seen it happen on my friends Nexus 6 and I'm almost certain it did this on my Nexus 4 too.

It is a Nexus-exclusive feature. You can flash the dialer and framework required on other devices too, but obviously not an officially endorsed method.

 

Not sure either if other third-parties do something similar, but I haven't heard about it.

[Skiver Veteran]

Just now, Jub Fequois said:

It is a Nexus-exclusive feature. You can flash the dialer and framework required on other devices too, but obviously not an officially endorsed method.

 

Not sure either if other third-parties do something similar, but I haven't heard about it.

 

Good to know, it just started doing it one day and I've taken it for granted since.

[chillipig]

4 minutes ago, Jub Fequois said:

It is a Nexus-exclusive feature. You can flash the dialer and framework required on other devices too, but obviously not an officially endorsed method.

 

Not sure either if other third-parties do something similar, but I haven't heard about it.

Ah that explains it then, thanks. Any idea how I would go about obtaining and applying this to my S5?

[Tuskd]

8 minutes ago, Jub Fequois said:

It is a Nexus-exclusive feature. You can flash the dialer and framework required on other devices too, but obviously not an officially endorsed method.

 

Not sure either if other third-parties do something similar, but I haven't heard about it.

I have seen an OnePlus X with this feature natively. Not sure on others.

[Tuskd]

17 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

When is the last time Google managed this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/29/a_hundred_million_truecaller_users_vulnerable_to_privacy_bug_security_bod_says/

You decide what information to give out. The least Truecaller can know about you is your name (or what most people save your contact as) and your number (through which Truecaller gets your region and your operator). Isn't it something you want to give to others so that they identify you? Truecaller already has your name and number from someone else having your contact and using Truecaller . Also sharing your contacts to it only helps get better results for others who might need the information. Also nobody is ever going to know who your contacts are.

[Circaflex]

It is a feature built into the google dialer. it is not a nexus exlusive, you just have to be running MM or above. I believe it was nexus exlusive when LP first launched.

[HawkMan]

47 minutes ago, adrynalyne said:

When is the last time Google managed this?

http://www.theregister.co.uk/2016/03/29/a_hundred_million_truecaller_users_vulnerable_to_privacy_bug_security_bod_says/

 

I have more faith in Google to keep data safe than this company.

http://thepublicprivacy.com/2016/02/07/truecaller-in-the-crossroad-between-privacy-and-data-protection/

 

If someone is naive enough to believe otherwise, that is on them.

"vulnerable". ummm, google and android have had that in the news several times.... and even then, why would I care, they're effin phone numbers... you know where you can find them ? inthe phonebook, online, yellow pages, google, facebook, everywhere. 

[Jub]

5 minutes ago, Circaflex said:

It is a feature built into the google dialer. it is not a nexus exlusive, you just have to be running MM or above. I believe it was nexus exlusive when LP first launched.

It still is.

 

37 minutes ago, chillipig said:

Ah that explains it then, thanks. Any idea how I would go about obtaining and applying this to my S5?

You can install it as part of OpenGapps or find the framework as a flashable zip and the install the dialer from Play Store (unless you flash it too).

 

You need to have an unlocked phone and custom recovery.

[sc302 Veteran]

Moved to the android forum as it doesn't have anything to do with computer networking, internet, or security. 

[PGHammer]

On 9/19/2016 at 1:16 PM, Jub Fequois said:

It still is.

 

You can install it as part of OpenGapps or find the framework as a flashable zip and the install the dialer from Play Store (unless you flash it too).

 

You need to have an unlocked phone and custom recovery.

As long as you have a third-party recovery, you can install OpenGApps as a straight replacement for your stock GApps - in fact, the biggest reason this is, in fact, done is because of "China phones" riddled with malware (which, UNfortunately, includes my Lenovo tablet 5.0 firmware; the AOAS applet in said firmware is infected - the ONLY reason I found it is that the built-in Bitdefender Mobile Security AND the October Google security update for LP flagged it as a known issue).  It's why I look for newer changes in OpenGApps on a monthly basis at the very minimum - especially changes that are included in the pico (typically the smallest) GApps from L forward.