
Introducing Hello - jamesjyu
http://newsroom.fb.com/news/2015/04/introducing-hello/
======
taneem
I think the biggest challenge to this is Facebook itself (and other
messaging/social apps). How many millennials make phone calls frequently to
more than 5-10 close people any more? Everyone just uses messaging or social
apps to stay in touch.

I don't need this to give me social context to my wife or my parents etc.
calling me. The value of this is really to people that are not that close,
where Facebook can surface relevant data that I don't have at the top of my
mind - but I rarely communicate with those people via phone calls any more.

~~~
wiremine
Two thoughts:

a. Regarding millennials: If they can younger users to use their dialer in
2015, they might stay with them for life.

b. The average age for facebook is 40.5 [1]. I'm a Gen Xer myself, and I'm
50/50 with calls vs. messaging. I order pizza, call my mechanic, etc. all via
the phone.

[1] [http://smallbusiness.chron.com/breakdown-facebook-users-
age-...](http://smallbusiness.chron.com/breakdown-facebook-users-
age-63280.html)

~~~
smackfu
>I order pizza, call my mechanic, etc. all via the phone

By choice, or by necessity?

~~~
vitd
For me, it's both. I don't trust J. Random Food Service handling payments (and
adding fees) for local restaurants when ordering via the web. (Most are too
small to set up their own service, so they use crap like "GrubHub" or
whatever.) I can just call them and pay them directly - costs less they get
more. Also, now those payment companies can't track me since I'm not using
them. I do use one or two large chains' phone apps because they seem trust-
worthy enough and appear to be handling the payments themselves.

My mechanics (well, mine and my wife's) have web pages, but when you set up
one appointment on them, they auto-add routine maintenance for you. While that
could be convenient, neither of us drives like a normal person (I did ~4,000
miles per year the last 4 years, my wife even less), so it's really just a
pain to have to cancel an appointment every time I make one. It's also scummy
of them to set one up for me without even asking if it's what I want. It's a
dark pattern of adding things to your basket without asking you, essentially.

------
tegeek
Here in Sweden we use TrueCaller [1] which is almost the same as FB Hello. It
is available for Android, iOS, and WP. And pretty much cover the entire world.
It will be interesting to see how TrueCaller can compete with FB Hello.

1\. [http://www.truecaller.com/](http://www.truecaller.com/)

~~~
hobarrera
I don't know where their data comes from, but after putting my number, all I
get is the city it's in (which the area code makes obvious anyway).

~~~
deepuj
When you install it, it takes data from your address book. That's how it
gathers data.

~~~
Ash-k
I think it does not come from your address book. Rather, it builds the
database from each one of us who register with truecaller with thier numbers.
So for example: I register with my phone number 123456789, and you register
with your phone number 987654321. Both these numbers would be stored on
Truecaller's servers and when you get a call from my number 123456789, and
even if you don't have my phone number in your phonebook, you still get to see
that I am calling you with my name (the details come from the server). You
need Wifi/data connection to get truecaller working. That's my understanding ,
unless I am utterly wrong.

~~~
dpacmittal
You are utterly wrong. Truecaller does take its data from the contact book.
It's very easy to test as well. If you happen to know someone's number is not
on truecaller, do this - add his number in your contact book with some fake
name and install true caller after that. When he calls you, you'll see the
fake name.

~~~
Ash-k
Hmm.. I am not sure you are right.

[http://www.truecaller.com/support#/General/a3](http://www.truecaller.com/support#/General/a3)

[http://www.truecaller.com/support#/Android/a24](http://www.truecaller.com/support#/Android/a24)

It says: When you download Truecaller from Google Play, it NEVER uploads your
phonebook to make it searchable or public. Truecaller needs access to certain
capabilities to provide you with a richer experience.

------
jonstokes
Oh yeah, that's what I really want: for FB to know everything about who I call
and who calls me! </sarcasm>

~~~
pluma
Got Facebook on your phone? They already do.

~~~
dawson
No, they don't.

EDIT: I was wrong, this is _one_ of the permissions they require on Android,
however, not on iOS as Apple doesn't make it available to third-party
developers.

~~~
untog
On Android their app asks for "read call log" permissions.

Luckily, I am running on root and can disable that access, but it's certainly
possible.

~~~
MichaelGG
Almost all Android apps can do this in realtime, because to get the
IMEI/device ID (a questionable thing in itself), Google decided you should
also be required to have permissions to see _who is calling /called_.

