How to Call Private and Hide Your Number

A private call is one where your phone number is withheld from the caller ID of the person you are calling, so their screen shows "Private", "Blocked", "No Caller ID", or "Unknown" instead of your number. In North America you make a call private by dialling *67 immediately before the number, with no space and no pause, on either a mobile phone or a landline.

What does "private call" actually mean on caller ID?

Caller ID is the short piece of information your carrier passes along with a call so the receiving phone can display who is calling. Making a private call does not delete that information: it sets a flag telling the receiving network not to display it.

That distinction matters. Your number still exists inside the call record, your carrier still has it, and certain kinds of recipients still receive it regardless of the flag. A private call is privacy from the person looking at the screen, not anonymity from the phone system.

How do you make one call private?

Use the prefix method when you want a single call hidden and normal caller ID on everything else. This works on most carriers in the United States and Canada.

1. Open the phone keypad as you would for any call.
2. Dial *67 first.
3. Dial the full number straight afterwards, including the area code, with no pause or space between the prefix and the number.
4. Press call.
5. Check the confirmation: the screen usually shows the whole string including the prefix while the call connects.

If you are calling from a contact card rather than typing, you cannot always add the prefix, so type the number out manually for that call. Some phones let you save a contact with the prefix already in front of the number, which is useful if you always want calls to one person hidden.

How do you make every call private from your phone?

Instead of the prefix, most carriers offer per-line caller ID blocking, which hides your number on every outgoing call until you turn it off. There are two ways to switch it on and they are not equivalent.

• In the phone's own settings: iPhones have a caller ID switch in the phone settings, and Android phones keep a similar option inside the phone app's calling or supplementary services settings. The wording differs by manufacturer and Android version.
• Through the carrier: line-level blocking set by the carrier applies to the line itself, so it survives a phone reset or a change of handset.

The phone setting is faster but can be lost when the device is reset, restored, or replaced, and on some networks the switch is greyed out because the network controls it. If the setting will not change on the phone, that is the carrier holding it, and the change has to be requested from the carrier instead.

How do you unblock your number for a single call?

When caller ID blocking is on permanently, some calls will not go through, because a growing number of businesses reject calls with no caller ID. Dial *82 immediately before the number to show your number for that one call, leaving the permanent block in place for everything else.

This is the pair worth remembering: *67 hides your number on a call that would otherwise show it, and *82 shows your number on a call that would otherwise hide it. Both are per-call and neither changes your standing setting.

When does calling private not work?

Making a call private fails in several ordinary situations, and none of them mean your phone is broken:

• Toll-free numbers receive your number regardless of the block, because they pay for the call and get the originating number with it.
• Emergency services receive your number and your location regardless of any blocking.
• Many businesses, doctors' offices, and delivery services automatically reject calls with no caller ID, so the call rings once and drops or goes straight to a message.
• Some recipients have anonymous call rejection switched on, which blocks private calls at the network before the phone ever rings.
• International calls may ignore the prefix entirely, as the codes are regional and the receiving network may not honour them.
• Calls made through internet calling apps do not use these codes at all, since the app controls what the recipient sees.

How do you call a private number back?

You cannot dial a private number directly, because your phone was never given the digits to redial. The call log entry shows a label rather than a number, and there is nothing hidden behind it to reveal.

What you can do instead:

1. Check whether the caller left a voicemail with a call-back number.
2. Try last-call return, dialled as *69, which on some carriers connects you to the last incoming call without showing you the number. It frequently does not work for calls that were deliberately blocked.
3. If the calls are repeated and unwanted, contact your carrier and ask about their call trace or malicious call procedure, which handles the number on their side rather than yours.
4. Turn on anonymous call rejection if your carrier offers it, so blocked calls stop reaching you at all.

Apps and websites that promise to unmask a private number cannot see what your carrier withheld, so treat that claim as a warning sign rather than a solution.

Does a private call stay private afterwards?

Withholding caller ID hides your number from the screen, not from records. Your carrier keeps the call detail, the receiving carrier handles the call knowing where it came from, and lawful requests, emergency calls, and call-trace procedures can all recover the number.

Treat *67 as a courtesy setting for everyday privacy, useful when returning a call from a personal phone or contacting someone you do not want holding your number. Do not treat it as protection for anything that would matter if the number came out later.