Truecaller Reaches 100 Million Users in Africa and the Middle East, With Nigeria as a Top Market.
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Truecaller, the popular app that helps you identify unknown callers and block spam, has reached a significant milestone: 100 million monthly active users in the Middle East and Africa (MEA) region. This achievement highlights the app’s growing popularity, showing a 19% increase in users over the past year.
Nigeria is a key player in this success story, ranking among Truecaller’s largest markets in the region. According to the company, its app is used on a quarter to almost half of all connected smartphones in countries like Nigeria, Egypt, and South Africa.
What’s Driving This Growth?
Truecaller’s CEO, Rishit Jhunjhunwala, credits this strong performance to two main factors:
Rising Smartphone Use: More and more people across the MEA region are getting smartphones.
Mobile-First Markets: In these countries, your mobile number is the primary way you identify yourself and connect with others. Truecaller’s ability to verify contacts and protect users from unwanted calls makes it an essential tool.
Globally, Truecaller now serves over 450 million active users and has been downloaded more than a billion times. In 2024 alone, the app successfully blocked nearly 56 billion unwanted calls, a testament to its effectiveness in combating spam.
The Regulatory Side: Truecaller and Nigeria’s Data Laws
While celebrating this growth, Truecaller also operates in a new and evolving regulatory landscape, especially in Nigeria. Earlier this year, the Nigeria Data Protection Commission (NDPC) launched an investigation into the company over alleged data breaches.
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The investigation is a key part of Nigeria’s new data privacy framework, guided by the Nigeria Data Protection Act. The NDPC has stated that its goal is to help companies become compliant rather than simply punishing them. Companies found to be in breach are often required to fix their data practices and are then monitored for a period of six months to a year.
The full implementation of the new data protection rules is set for September 2025. This directive provides clear guidelines for how companies should handle user data and introduces new ways for individuals to seek remedies if they feel their data privacy has been violated. This means that while Truecaller’s user base grows, it will also need to ensure its operations fully comply with Nigeria’s new and robust data protection laws.
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