Know who's calling

Effective 2026-09-21

When a call comes in from a number you haven't saved, CardWise shows a small card with the caller's name over your phone's call screen. Names that come from a caller's own CardWise account carry a verified tick; names contributed by the community are shown plainly. Numbers several people have reported are flagged as spam. CardWise never blocks, silences or answers a call — the card is information only.

Turning it on

• Android 10+: Settings › Caller ID in the app, then set CardWise as your Caller ID app and allow it to display over other apps. Both are system prompts Android asks you to confirm.
• iOS: enable CardWise under Settings › Phone › Call Blocking & Identification. iOS shows matches in its own call screen from a list the app refreshes ahead of time.

What is collected, and from whom

The directory is built from contacts that CardWise users add or import into the app: the name they saved and the phone number — nothing else. No photos, notes, addresses, emails, call logs or recordings. Because it aggregates names across many users' contacts, it necessarily includes people who have never created a CardWise account. We rely on legitimate interest (GDPR Art. 6(1)(f)) for this processing, balanced by the controls below.

• Contribution is on by default and happens as you add or import contacts into CardWise. Switch it off any time in Settings › Caller ID — nothing new is shared after that.
• "Remove everything I shared" on the same screen withdraws every name and number your account ever contributed.
• Your whole phone address book is uploaded only if you explicitly tap "Share phone contacts".
• Each name in the directory is backed by the users who contributed it; the most-contributed name is the one shown. One person can never vote twice.
• Entries nobody has re-contributed within 12 months are deleted automatically.
• An account holder who turns off Profile Visibility is never identified — not even by community names.
• Spam labels appear only when several different people have reported a number; each account can report a number once.
• Data lives on Amazon Web Services in Ireland (EU). Nothing about the feature is shared with advertisers or data brokers.

Not a CardWise user? Remove your number

Anyone can check whether their number is in the directory and have it removed. We text a code to the number to confirm it's yours; after removal the number goes on a permanent do-not-add list, so no one's future upload can bring it back.

Frequently asked

Why is my number here if I never signed up?

Someone who has your number saved as a contact added it to CardWise, which shares the name they saved for you to help identify your calls to other CardWise users.

If I remove it, can it come back?

No — removal is permanent. Your number goes on an exclusion list that blocks it from being re-added by anyone else's future upload.

Do I need a CardWise account to do this?

No. The removal page works for anyone, account or not.

Why doesn't the card show for a number I saved?

Android names those calls itself and doesn't hand them to Caller ID apps. The card is for the numbers your phone can't identify.