How to Make Your Number Private on Android

Do you want to hide or make your phone number private while making a phone call? You may have many reasons for doing such tricks. Maybe you don't want the person you are calling to know your phone number, or you want to do a prank on your friend, or you want to surprise someone you are calling to talk.

There are some tricks or settings that easily make your number private on both Android and iPhone. There might be little difference in the menu to set up such settings depending upon the phone model or OS version you are using. In this article, we will show you several methods in detailed description through which you can make your number private on an Android device.

Method 1: Make Your Phone Number Private on Any Phone (dial code *67)

One of the fastest and easiest methods to hide or make private your phone number in the United States is dialing a code *67 before the number you call. This method works on any phone that you have, including Android, iPhone, Windows, and even on landline. The code *67 will register your phone number as "Private" and doesn't appear on the receiver's display. You have to dial this code each time you make the call if you want to hide your number.

These are the steps to make your phone number private using the code *67:

1. Dial the code *67 followed by the receiver's phone number. The best idea is to check this trick with your other phone if you have any or with a friend. For example, if the receiver's phone number is 555-6666, you need to dial *675556666.
2. Now, look at the receiver phone's screen, and you will see their device's screen show the caller as "Private", "Unknown," or "N/A".
3. For making calls on another city, you also need to dial "1" and its area code after *67 followed by a number. For example, if receiver phone number is 555-6666, you should dial *6712125556666 (212 is the New York area code).

Method 2: Use Call Settings to Hide Number (No Caller ID) Trick

Another alternate method is to hide your phone number by setting your call features. Most Android phones on most mobile carriers facilitate hiding your number by default, and this feature eliminates the unnecessary dialing of code *67 every time you make a call. Below are the steps to hide your phone number using your device's built-in Hide Number setting. If you don't find any such options on your device, it may be possible that your carrier or phone doesn't support it.

Make your number private on Android

1. Tap on the Phone app icon from your app drawer or the bottom of your device's home screen.
2. Click on the two-dot (or three-dot) menu icon, whatever your phone has at the top-right of the screen.
3. Select Settings.
   
4. Select Carrier call settings (or Calls on some device).
   
5. Tap on the Additional settings.
   
6. Select SIM if you have dual and then My Number (Caller ID).
   
7. Choose Hide Number from the pop-up options.
   

This hide number feature will make such a setup that your number never appears when you ring someone. The receiver's display will only display any of these options like Private, Blocked, Unknown, or No Caller ID. Later, on another call, if you want to display your number temporarily, you can dial *82 followed by their number. You can roll back these settings to default by repeating the above steps, and at the last steps, select Network Default or Show Number from the pop-up menu.

Make your number private on iPhone

The iPhone gives in-built settings an option to hide your phone number while making phone calls. Entering the code every time (as discussed above) may be bothersome; such people can enable it permanently through device's settings. Follow the below steps to make your phone number private (hide) on iPhone:

1. Navigate to Settings on your iPhone.
2. Scroll down and choose the Phone.
3. Select Show My Caller ID.
4. Move the toggle button to the left to hide your Calling ID.

Method 3: Contact your Phone Carrier to Make your Phone Number Private

If your device doesn't offer an option to hide your phone number directly, you may also call your phone carrier to make your phone number private. Most service providers facilitate this feature, including T-Mobile, Sprint, Verizon, and AT&T.

Users can call their service provider and ask them to help, or you can directly check the official website regarding such information. Look at the links below where you will get a guide, or you may also query to make your number private:

• T-Mobile: Look at this link to know how to block your number on T-Mobile.
• Sprint: Check this link for how to call someone without showing your phone number on Sprint.
• Verizon: Look at the instruction to block caller ID on Verizon.
• AT&T: A full guide for making your number private on AT&T.

Generally, the service provider carriers do not charge for making your phone number private. You can also enable this feature permanently. Once you activate this feature in your phone, you can also turn it off temporarily. Dial a code *82, followed by the number you are calling and your number appears on the receiver's display.

Method 4: Using third-party apps

If you don't find any option to change your phone settings or to call your carriers to make your number private, you can use third-party apps for this. Such apps are called burner apps that change your phone number with another temporary number while making phone calls. However, such an app uses your internet data for making calls.

You will find several burner apps over the internet for Android and iOS to download and use. Some of the popular burner apps are Google Voice, Burner, Hushed, etc. Below, we describe how to use the Google Voice app to make your phone number private while making a call.

Google Voice

Download and open the Google Voice app from Play Store on your Android phone. It allows you to make a phone call via Voice-Over-IP (VOIP) that uses a number offered by Google, and it also connects to your Google account. This number is different from your phone number allotted by your mobile service provider.

Follow the below-mentioned steps to set up Google Voice app for hiding your number while making the call.

1. First of all, you have to set up your Google Voice app and choose a number to make a phone call using Google Voice app.
   
   
   • Launch the app (or visit Google Voice website "https://voice.google.com/" if you are using desktop service) and sign up with your Google account and phone number (US-based).
   • Read their privacy policy and terms of services to use and click on Continue (if you agree).
   • Enter the area code that shows the available phone numbers in that city.
   • Select a phone number to claim it. Once you choose, you will see a confirmation message that says, "You selected 'phone number'".
   • Click on the Verify It will pop up a screen to send a code to your phone number. Enter your phone number.
   • Enter the code you received on your number to verify.
   • Once verified, tap on Finish to complete the setup.
2. After setting the app, tap on the menu (three horizontal lines) option available at the top-left of the screen. It will display the menu options.
   
3. Click on the Settings option.
   
4. On the Settings screen, slide the toggle button next to Anonymous caller ID. It hides your caller ID when you make a call using the Google Voice app.
   

Method 5: Using a Samsung Galaxy

The different models of devices have different settings to hide your phone number while calling. However, most Samsung smartphones have similar settings. Here, we are using Samsung Galaxy S9:

1. From the device's Home screen or app drawer, tap on the Phone app.
   
2. Tap on the menu icon (three vertical dots) at the top-right corner of the screen.
   
3. From the list of menu options, tap on the Settings.
   
4. Scroll down the screen and tap on More Settings.
   
5. On the next screen, click on Show my caller ID.
   
6. Finally, tap on the caller preference Hide number. It will hide your phone number while making an outgoing call using a Phone app.
   

Later on, if you again want to show your number back while making a call, go through the above five steps, and finally, at step six, tap on Show number.

Limitations to Hiding Your Phone Number

There is even some limitation of hiding your phone number, and even they appear on some services. The toll-free services and emergency services numbers like 900, 911 will always be able to see your number, whatever you do settings. Some third-party applications can expose your caller ID, so none of these methods are guaranteed.