Truecaller vs Hiya (2026): Which Spam Blocker Is Better?

If you are comparing Truecaller vs Hiya, you probably want one thing: fewer spam calls without missing the ones that matter. The short answer is that Truecaller is the bigger, more feature-packed caller ID app, strongest on Android and in countries where its community is huge, while Hiya is the lighter, cheaper spam blocker whose AI call screening and deepfake voice alerts are built for the US and Canada. Both have free tiers, both now offer an AI assistant that answers unknown callers, and both work differently on iPhone than on Android. Everything below is as of October 2026, taken from each company's own pages.

Quick answer

• Pick Truecaller if you want the largest caller ID community (Truecaller says over 500 million people use it), call recording, SMS filtering and the most features, and you do not mind ads on the free tier or a higher Premium price.
• Pick Hiya if you are in the US or Canada, want a cheaper Premium plan, and care most about screening unknown calls and getting warned about AI-generated voices and scam tactics.
• On iPhone, both are limited by Apple's rules: Truecaller's caller ID on iPhone is a Premium feature, and Hiya's Call Screener needs carrier call forwarding.
• Neither app makes calls for you. They protect you from incoming calls; they do not phone a business on your behalf.

Truecaller vs Hiya at a glance

Caller ID and spam blocking

This is the core of both apps, and it is where the size of each network matters.

Truecaller is a community-driven service. Its own explanation is that the names you see come from suggestions made by other users, and that millions of people contribute names and spam reports. The Google Play listing shows more than 1 billion downloads and says the spam database is updated in real time by millions of users. On Android you get real-time caller ID, auto-blocking of telemarketers and robocalls, filters by country, number sequence or unknown numbers, and reverse number lookup.

Hiya works from what it calls phone number reputation data. Hiya says it analyzes more than 28 billion calls a month and reaches 550 million subscribers through its partners. That second number is important: Hiya's consumer app has over 10 million downloads on Google Play, but most people who benefit from Hiya never install it. Hiya's operator page states that Hiya powers both the Hiya consumer app and Samsung Smart Call, and it runs inside mobile operator networks (its homepage says it is built in with top operators and phone makers, including Vodafone, Telefonica and Samsung). If you have a recent Samsung phone, you may already be using Hiya's data without knowing it.

In practice, both block the obvious robocall. Truecaller gives you more context and settings; Hiya is simpler.

AI call screening: Truecaller Assistant vs Hiya Call Screener

Both companies now put an AI assistant between you and unknown callers. They are similar in idea and different in reach.

Truecaller Assistant is part of Truecaller Premium. Truecaller's page says the assistant "answers your calls for you when you decline an incoming call", asks questions to find out who is calling and why, and shows you the answer so you can decide. You can choose between 7 assistant voices, and the Play listing says you can even use your own voice. Truecaller says it identifies spam with more than 90 percent accuracy. Two details from Truecaller's own FAQ are worth knowing: the assistant does not automatically decline known spam calls (you can turn on auto-block separately), and by default it tells the caller it is a smart assistant. It is available on Android and iPhone, but only in certain countries, so check the app.

Hiya Call Screener answers unknown calls on your behalf and asks the caller why they are calling. On iPhone, Hiya's App Store listing says you turn it on by setting up call forwarding with your carrier (the app guides you), and it is available only in the US and Canada, in English, French and Spanish, and may not work on every carrier or plan. Hiya also sells a separate app, Hiya AI Phone, that adds call summaries, transcripts and real-time scam protection. Hiya says AI Phone is currently only available in the US and starts with a 14-day free trial.

Outside the US and Canada, Truecaller is the one whose screening assistant you might be able to use.

Deepfake and AI voice detection

AI voice cloning is the reason this category changed in the last two years (see our guide on how to stop AI calls). Both apps now try to tell you when the voice on the line is synthetic.

Hiya leads on this. Its consumer app page describes real-time voice analysis that "listens for the subtle patterns that give deepfakes away" and shows an "AI Voice Detected" alert mid-call, plus a separate fraud warning when a caller uses scam tactics like urgent payment demands or fake government threats. On iPhone, Hiya says this works for calls handled by Call Screener. Like Call Screener, it is limited to the US and Canada.

Truecaller has the AI Call Scanner: you tap a button during a call, the call is briefly paused while a voice sample is analyzed, and you see "Human Detected" or "AI Voice Detected". Truecaller says it is part of Premium and currently only available in the US on Android.

Hiya's detection is automatic; Truecaller's is on demand.

iPhone vs Android: where each app is weaker

Both apps can do more on Android than on iPhone.

• Truecaller on iPhone: caller ID is marked as a Premium feature, and auto-blocking spam is Premium and needs iOS 18. Reverse number lookup stays free. You enable it under Settings > Apps > Phone > Call Blocking & Identification.
• Truecaller on Android: you can make it your default calling app, which unlocks real-time caller ID, call recording and the AI Call Scanner button.
• Hiya on iPhone: caller ID and blocking use the same Call Blocking & Identification setting. Screening and AI voice alerts depend on carrier call forwarding.
• Hiya on Android: the Play listing describes call screening, AI voice and fraud detection during calls, spam blocking and voicemail protection, with the screening and detection features limited to the US and Canada.

Privacy: contact access and what is stored

Privacy is the question people search most about Truecaller, so here is what each company says in its own words.

