We’ve all seen criminal types using burner phones on shows like The Wire and Breaking Bad. And most of us have secretly wanted to throw a phone away or break it in half at the end of a conversation.
Unless you have reason to believe the NSA or FBI is interested in you, it’s probably not something you need. However, there are all sorts of non-criminal reasons to have a second phone number. While you may want to get a physical burner phone for emergencies, you could also just get a burner app on your existing phone.
Why Use a Burner App?
In case you’re not sure why you’d want a burner phone app (or you don’t even know what is a burner phone):
Whatever the reason you need a fake second number (also check out what are the best burner phones), there are plenty of burner apps that can help. Here are some of the best burner phone apps.
1. Burner
Burner certainly has the best name, and it’s one of the best and most straightforward fake number apps available—as long as you live in the US or Canada.
It provides a VOIP phone number (with a local area code) that you can use for calls, text messages, and voicemail. The app gives you control over who can call you, and when you’re done with a number, you can just burn it at the press of a button.
You can connect Burner to apps like Dropbox, Evernote, Slack, and SoundCloud to share or store items. In addition, this app might appeal to online daters thanks to its GhostBot feature. This can give automatic non-committal replies to certain contacts.
Burner gives you a seven-day trial with 20 minutes of talk time and 40 text messages. After that, you can pay for what you need or sign up for a premium subscription that gives you a permanent number with unlimited usage instead of a one-off fake phone number.
Download: Burner for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
2. Hushed
Hushed is much like Burner, but it has numbers for 40 countries and works from many more. It’s the perfect app for multiple burner numbers, whatever your reasons for needing a fake phone number.
The app uses VOIP, so it won’t eat into your minutes, but it will use your data allowance if you’re not on a Wi-Fi connection. If needed, you can set it up to route calls through your own carrier.
It’s free to use for three days, but only with American numbers. After that, it costs $4.99 per month for one number with unlimited calls and texts within North America. There are a variety of other payment options depending on your needs.
Numbers from countries other than the US and Canada are charged at different rates (from $2.99 to $34.99 per month); calls and texts are extra.
Download: Hushed for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
3. CoverMe
CoverMe puts an emphasis on privacy. As well as hiding your number, it allows you to make what it calls “military-grade encrypted phone calls” and store sensitive documents in its “impenetrable” private vault.
Many of its features, such as encryption of calls and texts and self-destructing messages, will only work if the other party also has the app. However, the app can still be useful for anyone wanting an extra layer of privacy. It has phone numbers from the US, Canada, UK, China, and Mexico.
This burner phone number app is free to download. If you want to add regular minutes to your plan, you need to pay for the package you want, starting from $7.99 per month. A premium account has a three-day trial, followed by an annual subscription of $29.99.
Download: CoverMe for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
4. Line2
Line2 is a business-oriented app that offers a second number on your existing phone and a host of other features such as conference calls, auto-attendant, and even toll-free numbers. You can add multiple lines for different departments as your business grows. It’s also suitable for individuals who want to keep their work and personal numbers separate.
It works as a temporary number but is really geared toward professionals who want a permanent second number. Line2 has a desktop app so you can make calls and send texts from a Mac or PC as well.
There’s a seven-day free trial, after which you need to subscribe. It also offers a 30-day money-back guarantee in case this temporary phone number app doesn’t meet your expectations.
Download: Line2 for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
5. Sideline
Sideline’s standard plan allows unlimited calls and text messages, porting numbers to and from other services, VOIP calling, and more. You can also choose to use your own carrier or Wi-Fi for calls.
The pricing depends on whether you’re a casual or professional user. There is a seven-day free trial, after which you pay a monthly subscription based on your plan.
In addition to the standard features, you can get premium perks such as shared numbers, separate contacts, international calls, and appointment reminders.
This really is a great fake phone number app for your business, so you can communicate with people all over the world and even organize your contacts for networking success.
Download: Sideline for Android | iOS (Free trial, subscription required)
These Burner Apps Get the Job Done
All the apps in this list will give you a second number to use as a burner phone, but they’re each tweaked for a slightly different market. Which you use is largely up to personal preference and what you need the number for.
And if you want to keep your costs down while also getting a temporary phone number, you can also look into the many Android and iOS apps available that enable you to make free calls from a US number.