Truecaller has introduced a new Family Protection feature that safeguards loved ones from scam calls through shared controls, real-time alerts, and unified security settings, launching globally before reaching India in early 2026.
Published: December 9, 2025 5:21 PM IST
The scam-call solution Truecaller today introduced a “Family Protection” feature to help families better shield themselves against the rising tide of scam calls.
The new update is already live for Android and iOS users of the app, as the company moves beyond protecting one person at a time and toward a more networked, family-wide approach to safety. Here’s what to know about the feature and how it works.
What is Truecaller’s “Family Protection”?
With “Family Protection”, users can set up a Family Group with up to five trusted members (family members, but not limited to; friends and colleagues are also eligible). One member can be made a Family Admin (Admin), who can view and edit spam-block and call-handling rules, and the shared blocklist. The other members will automatically inherit the Family Admin’s safety settings. Essentially, the Family Group has one safety plan.
Android users get a few extra admin privileges: notifications when another family member receives a suspicious call, the option to immediately terminate a call on a member’s phone if it’s considered a likely scam, and the option to view each family member’s phone status. That status includes low-level indicators such as battery life, phone activity, and availability; this could allow the Family Admin to get a sense of whether an at-risk family member may need to be proactively reached out to for intervention, if required.
What does the Feature’s Launch Look Like?
In a blog post announcing the update, the company said the Family Protection feature is currently live in four “pilot” markets: Sweden, Chile, Malaysia, and Kenya.
If you’re an Indian user eagerly awaiting the feature, it’s only a matter of weeks. The company said it will likely launch in India in Q1 of 2026.
The Company on why it thinks this matters?
The logic behind the feature is simple. Scam calls today are both more frequent and more complex than ever, with malicious callers constantly devising new ways to trick vulnerable users (read: the elderly or less technologically proficient) into giving them money or sharing their personal information. With Family Protection, Truecaller has essentially expanded an individual’s ring of safety to include others they trust, as a way to close the information gap that scam callers otherwise take advantage of. In the company’s words: now a single techie can act as the “family CTO” and protect their loved ones.
For Truecaller, which is otherwise free, this could also be a way to nudge its regular users into creating more interconnected relationships on its app and, ideally, moving toward its tiered Family Premium plans, which include “enhanced spam blocking, auto-rejection of high-risk callers, and an ad-free experience.”
What to know before you use it?
Individuals can only be a part of a single Family Group at one time.
Family Group members who are not the Family Admin (read: just “Members”) can only view settings; they do not have permissions to change or adjust those settings.
Only Family Admins can access settings and permissions. However, Admin rights can be shifted and reassigned within the Family Group if necessary.
Phone scammers have been outsmarting their targets for years and today, their attacks are more frequent and sophisticated than ever. Truecaller’s Family Protection feature is a smart way to build community-style resilience, one that positions phone safety not as the sole responsibility of one person, but the collective responsibility of a group. This is especially the case in India, where large, joint-family households are a reality, and passing information about scammers to one another is an already established norm. The feature isn’t live in India yet, but its global launch is a promising sign. If all goes as planned with its pilot rollouts, Family Protection will likely become a valuable and much-wanted feature when it arrives for Indian users as well.
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Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: india.com
