In the modern age, we all have vast amounts of personal information, much of which we may want to protect. Of course, this is our prerogative and each of us will have our own preferences.
Making your phone number private while making calls is one such example. You might want to do this to give somebody a surprise call. Or maybe you want to check out who a number belongs to without revealing your own information.
Whatever your reason, this is easy to accomplish on your smartphone. We’ve described the steps for how to make your number private on Android below, so you can avoid being tracked.
Let’s break it down below!
How to Make Your Number Private on Android: Step-by-Step Guide
Making your number private is easy to do from within your Settings menu. Read on to find out how to do this.
Step 1: Open Your Phone Settings
First, tap the phone icon on your home menu to bring up the phone menu. From here, tap the three dots in the top right corner, and then tap Settings.
Step 2: Open Supplementary Services
Next, tap the Supplementary Services tab to open this menu.
Step 3: Turn Off Caller ID
Finally, tap Show your caller ID at the top, and change the setting from Network default to Never.
This will ensure that your phone ID will never show up when you’re calling someone.
Check out this informative video tutorial that guides you step-by-step on how to make your number private. Safeguard your personal information and control who sees your caller ID. Watch the video now to learn the simple yet effective techniques to keep your number hidden.
How to Make Your Number Private on Android: Alternative Options
You might not want to use the above option. Perhaps you want more control over who you block your number from.
In this case, you can simply type *67 with your keypad (if you’re in the U.S.) before typing the recipient’s phone number. This will register as private so that your number won’t show up. Remember, this will only work for this particular phone call, however.
Alternatively, you can contact your carrier directly to get them to block your number. Most of the time, this can be done directly from the app that’s associated with your carrier.
Why Would I Want to Make My Number Private?
Sharing our information is a personal matter, whether it’s digital data like our phone data or something else. There are many reasons why you might want to make your phone number private, but these are some of the most common:
- Security and privacy reasons: If you’re concerned about keeping your data private, hiding your phone number is one way to help achieve this. While it won’t prevent unwanted callers completely, it’s one tool in your arsenal that works toward stopping people from gathering your personal information.
- To help prevent spam calls: Similarly, blocking your number can’t help you avoid telemarketers and spam calls entirely, but it can still be useful. Telemarketers usually use automated systems to pick up people’s numbers, and making yours private it will make this process harder for them.
- For business purposes: If you use your phone for both personal and business matters, blocking your number helps to keep these parts of your life separate.
- To save money: Carriers will differ from each other, but making your phone number private can potentially reduce the cost of certain types of calls, particularly international calls.
Are There Any Drawbacks to Making My Number Private?
We’ve covered the benefits of blocking your number, but there can be some potential disadvantages to this.
- Compatibility and functionality issues: Depending on the device you’re calling or the apps being used, you can run into some issues. If the recipient has an older device not compatible with private numbers, your call may go through. Similarly, if the app they’re using doesn’t support private numbers, you may find your calls are being blocked.
- Legality: Although emergency calls will go through even if your number is blocked, this may be illegal to do depending on the laws of the country you’re in. This is something to keep in mind if you’re travelling internationally.
- Reluctance to answer: Many people are wary of private calls, as they may think they might belong to spammers or scammers. As such, they may be hesitant to answer your calls if they don’t know who it is calling.
Wrapping Up
Making your number private on Android can be useful if you want to surprise someone, or simply don’t want your phone number to be revealed to every person you make contact with, especially for business purposes. This is possible to do natively from your Android phone’s settings, or through your carrier’s phone app.
If you want to do this on an ad-hoc basis, you can simply add *67 before the recipient’s number when dialing from a phone within the U.S.
While there are many benefits to blocking your number, there can be some drawbacks, such as limiting functionality or your calls being blocked. All in all, it’s up to you to decide whether making your number private is the right choice for you.
The image featured at the top of this post is ©i_am_zews/Shutterstock.com.
