Keeping our anonymity whenever making phone calls from our landline or mobile phone is a need that we should cover due to different reasons. Just know that this simple steps that we will give you in this guide are completely free and can be done by anyone in just a short amount of time and without needing to have a lot of technical knowledge.
Tabla de Contenido
- ¿What´s a hidden or private call?
- How does a hidden call work?
- How to call with a hidden number?
- Hide a number using a code, password, or prefix.
- Hiding your number by configuring your device.
- Private calls and phone carriers
- Which option would we recommend you to call without showing your number?
- What happens when we call with a hidden number? Is it totally safe?
- How much is it to use this service?
- Can I make private calls via the internet?
- Apps to hide your number
- When private calls won´t work
- Other things to take into account
- Why would I call with a hidden number?
- Limitations
A hidden call is basically one in which the caller ID, that is, the ID of the caller, or the calling phone number does not appear on the screen of the receiving terminal. Instead, a message saying “Unknown,” “Unknown number”, etc, appears.
We also need to tell you that none of this will work if the number that you´ll be calling is an emergency phone number, that is, if you call the police, the firefighters, etc. Keep reading to discover how to call as a hidden number.
Basically, all phone calls that we make from our phone in which we can´t hide the caller ID, that is, in normal phone calls where we don´t hide our phone number, the screen of the receiving phone will show a string of digits corresponding to our phone number.
If, additionally, our phone number is recorded on their contact list, the name assigned on that list will appear. This is the default behavior.
After applying any of the methods that we will show you below, the only difference between private calls and normal calls will be that our phone number won´t appear any longer on the screen of the receiving phone, and the caller ID will show any of these messages:
“Hidden number.”
“Private number.”
“Unknown number.”
“Unknown.”
“Unknown caller.”
“Hidden.”
The following ways of calling with a hidden number are valid regardless of if your carrier is Telcel, Movistar, Vodafone, Orange, Yoigo, Jazzel, etc, and regardless of if your device is a smartphone from the Android or iPhone brand.
You can also get to make your phone number private while on Ecuador, Argentina, the United States, Mexico, or even Spain. These methods to call from your cell phone and keep your number unknown is valid for all countries in the world. *
Calling with a hidden number can be achieved in many ways. The methods that we will explain here vary depending on whether we want to hide our number from a landline, if we want to hide it on cell phones, or if we want to do it temporally or permanently.
Probably you´re just interested in knowing how to hide your iPhone number. If you want to skip directly to the step-by-step manual, or even go to see the tutorial videos, read the following entry.
And here you will find an equivalent article, with its how-to, explained step-by-step, on how to make private calls from an Android.
Hide a number using a code, password, or prefix.
From all of the methods, this is the easiest one and the most direct. You need to take into account that you will have to manually hide the number, that is, each time you make a call, and it is a “temporal” way of doing it. It is an occasional or selective way of making each individual call private.
Which code / prefix do I need to dial to hide my number?
To call with a hidden number from a mobile phone, the trick to do it is as easy as dialing a code or prefix before the desired number. The code, which is practically universal, is the following:
#31#
Then, you´ll have to type the destination number.
An example of this would be this: you want to call the number 555444333, therefore, the code that you should dial to make your number remain anonymous would be:
#31#555444333
Then, you would need to press de call button.
Does it work from landline devices?
Yes, it works, but the code or password to dial is totally different. In this case, we should dial the prefix 067 before the destination number.
Since there are exceptions, we will give you a list of codes per country:
North America: *67 or #31#.
Albania, Australia, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Italy, the Netherlands, and Sweden: #31#.
Argentina, Iceland, Switzerland, and South Africa: *31*.
Germany: *31# or #31#.
Hong Kong: 133.
Japan: 184.
United Kingdom and Ireland: 141.
New Zealand: 0197 (Telecom) or *67 (Vodafone.)
Australia: 1831 o #31#.
India: *31# (it is required that it´s enabled on the network.)
For all other countries, it is likely that these codes will work universally or as wildcards: *67 or #31#.
Hiding your number by configuring your device.
The most direct way to do this, if your device allows it, is to modify the configuration to have your caller ID to be always disabled. It is different on each device, but we will tell you how to do it on Android and on iPhones, which are the most commonly used devices. Additionally, some landline phones also allow it.
This way of configuring your phone is permanent. Your phone would remain private in each and every one of your calls.
Call Private in Iphone
On Apple´s operating system, we will find this configuration in:
Settings.
Phone.
Show my caller ID.
Disable showing caller ID.
Call Private in Android
Normally, on Android phones from version 5 and on, this option can be found on:
Dialer settings.
Calls.
- Additional settings
- Caller ID
Then select “Network Default”, “Show” or “Hide” Caller ID.
* The name of the option may vary.
Hide your number in other systems
In other less commonly used operating systems, you should be able to hide your number using the following method:
Windows Phone: Phone -> More -> Settings -> Show my caller ID to -> select “nobody” or “My contacts.”
BlackBerry: Menu -> Options -> General settings -> Restrict my ID -> Always.
