How to Restore Truecaller Backup

Truecaller is a handy Caller ID app available for Android and iOS. It’s a tool for protecting your privacy, as it can unveil who’s calling you, prevent accepting unwanted calls, or outright block callers. It also excels at mitigating the effects of robocalling, a type of invasive marketing that got worse with the advent of VoIP (Voice over Internet Protocol) software. While Truecaller does an amazing job at separating the wheat from the chaff, any progress can disappear in an instant. Common reasons include switching phones or SIM cards and performing a reset to factory settings. Thankfully, learning how to restore Truecaller backup eradicates those problems. Let’s dive in.

When was the Truecaller backup feature added?

Truecaller implemented the backup feature on January 15, 2018. Despite the fact it’s been 4 years at the time of writing, not everyone uses it, and many remain unaware. Some don’t trust a third-party cloud service such as Google Drive, while others don’t pay heed to the pop-ups. However, we’re confident the primary reason lies with Truecaller Contacts. It’s a feature that automatically saves all numbers you’ve spoken, exchanged SMSes, or made transactions with. 

We’re not pointing fingers, merely suggesting you should always take precautions and not rely on automatic features. After all, it’s what made the recovery method below possible. Therefore, we’ll quickly go over the steps to turn on Truecaller backup for the people who regret not doing so.

Steps to enable Truecaller backup

Here’s how enabling Truecaller backup works:

1. Open Truecaller for Android on your smartphone.
2. Tap the hamburger (three horizontal lines) menu in the top left corner.
3. Go to Settings.
4. Toggle the switch next to Backup to on.
5. Ensure the right Google account is listed under “Google Drive Account”.
   Tip. It will automatically use the currently logged-in Gmail account. If you plan to use a different one, tap on Change account.
6. When prompted, confirm you want to give Truecaller access to Google Drive by tapping the Allow button.
7. Configure Backup Frequency to Daily, Weekly, or Monthly.
8. Optional. Click on Backup Now to create an immediate backup.

1. Restore Truecaller data from a backup

With the procedure explained above, it’s time to answer the question that brought us together. This is the primary way to restore data from a Truecaller backup:

1. Situational. If you need the backup on the same device it’s missing from, delete the Truecaller app.
2. Download, install and run the Truecaller app from the Google Play Store or the Apple App Store.
3. Go through the sign-in process:
   1. Tap on Get Started.
   2. Allow Truecaller to be a default dialler app, access your contacts, and send and view SMS.
   3. Select your country and enter your phone number. It must be one you’re currently using and used to create a backup with.
   4. Tap on Continue, then enter your First name, Last name, and Email. The e-mail must be the Google account that contains your backup data.
4. You’ll be asked to enable Truecaller backup. Don’t fret, this is a standard message. Tap on Backup now or Later.
5. Backup download has begun in the background. Visit the home screen, and data should begin appearing shortly.

Tip. If data doesn’t appear automatically, try to swipe left to unveil the Truecaller Search History and check out contacts and call history. If you’re sure the information you provided is correct, yet it doesn’t appear, follow steps 1 through 4 in the method for turning the backup on above. Double-check that “Back up over” is set to Wi-Fi or cellular.

2. Utilize data recovery application or software

The process above is straightforward when everything is in place. However, losing access to a SIM card, specifically the phone number, can be a huge hurdle. Although this shouldn’t matter in theory as long as you have access to a Google account, you may experience a blank Home screen after you access Truecaller.

To potentially solve that problem, if you have access to the smartphone the data was on, you can install data restoration apps for Android or data retrieval software for iOS. For demonstration, look no further than our guide on how to recover deleted contacts from a phone. Specifically, the instructions under headlines titled “How to restore contacts on Android with EaseUS MobiSaver” and “Using an EaseUS MobiSaver for iOS”.

3. Restoring data via third-party backup extraction tools (Last resort)

Before you do this, you should know it’s risky, has a low chance of success, requires troubleshooting, and should be used as a desperate attempt. In short, we don’t suggest it. However, sometimes there’s no other way, and we want to mention the option exists. There are 7 primary obstacles with this:

1. Backup extraction tools aren’t developed and published by well-known companies, yet must trust a third party with access to your Google account. Hence, we can’t suggest any particular software.
2. There’s no guarantee of success. Truecaller, like other apps that utilize Google Drive, only gets a reserved portion of the storage. The app neither has access to this section nor your entire account storage.
3. While you can access Truecaller data via Google Drive, it is configured as “hidden files”. You’ll have to look through the archive to find it.
4. Although there’s no mention of it anywhere, the files may be encrypted.
5. Finding Truecaller folder on your smart device may be easy, but copying files over might be forbidden or produce no results. You might have to root your smartphone to gain Administrator access.
6. The app may fail to recognize the data you copied or only load a portion.
7. Only general guides exist on the internet. Thus, you are pretty much going in blind when sifting through files and transferring them to your device.