Can You Block Your Number When Sending A Text?
Can You Block Your Number When Sending A Text?
Updated on Jun 1, 2022. Today, there are so many different messaging and communication applications that it can be easy to forget that you can use your cell phone for sending SMS texts too! Just as an example, our office spends so much time on our Slack chat that we rarely ever bother texting each other.
To be fair, texting has become a bit outdated… For one, most SMS messaging platforms on your phone take much longer than instant messaging platforms to send and receive messages. Also, group chats, images, videos, and other content are just a lot more difficult to send via traditional SMS. These are some of the main reasons why messaging apps and group chat platforms have become so popular in recent years.
The only problem is that most messaging apps aren’t very private. They openly display your username or the connected phone number, email address, etc.
So, what about sending an anonymous text? Is it even possible to send an SMS text the old-fashioned way while remaining anonymous or blocking your number?
Well, you’re about to find out today! Below, we’ll take a break from our usual VPN and internet privacy-related content to discuss the advantages of sending anonymous messages and the best ways to go about sending anonymous or encrypted messages to protect your privacy. Let’s take a look!
Why Would You Want To Block Your Number When Texting or Making Calls?
There are a vast number of personal and professional reasons why you may want to remain anonymous and block your number while texting or making calls to somebody. Some of the most common reasons include:
- You don’t want a new friend, date, or another business to have your personal number. Let’s face it- sometimes you have to be careful who you trust in today’s world.
- You’re an advertiser and you don’t want to be sued by the person you’re sending marketing-related messages to.
- You’re trying to contact somebody without letting them know who you are.
- …or perhaps you’re just trying to prank somebody!
Whatever your reason for wanting to block your number while sending a text, it’s none of our business. That being said, this is a complete disclaimer that you shouldn’t use any of the techniques we show you below for illegal purposes or to harass unwilling recipients.
Can You Block Your Number When Calling Somebody?
Blocking your number while sending a call is 100% possible, whether you have an Android or an iPhone! This feature has been available on phones since cell phones were first created. To block your number when sending a call, you’ll need to access your call settings from within your phone’s settings. Here, you should be able to select whether or not you want your caller ID displayed when calling somebody.
Can You Block Your Number When Sending A Text Message?
Although you can block your number when sending a call, you cannot block your number when sending a traditional SMS message. This is because your caller ID settings only apply to phone calls. Perhaps, this will change in the future… However, it’s unlikely that we’ll see this functionality anytime soon.
How To Send Anonymous Texts
Although you can’t block your phone number when sending texts, there are still several different ways that you can go about sending anonymous texts. They may require you to put in a little bit of extra effort or to purchase a pre-paid phone, but these methods certainly do work.
1. Through An Anonymous Email Account: One of the easiest ways to send anonymous texts is to use an anonymous email account. For example, both Yahoo and Google offer the ability to send text messages through their platforms. You can send SMS messages through Yahoo’s email platform or you can use Google’s Voice application to send text messages.
The key is to ensure that the email account you use is anonymous (this is where most people mess up). If you use your personal email address, then it can easily be traced back to you. To create an anonymous email address, you should first connect to a VPN server in another country (ZenMate is a good VPN if you want to have lots of country choices).
Once you’re connected to the VPN server, your IP address and location will be masked. Now, you can create a new anonymous email account using a fake name. Once the anonymous email is created, you can send anonymous text messages to whoever you want!
2. Through A “Burner” Phone: Of course, there’s always the old-fashioned way… For this method, simply go to your local corner store and purchase a pre-paid cell phone using cash (not your credit card that’s linked to your name). Then, you can use this phone to send anonymous texts to other people, and there’s no way that they can trace the number back to you.
3. Through An Anonymous Texting Site/Platform: There are also some applications and websites you can use to send anonymous texts. For example, you can use the Berner App to generate random phone numbers and use these random numbers to send anonymous texts. Another site you can try is www.anonymoustext.com, where you can pay a small fee to send anonymous texts to any number in the world.
Of course, keep in mind that most of these apps will be linked to your actual phone number or will require payment through a personal debit or credit card. This means that the right people can trace these messages back to you if they’re dedicated enough.
Secondary Option: Send Private, Encrypted Text Messages Using Apps
If you’re like most people, then you don’t really need to send a 100% anonymous text message. What you’re probably more interested in is ensuring that third parties (i.e., hackers, the government, law enforcement, advertisers) aren’t able to read the contents of your messages. In an age where hackers are everywhere, it’s important to have a secure way of sending messages.
For this purpose, there are a number of apps you can use that allow users to send secure, encrypted messages that can’t be read by anybody in-between. These messages will be encrypted with end-to-end encryption, meaning that nobody (not even the messaging platform itself) will be able to read the contents of your message.
Many of these apps also allow you to create auto-deleting messages so that there’s no physical record of the messages after a certain amount of time!
Our favorite messaging apps that utilize or feature end-to-end encryption protocol are:
- Signal.
- Telegram.
All of these messaging platforms are free to use and allow users to send private messages around the world! When used in correlation with a low-cost VPN, you’ll have an added layer of security that nobody can break through.
In Conclusion
Although it’s impossible to block your number while sending traditional SMS messages, there are a number of ways that you can send messages anonymously. The best way is to just use an old-fashioned pre-paid flip phone that’s paid for with cash.
If anonymity isn’t your goal and you just want to ensure that your messages are private, then using a secure messaging app like Telegram, WhatsApp, or Signal is a great choice!