It's a major privacy violation, with Google directly encouraging it for no
good reason.

(Getting device ID should be a very rare, high-security permission; instead
each app should get a unique app+deviceID. And seeing who is calling is
likewise a rare thing that should be highly suspect. Or Google could add
controls or do on-demand like MS and Apple do...)

~~~
eridal
..plus knowing which apps are you running.

I can't think of a valid reason why an app should require such permissions
besides information gathering.. there are API for making you app talk, or
discover other apps

------
crousto
No reaction yet from the _other_ Hello app?

[https://hellotext.com/](https://hellotext.com/)

~~~
doublec
Or Firefox Hello: [https://www.mozilla.org/en-
US/firefox/hello/](https://www.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/hello/)

And Microsoft Hello:
[http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/17/making-w...](http://blogs.windows.com/bloggingwindows/2015/03/17/making-
windows-10-more-personal-and-more-secure-with-windows-hello/)

~~~
nostrademons
Or hello.com, a Google spin-out from the guy who created Orkut:

[http://hello.com/](http://hello.com/)

------
Jemaclus
What I think is fascinating about this is how front-and-center the whole
"block unwanted calls" feature is. They mention it several times on this one
page, when they could mention a bunch of other features instead. It goes to
show how concerned people are with potentially allowing frictionless contact
from mere acquaintances.

~~~
bentcorner
I have never needed to block a call, so I'm not the customer here. I'm curious
what demographic uses call blocking so much that FB wants to advertise
directly to them. Is it a problem that younger people face, or something that
happens in other countries?

~~~
MichaelGG
Buy an SSL certificate. Enjoy Comodo calling you 3 times a week, sometimes
waking you up, to try to sell security. Even after telling them to stop.
(Yeah, I should take it up with the FCC...)

Even more fun: point out Comodo's lapses as a CA and say they're the last CA
you'd ever deal with. Then the rep smoothly segues into pitching
antivirus/"security" software.

~~~
Spearchucker
Surprised that you give them your real number. Any data I provide online is
only ever enough for the specific service I want to function. The rest is
invented. Fiction. Myth.

~~~
MichaelGG
I'm pretty sure they just look at our website or other contact information.
I'm not sure it's just the WHOIS info.

------
dmitrygr
Nice design.

Questionable audience. Whom is this for?

Most people who are hardcore facebook users do not use phone calls at all as
far as I've seen.

------
lern_too_spel
Strange that this is coming to Android first, given that most Android devices
have this feature built in, making this app nearly useless.
[http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/11/04/google-does-
caller-i...](http://www.androidpolice.com/2013/11/04/google-does-caller-id-
kitkat-4-4-matches-numbers-against-google-places-and-apps-for-business-and-
starting-in-2014-google-personal-accounts/)

~~~
sososoko
I dont have that feature on my device, or rather i cant see it.

I think FB is better placed to do this, given that they have the Phone books
of everyone who has the Facebook app and Whatsapp.

------
vmarsy
For Android only, a modern Caller ID system from Facebook.

 _Hello will show you info about who’s calling you, even if you don’t have
that number saved in your phone. You will only see info that people have
already shared with you on Facebook._

It also lets you look at businesses/restaurants information quickly from the
dialer app

------
smackfu
In my circle, using Facebook to connect through anything other than Facebook
itself seems futile. No one has emails or phone numbers posted, even for
friends.

So this app seems like it would basically do nothing.

~~~
k-mcgrady
>> "So this app seems like it would basically do nothing."

For you. Today I had to email someone. I looked through my address book and
because I'd previously add their name/number Facebook had retrieved their
email (which I didn't yet have) through their profile and put it right in my
address book. This happens quite often for me.

------
hywel
This is a really interesting and logical move for FB, to integrate as a
tangential add-on with something transactional like phone calls, (instead of
just being a destination website / app).

~~~
pluma
Especially now that WhatsApp (recently acquired by Facebook) tries to hijack
voice calling already. Even if you press the phone number in the WhatsApp
contact details.

This was a major annoyance for me because I was used to abusing WhatsApp as my
address book and the voice call quality with WhatsApp is often atrocious (plus
it uses up my phone's very limited data plan).

------
grimmdude
Seems like this should be something that's already build into the phone.

------
650REDHAIR
I think this is the part where I delete Facebook.

