How to Hide Your Phone Number

Hiding your phone number means stopping it from appearing on the screen of the person you are calling. On US phone lines you can hide it one call at a time by dialing a prefix before the number, or ask your carrier to hide it on every call from your line permanently.

What does hiding your phone number actually hide?

Hiding your phone number affects caller ID, the piece of information sent alongside a voice call that puts your number on the other person's screen. When it is hidden they see "Private", "Blocked", "Unknown", or "No Caller ID" instead.

It does not hide anything else. Your number is still on your bill, still known to your carrier, still visible to emergency services, and still attached to any text you send. Treat it as privacy from the person you called, not privacy from the network.

How do I hide my phone number on one call?

The per-call method works from any US keypad and needs no setup.

1. Open the phone keypad rather than your contacts list.
2. Dial *67 with nothing after it.
3. Dial the full number with the area code.
4. Press call.

It applies to that call only. The next call goes out visible unless you type the prefix again, and calling back from your recent-calls list never includes it.

How do I hide my number on every call instead of one at a time?

There are two routes, and which one you have depends on your carrier.

• The handset switch. On an iPhone, the caller ID switch sits in Settings under the Phone section. On most Android phones it is inside the phone app's own settings, under caller ID or additional call settings.
• The carrier setting. If the switch is missing or will not move, caller ID is locked at the network level, which is common on prepaid and business lines. Change it in your carrier online account or ask support to set permanent blocking on the line.

Once your line is hidden full time, the per-call prefix stops being useful; you use the reverse code, *82, to show your number for one call when a business will not take a hidden one.

Can I hide my phone number when I send a text message?

No. A standard text message carries your number as its sender address, and no dialing prefix or handset switch changes that. The caller ID controls described above cover voice calls only.

If you need to reach someone by message without giving out your number, the workable answer is a different number entirely, not a hidden one: a second line on your account, a work line, or a number from a calling app. The recipient then sees that number instead of your main one.

How do I keep my phone number off websites and public listings?

Hiding caller ID does nothing about a number already published somewhere. Those are separate jobs.

• People-search and data-broker sites list numbers pulled from public records and marketing data. Each one has its own opt-out process, and you have to do them individually.
• Social accounts and app profiles often store a number for account recovery and may show it to contacts. Check the privacy settings of each account and set who can see it.
• Online forms are the usual source. Giving a secondary number on forms keeps your main number out of circulation from the start.
• Directory listings tied to a landline are controlled by the phone company. Ask them for an unlisted or non-published number.

Why do calls fail after I hide my phone number?

Hiding your number makes some calls stop connecting, and that is expected behavior rather than a fault. People and businesses can turn on anonymous call rejection, which refuses calls with no caller ID. Your caller hears a recording asking them to unblock the number and try again, and nothing rings on the other end.

Places most likely to reject a hidden number include medical offices, banks, schools, and any line that returns calls. If a call you actually need is not going through, dial *82 before the number to show your caller ID for that one call.

Why does my number sometimes show up anyway?

A hidden number still reaches the other side in a few situations, and knowing them saves you from believing the block failed.

• Emergency calls always pass your number and location.
• Toll-free numbers receive the calling number through billing records, not caller ID, so a hidden call to a toll-free line is still identified.
• Calls made over Wi-Fi calling or an internet calling app may bypass the prefix, since it is a code for the traditional phone network.
• The prefix is North American. Roaming abroad, it usually does nothing.
• If you saved a contact's number in a company system before, they may recognize you from the account rather than from caller ID.

What to check if hiding your phone number is not working at all

Work through the simple causes first. Confirm you dialed the prefix ahead of the area code with no pause. Confirm you dialed from the keypad and not from a stored contact. Turn Wi-Fi calling off and retry over the cellular network. Then check with your carrier whether caller ID blocking is enabled on that specific line, since lines on the same family plan can be set differently. If the handset switch is greyed out, the answer is with the carrier and not with the phone.