Private calls and phone carriers
Another way of hiding your number if you are unable to find the option on your smartphone or landline is to directly call your service provider and request that your number remains private in all calls. This way, by requesting to enable hidden calls we can impede others from identifying our calls.
Once configuring blocking the caller ID permanently, we will need to use a code to enable our caller ID once again in case that we need it. In other words, we need the following codes to revert the previous process.
Australia: 1832
Ireland: 142
United Kingdom: 1470
North America: *82
New Zealand: 0196 (Telecom) or *82 (Vodafone.)
Hong Kong: 1357
Japan: 186
Almost all GSM networks: *31#
If you want to save time, whenever you call to activate this service, keep in hand the information with which you purchased your line: ID if you are registered as a person, or the equivalent if you are registered as a business.
Which option would we recommend you to call without showing your number?
Even though the most efficient way of hiding your number would be, of course, by contacting your carrier, if, by chance, due to a mistake or a change on the service´s configuration, your caller ID gets enabled again, you would be showing your phone number while calling without knowing it. Therefore, we recommend you that, as a security measure, you should disable your caller ID each time you call by dialing the code to make sure that the number will remain hidden.
At first glance, calling with a hidden number does not protect us at all. The number is totally traceable and identifiable, and, if our intentions to call with a hidden number is to disturb or to send spam, it would be better if we think twice about it. In other words, if you were to bother someone a lot, and they would decide to sue you, with a simple court order, the authorities would request the carrier to reveal the number. Calling by dialing the previous codes gives the illusion of privacy, since the only thing that you´ll achieve is to not to show the caller ID on the receiving device. It is safer to call from a telephone booth of from a public phone, since, from a mobile phone, there are plenty of ways to track who´s calling you.
How much is it to use this service?
Calling with a hidden number to a mobile phone or landline from a mobile phone or a landline is absolutely free. If you found in your monthly bill an additional charge for this reason, you will need to contact the customer service department, since all carriers offer this service for free.
Can I make private calls via the internet?
We are in the same situation as in the previous one. By using internet services, which in this case corresponds to VoIP calls, we will also be able to be tracked. Our IP address that we use to connect to the service will leave a trace of things such as if we have made a payment, the payment method, etc. There are ways to make it impossible to track this information, but that´s not the objective of this article.
Apps to hide your number
For Android, there are many apps in which, after inserting the code needed to hide the call, you won´t have to worry any longer. You can configure those apps to ask you before each call to hide the number, or just hide your number from all calls. You can download one of these apps from the Play Store on the following link:
When private calls won´t work
Private numbers and emergency numbers
None of the aforementioned methods works when the number that we dial is an emergency number.
International calls and roaming services
These services, depending on the carrier, could stop working due to a series of compatibility issues. For instance, when we make calls through roaming. For this service to work while using roaming, the network that provides us the service should be compatible with hiding our caller ID.
Hidden number and text messages (SMS)
The private call function does not work when we send text messages or SMS. All of the aforementioned information only applies to calls through voice, so, if you send text messages using the prefix to hide your number, the receiver will still receive your phone number on the message.
Other things to take into account
There are options to configure if you want to automatically block all calls that have a hidden number.
When we receive calls with an unknown number, we normally feel distrust, since we know that there is a high likelihood that the caller will want to sell us a service. If you hide your number, don´t be surprised if people don´t answer your calls.
We could want to call privately so that we won´t show our identity for many reasons. Some of them are:
Make pranks: This isn´t very ethical, but, if you don´t bother anyone, and if the person is one of your friends or acquaintances, this wouldn´t be a serious issue, and could be harmless.
Preserving our privacy during calls in which we ask for information for a product or services. For instance, if we want to call a business to ask for information about the price of their internet service, optic fiber, or adsl. If our caller ID is not hidden, the sales departments of these companies, which are commonly pushy through telemarketing, could make your life into a real nightmare, since they could call us in many occasions and during hours in which it would be bothersome. *
* We could use call blockers.
Limitations
Due to the poor use and abuse that many businesses have done while using this service, many users have decided to restrict incoming calls so that only calls with the caller ID enabled will be received. In other words, that if you try to make a call to a user that has put said restrictions, you won´t be able to call them.
Also, depending on the destination of the call, your number could be revealed anyways. For instance, if you dial any emergency number. It is also very likely that, if you call a number of citizen safety services, they would be able to see your number.
Lastly, even though the receiver of the call may not be able to read the caller ID, the carrier will always have that information available. With a court order, it would be possible to obtain that information and take the needed measures in case that someone becomes a victim of telephone harassment.
Movistar Spain easily explains it on its website. Remember that the service of making hidden calls is absolutely free!
http://comunidad.movistar.es/t5/image/serverpage/image-id/88542iD115CA9DDDC8101A/image-size/original?v=mpbl-1&px=-1
More information about configuration and codes:
- http://www.telcel.com/
- http://www.movistar.com.mx/ [MX]
- http://www.movistar.es/ [ES]
- https://www.vodafone.es/
*** The methods on this manual are confirmed to work on Claro Colombia, Viva Bolivia, Movistar México, Spain and Chile, Telcel México, most carriers on the USA, Vodafone Peru, United Kingdom, Ecuador, Japan, Finland, among others.