A step too far.

~~~
pluma
Have you previously paid any attention to the permissions the Facebook app
asks for at all?

I wanted to install Facebook on my Android device so I could share stuff on
Facebook via the native "share" intent. Seeing the permission list made me
reconsider.

~~~
650REDHAIR
When they broke messenger off into a different app I uninstalled. Right now I
only use the mobile browser version and really only to upload photos of my
daughter for my family to see. I'm starting to use it less and less though
because the browser version is terrible.

~~~
bentcorner
If you're on Android, try using Tinfoil. It's the same browser version (so it
may still be terrible for you), but interacting with it is a little easier
than just opening Chrome/FF and going to fb.com.

------
mijustin
Wow. This UI really looks like Google's UI for Local Businesses.

~~~
sparaker
I think they just matched it with the messenger color and it somewhat became a
very close match to the Local Businesses UI.

------
srirambhargav
Anyone using Google's Android L powered phone can search for local businesses
from the dialer.
[http://www.phonearena.com/image.php?m=Articles.Images&f=name...](http://www.phonearena.com/image.php?m=Articles.Images&f=name&id=167775)

Android L can also display the name of person/business(even if it's not in
your contacts) and whether the number is toll-free etc.,

------
nabaraz
So far we have:

\- Facebook (networking)

\- Messenger (messaging)

\- Hello (calls and callerID)

Facebook should just fork Android, integrate all of these and release their
own build.

~~~
jmgao
They pretty much tried that, and it failed miserably.

~~~
nabaraz
I thought they only created an app(launcher) called 'Facebook Home'. Did they
ever fork android like Fire OS and Firefox OS?

------
devmach
One thing is not clear: What happens if I want some people (friends of friends
etc) find me on facebook but they or others don't see my information on their
hello app when I called / miscalled them? Would there be an opt-out?

------
jgalt212
> Billions of calls are made everyday on mobile phones and people often have
> very little information about who’s calling them.

I don't find this to be the case. Caller ID tells me what I need to know the
lion's share of the time.

------
itsmillertime4u
Wow...this looks like everything Google Voice does only with a prettier
interface. I sure wish Google would put more resources towards Voice rather
then trying to merge/replace it with Hangouts.

------
shogun21
My native phone app for Android already does these things. Block unwanted
numbers, gives me the business name if it knows, search for numbers.

I don't know why I would have a need to replace it.

------
gopher2
Are they going to try and own the word "Hello" or can I launch an app called
Hello too? Seems like an extremely generic name.

------
fiatjaf
This is the most useful thing Facebook has ever done. It will change the way
we do phone calls, and it will be for better.

------
czardoz
So does it make sense to assume that this is where the WhatsApp phone book
data comes into play?

------
akimc
is it me or the design looks a bit like skype ?

On another note they know the phone number of my friends because of 2FA that
most people enabled I guess ? Because most people didn't shared this info. on
their profile in my friend circle.

------
jgautsch
I think this is really smart. I've always thought it strange that we still
trade 10 digit IDs, and then write them to our own personal database.

Someone else posed the question, but it's worth repeating- who else could pull
this off?

Will future generations still ask "what's your number?"

------
jms703
Firefox Hello Facebook Hello What's next?

------
Spoom
Remember when LinkedIn wanted to intercept your email (and also add "helpful
stuff" to it)? It's that, but Facebook and for phone calls.

------
suvelx
Add a feature to distinguish what type of people my incoming calls are
(humans, salesmen, or sub-human recruiters) and I'll think about it.

------
shmerl
Sounds too similar to Firefox Hello.

~~~
gcp
I was hoping to see extended WebRTC support in Facebook :(

------
yellowapple
So they've reinvented Caller ID. How swell.

------
yueq
Yet another app named Hello

------
paul_milovanov
They lost me at Hello.

~~~
paul_milovanov
I have 57 points left and I'm determined to spend them.

------
vishaldpatel
From all the blocking, maybe it should be called "no thanks"? :-/

------
davidw
Is "La Ciccia" good? Looks like one of the owners is actually Italian. Nice
little promotion for them.

Facebook? Only use the mobile web site on my phone, thank you!

------
turbostyler
I didn't switch to iPhone to have apps come out for Android first.

~~~
MBCook
iOS doesn't allow you to do this kind of thing, only Apple has enough power to
view incoming call data.

