Hiya is a cool caller ID and phone number blocker app for your smartphone that was created by the people at Whitepages.com. Hiya previously went by the name of “Whitepages Caller ID & Security Call Blocker” before it was spun off by Whitepages as a separate business.
Hiya can automatically do a reverse phone lookup search for incoming calls and text messages on your cell phone to identify the callers and warn you about potentially troublesome phone numbers and robocalls. In addition, the Hiya app can block calls from any phone number that you don’t want to receive calls from. Hiya also automatically blocks calls from phone numbers that are known sources of spam or scam calls.
Hiya Phone Lookup & Caller ID
The Hiya app automatically does a reverse phone lookup search to identify incoming calls to your smartphone.
In order to use the Hiya caller ID app effectively, you have to give the app permission to access your contact list of people and phone numbers. This helps Hiya recognize when a legitimate personal or business contact is calling you.
Hiya encrypts the names and phone numbers in your contact list and stores them in their master database of phone numbers. Your contact list is compared with the names and phone numbers that Hiya already has collected from other sources to give users a powerful caller ID app.
There are currently hundreds of millions of phone numbers in the Hiya master contact database, making it one of the most comprehensive ways to automatically do a reverse phone number lookup and identify the source of a phone call or text message.
Hiya Phone Number Blocker
The Hiya app also has the ability to block phone calls and text messages from phone numbers that you restrict through the app. In addition, the app automatically blocks phone numbers that are known sources of spam and scam marketing, and robocalls.
Hiya’s Robocall Radar
Hiya uses its own proprietary algorithm called Robocall Radar to identify phone numbers that are likely spam robocalls. Robocall Radar uses the total volume of robocalls flagged by Hiya users and calculates robocall volume by comparing this number to the total number of mobile phone users in the United States.
According to Hiya’s Robocall Radar system, there were over 10 billion robocalls made to mobile phones in 2016. The top five locations in the United States where robocalls originated in 2016 were:
- Columbus, OH ( 614 area code )
- Washington, DC ( 202 area code )
- Kansas City, MO ( 913 area code )
- San Antonio, TX ( 210 area code )
- Phoenix, Arizona ( 602 area code )
In 2016, almost 27 million robocalls originated from the 614 area code in Columbus, Ohio alone, according to estimates from Hiya’s Robocall Radar.
Hiya Privacy Policy
According to Hiya’s privacy policy, they do not sell the names and phone numbers from your contact list to other people, businesses or groups. They also state that they do not use your contact list information for marketing purposes. In addition, they claim that they do not solicit people in your contact list to use their caller ID service without your express permission.
Hiya also gives users the ability to edit and update their own contact information on the system.
Hiya’s Popularity & Ratings
The Hiya app has been downloaded over 25 million times and identifies calls from almost 500 million phone numbers every month. The company claims to have identified over 1 billion spam threats so far.
The Hiya app is currently available for both Apple iPhone and Google Android phones. The Hiya iPhone app currently has a 4 out of 5 rating on Apple iTunes and the Hiya Android app has a 4.5 out of 5 rating on Google Play.