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Ask HN: Real time phone number look-up on mobile phones

6 points by palidanx 13y ago

I randomly at times get calls from recruiters or unknown people during the day. When I get a call and I am at my computer I do a quick google search to see if I can find who the company is quickly. Does anyone know if a service exists where when we get an unknown call not on our contact list the phone can do a web look-up on who the call is and attempt to show it before we answer? I realize the query and response would have to be super fast.

m_stoelzle 13y ago
http://800notes.com/ http://800notes.com/ and http://whocallsme.com/ http://whocallsme.com/ someone should build an app :D
gregcohn 13y ago
iOS doesn't give developers access to the callerID of incoming calls. you'd need to do a cut/paste (at best) and probably have to type in the number by hand. it would be made more complex by the fact that at least some carriers like Verizon don't give you web and phone access over the network at the same time. on android, apps can see the number. There have been various apps that offer a lookup service and spam filter, most notably Mr. Number, which recently discontinued the service amid some controversy and also was acquired. you could also check out Whoscall, which claims to do something similar but has a weak implementation on iOS. Or you could of course use Burner....
- palidanx 13y ago
  Interesting.. would it be possible to somehow put a 'listener' on Google Voice where when a call was received on that number, a quick look-up could happen then a separate mobile notification could be delivered on a separate app? That assumes that Google Voice even has an API listener for incoming calls (which I'm assuming it does not).
  - gregcohn 13y ago
    well they obviously have a server-side listener with a lookup/execute routine, as they have whitelist, blacklist, and other conditional features, but i don't believe it's available as an API.
rullgrus 13y ago
I use http://www.truecaller.com http://www.truecaller.com. Works well on Android. I especially like the block feature.
munimkazia 13y ago
I caved in and started using truecaller after I started getting too many unwanted calls, even though a lot of people say there are privacy issues with using the app.

6 points by palidanx 13y ago

m_stoelzle 13y ago

http://800notes.com/ http://800notes.com/ and http://whocallsme.com/ http://whocallsme.com/ someone should build an app :D

gregcohn 13y ago

iOS doesn't give developers access to the callerID of incoming calls. you'd need to do a cut/paste (at best) and probably have to type in the number by hand. it would be made more complex by the fact that at least some carriers like Verizon don't give you web and phone access over the network at the same time. on android, apps can see the number. There have been various apps that offer a lookup service and spam filter, most notably Mr. Number, which recently discontinued the service amid some controversy and also was acquired. you could also check out Whoscall, which claims to do something similar but has a weak implementation on iOS. Or you could of course use Burner....

palidanx 13y ago
Interesting.. would it be possible to somehow put a 'listener' on Google Voice where when a call was received on that number, a quick look-up could happen then a separate mobile notification could be delivered on a separate app? That assumes that Google Voice even has an API listener for incoming calls (which I'm assuming it does not).
- gregcohn 13y ago
  well they obviously have a server-side listener with a lookup/execute routine, as they have whitelist, blacklist, and other conditional features, but i don't believe it's available as an API.

rullgrus 13y ago

I use http://www.truecaller.com http://www.truecaller.com. Works well on Android. I especially like the block feature.

munimkazia 13y ago

I caved in and started using truecaller after I started getting too many unwanted calls, even though a lot of people say there are privacy issues with using the app.