Truecaller asks for contacts permission, but says it accesses your contacts "only on your device to identify callers" and that "we do not upload your contacts." It also says it does not sell user data, that the free version is funded by ads, and that its app does not listen to your calls or have access to call audio for caller ID and spam protection. Its privacy policy notes that it may process information about a phone number even if that person does not use Truecaller, to build trust and reputation signals. If you do not want your name and number to show up in Truecaller's name search, Truecaller offers an unlisting page; it says numbers marked as spam or fraud by the community cannot unlist.

Hiya says in its app privacy policy that it may process numbers stored in your contacts, matching them against calls you make or receive so it can display caller names and avoid mislabeling them as spam. For Hiya AI Phone, it says transcriptions and summaries are processed in the cloud but stored permanently on your device only, and that it does not retain or use that data to train its models. Hiya's operator page says it does not listen to phone calls and that audio processing is used only for specific automated features such as scam detection or transcription when enabled.

Both App Store privacy labels list identifiers used to track you across other apps; Truecaller's label is longer because it has more features.

Free vs Premium: what Truecaller vs Hiya costs

Both apps are free to download, and both charge for the AI features.

Truecaller prices on its US App Store listing are $9.99 a month or $74.99 a year for Premium, as of November 2026. Truecaller's Premium page lists the Family plan at $99.99 a year and Gold at $249.00 a year (yearly only). Premium includes no ads, call recording, advanced spam blocking, Truecaller Assistant, AI Call Scanner, Who Viewed My Profile and Incognito Mode, and Truecaller notes that feature availability varies by device and region. Prices are different in other countries.

Hiya Premium on the US App Store is $3.99 a month, $9.99 a quarter or $24.99 a year, with a separate Lookup Plan at $2.99 a month, as of November 2026. Hiya says basic protection is always free; Premium unlocks the extra screening and protection features.

Per year, Hiya Premium costs about a third of Truecaller Premium.

Who should pick which

• Truecaller suits heavy Android users, people outside North America, anyone who wants call recording and SMS filtering in one app, and families who want one shared plan.
• Hiya suits US and Canada users who want lighter, cheaper protection, iPhone users who mainly want unknown calls screened, and anyone worried about cloned-voice scams in particular. If you are setting up a phone for an older relative, Hiya's automatic AI voice alerts are a good fit (our guide for seniors covers more options).
• Already on a Pixel or iPhone? Your phone's built-in screening may cover most of this for free; see Google Call Screen vs iPhone call screening.

Where Assindo fits

Truecaller and Hiya are protection tools: they identify, block and screen incoming calls, and Truecaller says outright that its assistant making calls for you "is not in the plans for the moment." Assindo is an AI phone assistant built for the other half of the problem. It answers the calls you decline or miss through conditional call forwarding, asks who is calling and why, and sends you a summary and transcript, and it also makes outgoing calls for you: booking appointments, getting through phone menus, waiting on hold and the calls you dread, like cancelling a membership that requires a phone call. It is not a caller ID database, so it works alongside Truecaller or Hiya rather than replacing them.

Truecaller vs Hiya: FAQ

Is Truecaller or Hiya better for iPhone?

For most iPhone users in the US, Hiya is the simpler choice: caller ID and blocking work through iPhone's Call Blocking & Identification setting, and Call Screener plus AI voice alerts run through carrier call forwarding. On iPhone, Truecaller's caller ID is a Premium feature, though its free reverse number lookup still works.

Is Hiya free?

Yes, Hiya says basic protection is always free. Premium on the US App Store costs $3.99 a month or $24.99 a year as of October 2026, and Hiya AI Phone is a separate app with a 14-day free trial.

Does Truecaller upload my contacts?

Truecaller says it accesses your contacts only on your device to show saved names and identify callers, and that it does not upload them. Names shown for unknown numbers come from other users' suggestions and reports.

Does Samsung use Hiya?

Yes. Hiya states that it powers Samsung Smart Call, the caller ID and spam protection built into many Samsung phones. That is separate from the Hiya Spam Blocker app you download.

Can Truecaller or Hiya detect AI voice scams?

Both try. Hiya's AI Voice Detection flags synthetic voices automatically in the US and Canada. Truecaller's AI Call Scanner checks a voice when you tap the button, and is a Premium feature in the US on Android. Neither catches every scam.

Can I use Truecaller and Hiya together?

You can install both, but their screening assistants overlap. Conditional call forwarding sends your unanswered calls to one destination at a time, so pick one service to screen calls and keep your carrier's free spam filter on as well.

Sources

• Truecaller Premium plans and features, accessed October 2026
• Truecaller Assistant: call screening, accessed October 2026
• Truecaller AI Call Scanner, accessed October 2026
• Truecaller for iPhone features, accessed October 2026
• Busting myths about Truecaller (contacts and privacy), accessed October 2026
• Truecaller privacy policy, accessed October 2026
• Truecaller on the US App Store, accessed October 2026
• Truecaller on Google Play, accessed October 2026
• Hiya homepage, accessed October 2026
• Hiya Spam Blocker product page, accessed October 2026
• Hiya AI Phone, accessed October 2026
• Hiya for mobile operators (Samsung Smart Call FAQ), accessed October 2026
• Hiya app data protection and privacy policy, accessed October 2026
• Hiya on the US App Store, accessed October 2026
• Hiya on Google Play, accessed October 2026