Caller ID security app
GetContact is a free caller ID and contacts security app. The app was developed by Getcontact LLP, established by Turkish citizens in the UK in 2017. The GetContact app uses your information to track who’s calling. But is this app safe to use since it accesses your contacts and their information?
Features
GetContact’s has useful features. The primary feature is caller identification. The app searches a database to determine who’s calling you. This feature works even if the caller isn’t in your contacts list. GetContact also automatically blocks spam callers and telemarketers to protect you from unwanted calls. It also allows you to report numbers not already in their database, furthering the protection of this app. GetContact has an additional feature where it lets you read what your nickname is on contacts’ phones.
Drawbacks
GetContact, much like other apps of this kind, functions almost exclusively by harvesting you and your contacts’ data. It does this by receiving access to the contact list of your phone and downloading the data to a database. This isn’t considered a breach of privacy because you must agree to this action to use the app.
Consumers of the product didn’t find this feature to be desirable; some expressed concern that their contacts wouldn’t appreciate their data being taken without their consent. If you opted into this feature, you can remove your data from GetContact’s database by going to the website and requesting your data be removed.
Competition
Other competitors of GetContact fall into a similar pitfall of privacy violations. TrueCaller is nearly identical in its form, function, and failures to the GetContact app. Both apps take your contact list and use it in their databases. Hiya, another similar app, also follows this path by sending analytical data taken from the user to a third-party site.
Our take
GetContact, among other caller ID and security apps, is risky to use but effective. These apps are likely to collect your information and, perhaps even sell it. Be cautious if you decide to download and use this app.
Should you download it?
No. GetContact is not worth risking your data.
