Hello uses Facebook in order to identify who is calling you, even when you don’t have them saved as an existing contact. It makes it easy to prevent getting phone calls from unwanted people, but also comes with a complex searching feature that lets you find people and places. It has been proved to be particularly useful when looking for local businesses and their phone numbers. If you’ve heard about Truecaller before, this is a perfect alternative for that service.
How to Install and Use it
The Hello application is available in the Google Play Store for free. Anyone can download it and create a list of contacts, edit an existing one and add as many people as possible. By connecting it with Facebook, you get instant access to all the information you need to know about callers. You normally need version 2.0 or higher of Android in order to use it, but this varies depending on the device you have. Because the tool uses Voice over Internet Protocol – also known as VoIP – you can make calls and send messages over Wi-Fi. This is similar to what you’d do with Whatsapp or Viber, the main difference being that you have access to a lot more information about the caller and can easily chose who to keep in touch with.
How Does the Facebook Focus Help me?
Some have a bit of difficulty understanding why we need Facebook in order to identify who the caller is, block that person or add them to our list of friends. What happens here is that Hello will find the person on Facebook and not only tell you what their name is, but also give you their latest and updated information. You will know where the person is from and where they currently live, where they work and/or study, what their relationship status is and plenty of other details. If someone suspicious is calling, the app will also let you know how many other people already blocked this caller – if there is no match found and no photo/information for that specific person, that also means they’re trying to be a little dodgy. The same Facebook focus makes it possible to find anyone and anything you want, as if you were using Golden Pages directly through your phone. As Facebook said it many times before, this tool simply makes your smartphone even smarter, by letting it find your old friends and classmates, colleagues from an old place of work, but also companies and their opening times, phone number, etc.
What Countries can Use it?
Something worth knowing when it comes to this app is that it’s currently being tested to see how well it works for the public. This means that it’s only available in 3 main countries: the United States, Nigeria and Brazil. This is not a way to restrict access to Hello, but just a way to test the app without looking like they’re trying to force Messenger/Android dialer users to switch to this one. Andrea Vaccari, the product manager of Hello also said that, “We didn’t want to force this experience on the 600 million people who are using Messenger.” That being said, you will probably be able to have access to it in any country during the next couple of months.
How to respond based on the Caller’s Identity
One of the coolest things about the app is that it helps your phone to be better at simply being your phone. In a world where smartphones started to be a little bit of everything from a game console to a work device, we needed an application that makes it easy to take phone calls and know how to deal with them. Based on the information that you’ll see when someone calls you, it’s easy to check if it’s a friend wanting to talk about going out or it’s a business call. This way, you can adapt your tone of voice, use the right words and simply know how to respond. Apart from that, you can see if it’s the caller’s birthday, so you won’t forget to wish them a happy one.
How do I Block Callers?
To block someone, either because you don’t know who they are or because you do and don’t want to receive calls from them anymore, all you need to do is to press one button. Right under the name and details corresponding to the person calling, you will see 2 options: add to contacts and block. Once you click on Block, you will be asked if you’re sure you want to block that person. You can click on cancel if you did it by mistake or press block to confirm. There’s no need to worry if you blocked the wrong person, because there’s an option letting you see all the people you blocked. Beneath the name of each one of them, you will see a button saying Unblock Caller.
Access Facebook via Hello
One other feature that many people forget when it comes to this tool is that you can have access to your own FB profile directly through the app. This means that you will be able to edit information like your location and place of work, studies and birth date from the dashboard simply by tapping. This will open your profile in a new window and let you update all details over Wi-Fi. As you may have already figured out, you won’t be able to do this if you’re not connected to the internet. With your permission, the app will also add photos from Facebook to your contact details and simply sync all sorts of info from FB into Hello, so that it feels a little like you don’t even have to launch the FB app to talk to your friends any more.
The Limitations of Hello
Because everything has to do with Facebook, in case someone doesn’t have a profile, you won’t be able to know anything about them. For example, one of the strongest features Hello has to offer is that it lets you look any company or person up via the app instead of having to go to Facebook. However, it uses the exact same system, just that it also lets you call the person or text them once you found them. The bad thing is that this will only be possible as long as that company uses Facebook. If they don’t, this is where you’ll start noticing the limits of the Hello app. While most well-known companies out there are on Facebook, you’d want to make sure that the ones you’re looking for can also be found. One way to do that is to test the app – get it for free from the Play Store and see how it works for you. Since it doesn’t cost anything to install it, you can always just uninstall the tool afterwards. Some people have also been complaining that Hello is not easy to customize and doesn’t integrate Facebook completely. For example, it would be nice to see your friends’ FB updates directly through the app, as some users say. As I mentioned before, the best tip I can give you here is to try it yourself and see if you like it or not. Have fun with the app and enjoy it!
