• Source:JND

CNAP vs Truecaller Difference: While receiving calls lately, you might have noticed something different: sometimes the name of the caller is visible even when it's an unknown call. No need to panic, as it is because of an initiative taken by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and The Telecom Regulatory Authority Of India (TRAI), which has now started to roll out gradually, called the Calling Name Presentation (CNAP). Because of this, even if you get a call from an unknown number, the caller's name will be displayed on your phone screen without having Truecaller installed. The government is now introducing this in a phased manner, with the aim of putting a stop to fraud and scam calls.

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This will change the way how you interact with calls on a daily basis; before, only the number of the unknown caller was seen; users will now be able to see their registered name as well. Reports suggest that this new feature will be available nationwide by March 31, 2026. Let's take a detailed look at how this works.

CNAP: How Does It Work?

Caller Name Presentation, or CNAP, is a supplementary telecom service that shows the caller’s name on your phone screen along with the number, even for unknown calls. The displayed name can be up to 80 characters and is taken from the details submitted during SIM purchase as part of the KYC process.

For the caller’s name to appear, the telecom operator must send a Presentation Indicator (PI) to the receiver’s CNAP-enabled service. This PI helps keep the caller information updated for each call. The calling network is required to share CNAP data every time a call is made. CNAP will be mandatory across all telecom services, except for SMS.

When Will The CNAP Service Go Live In India?

With the pilot project going on since October 2025, it is expected to receive a nationwide rollout by March 31, 2026, and will roll out on all 4G and 5G networks. This new CNAP facility will eliminate the need for installing a third-party app to do the same. Your SIM enrolment and purchase documents will be used in order for the CNAP facility to work. Now whenever someone unknown calls, their number will be visible with their registered name; users will also be able to deactivate the facility using the Caller ID Restriction Option.

Why Is CNAP Different From Truecaller?

Both CNAP and Truecaller essentially do the same thing, i.e., reveal the caller's name and number. But what makes CNAP different is that it does not require an internet connection or an external app to work; furthermore, it uses the KYC document submitted during SIM purchase as a reference for the registered name that is displayed during the call, and CNAP is also a network-based service.

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Truecaller, on the other hand, is a third-party app and uses its own crowdsourced data to get caller IDs, which are often collected from users' contact lists; therefore, you might see multiple different names for one person. This also means these are not verified and official names, just what people might have stored in their contacts. Apart from that, Truecaller requires internet to work.


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