Have you ever received a call from a number said Unknown Number? Probably the first time you received this scared you and you somehow thought its a hacker that is trying to hack you or that someone is remotely controlling your device and most of the time, you can think that such call comes from your government if only you involved in illegal activities. In the most known situations, you will think that someone is trying to hack your or something similar.
These guys don't do any magic in making their phone number appear as Private or Unknown Number on your device. What they do is, they use some tips and tricks that help them make their numbers appear as such in your phone. It is not hard to make your own number appear same as theirs on other people phone. You will find the tricks behind this below.
Making your number private shows some sign of professionalism to what you are doing. If you are a business person and you need to call a client either with your business number or personal number, then making the number private will help prevent unwanted calls from your annoying customers or something similar.
People use this method in many aims, some use it for scamming or misleading people, some use it just for pranking their friends and some other use it for business purposes. Most of the time, this method however suites all these needs. There is no magic behind realizing this yourself which is why we have simplified the steps here below. In this article, I will show you how to make your phone number appear as Private or Unknown Number on other people phone whenever you are trying to call them.
Why Make My Phone Number Appear as Private?
You can make your phone number appear as private because you want to keep your personal number private from anyone calling. This is just a security measure for most cases but you should equally know that your number can be unmasked by some tricks equally. So make sure you use this in the right way.
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How to Make Your Phone Number Private or Unknown
We are going to cover various methods on how to make your phone number appear as private. Since we believe most of you here are mobile users (iPhone and Android), we have given below methods to make your number private on both Android and iPhone mobile devices.
How Make Phone Number Private on iPhone
Follow the steps below to make your phone number appear as private or unknown from your iPhone device;
- On your iPhone main screen, go to Settings and tap on Phone
- Next, press Show My Caller ID
- Here you can use the toggle switch to show or hide your number (Block or Unblock number ID)
Note:
Verizon Wireless does not allow this feature, but I’ll show you what you can do about that in the next step on Android methods.
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How to Make Phone Number Private on Android
Due to diverse Android Phone companies and providers, the way of doing this on Android will be a little complicated and at times complex for some devices. But we have covered the necessary methods to get that set on your Android device with the below 4 methods.
1. Using Phone App
- On your Android main menu, click on Phone app, and then, click the three dots or hamburger above on top right corner to open the menu.
- Next, select Settings, then Call settings
- Now click on Additional settings, then Caller ID
- Next choose “Hide number” or something similar and your mobile number will be hidden when placing calls.
To reverse this feature, choose “Show number” or “Network default”
Note:
This method has been reverted on most Android devices with updates since the providers identified it as a bad practice. So if this is not available for you, then checkout the other methods below.
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2. Using a Temporary Block Code
Temporary codes are intermediary codes that you add in-front of the number you wish to call and then place the call. Your number will appear completely anonymous (Private or Unknown Number displayed) on the receivers phone. Like for example *67 is the temporary block code for the US and you can put this code just before the number you wish to call.
These codes are hard to get but here is a simple query to place on Google Search to get your country temporary block code. Enter the query "my country mobile block code". Let's say for example, if you are in USA, you will have to search for this on Google "USA mobile block code". You will have results similar to that below;
Now for some countries, you won't be able to easily get the code to block your number during calls. So, we have made the query for most countries and you can get the code for your country from the list below.
- *67 - United States (except AT&T), Canada (landline), New Zealand (Vodafone phones)
- #31# - United States (AT&T phones), Australia (mobile)[3], Albania, Argentina (mobile), Bulgaria (mobile), Denmark, Canada (mobile), France, Germany (some mobile providers), Greece (mobile), India (only after network unlock), Israel (mobile), Italy (mobile), Netherlands (KPN phones), South Africa (mobile), Spain (mobile), Sweden, Switzerland (mobile)
- *31# - Argentina (landline), Germany, Switzerland (landline)
- 1831 - Australia (landline)[4]
- 3651 - France (landline)
- *31* - Greece (landline), Iceland, Netherlands (most carriers), Romania, South Africa (Telkom phones)
- 133 - Hong Kong
- *43 - Israel (landline)
- *67# - Italy (landline)
- 184 - Japan
- 0197 - New Zealand (Telecom or Spark phones)
- 1167 - Rotary phones in North America
- *9# - Nepal (NTC prepaid/postpaid phones only)
- *32# - Pakistan (PTCL phones)
- *23 or *23# - South Korea
- 067 - Spain (landline)
- 141 - United Kingdom, Republic of Ireland
- If your phone is on a GSM network (e.g., most Androids), you can always dial #31# to block your caller ID.
Note:
iPhone users can equally use this method without issues and it will work quite alright.
3. Using Third Party Apps
This is another amazing way to make your phone number private. There are apps that can get this task done for you quite easily. We have identified 3 apps that do this very quick and clean.
1. Google Voice
Google Voice is a product of Google that attributes you a new phone number to make voice calls, texts and audio messages for free if at all you verified all what they require from you. You can read on how to get Google Voice Number and download the App from the links below.
To make your google voice number private using Google Voice, follow the steps below;
- Open Google Voice App on your mobile device, Click on the 3 line toggle on the left navigation.
- Next click on Settings.
- Now switch on Anonymous caller ID.
- This will hide your number for all your outgoing calls.
2. Burner
Burner is one of the most popular mobile app available on both iOS and Android devices for a really good reason. You can use the app to route your calls directly to your secondary number, which means you don’t even need to bother hiding it. The app comes with a 7-day free trial and costs $5 per line per month afterward.
Download Burner App from the link below;
3. Hushed
Hushed isn’t free at all, but it’s much cheaper than its similar competitors out there. At just $2 per week, you can get 60 texts and 20 call minutes. You can equally cancel at any time. A $5 monthly unlimited plan is also available, but even on the basic plan lets Hushed users talk to each other freely.
Download Hushed App from the link below;
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4. Ask your Network Provider to Make your Number Private
If the above methods don't still work for you, then this is another great method to use. You need to contact your Network provider to make all your outgoing calls appear as private. This issue is generally redirected to the customer service.
To get into the line with customer service in-charge of this in USA, you can dial the number 611. For other countries might be different but I guess you have a customer service number for your Network provider.
You will have to follow the instructions presented to you on the menu options. This is different for every mobile network provider and you will have to talk to the customer service representative. When you are left the field to talk, just simply say, "Talk to customer service representative". Then here, just tell them that you want to make your phone number private.
Many Network providers won't ask for a fee from you to pay though some might ask. This fee isn't that high and is affordable for what you want to do if your network provider require you to pay a fee.
Note:
This is a really working method and we believe this method will work quite alright for your any mobile device (Android and iOS).
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Conclusion and Final Thoughts
These are the best methods you can use to make your mobile number private on both Android and iOS (iPhone and iPad) devices. Try out any of the above methods each after each and you will see that at least 2 will work for you.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Below are some questions generally asked by many and that have been answer and can help you equally.
How to Get a Private Number
You can contact your network provider to give you a special number that is said to be private. Whenever you call with this number, it will appear private on the receivers phone. However, you can still follow the above methods to make your existing phone number private or unknown during calls.
How to Hide your Mobile Number
To hide you mobile number when calling, you can use any of the above 4 methods for Android and if you are an iPhone user, then you can equally follow the steps for iPhone.
How to Unmask a Private Number
If there are tricks to mask or hide a phone number when calling, then there must be ways to unmask or unhide these phone numbers that appear private. The best tip to use here are third party apps. Caller App can get this done for you.