Burner Number: What It Is and How to Get One

A burner number is a temporary phone number you give out instead of your real one, then drop once you no longer need it. You can get a burner phone number from an app, a prepaid SIM or a rented number, often for free or a few cents.

A burner number only helps if the app you give it to accepts it, though, and many don’t: WhatsApp, OpenAI and Snapchat all turn away VoIP or disposable numbers. This guide explains the options, and which burner numbers still receive verification codes.

What is a burner number?

The name comes from cheap prepaid “burner” phones that people threw away. Today a burner number usually means a second number you use online, on the phone you already have or with no phone at all. People use one to:

• give a number to marketplace buyers, dates or sign-up forms without sharing their own;
• receive verification codes for an account they don’t want linked to their personal number;
• stop spam and calls by simply dropping the number afterwards.

A burner number keeps your personal number private. It isn’t a way around an app’s rules or identity checks.

How to get a burner number

The apps are the most convenient: you pick a number in a minute and use it alongside your own. A prepaid SIM is a real mobile line, but you need a phone to put it in and a plan to pay for. A rented non-VoIP number is a real mobile line too, with its texts on a dashboard, so you need neither.

Can you get a free burner number?

Yes, but free burner numbers have limits:

• Free calling apps give you a number of your own, but it’s VoIP, and you can lose it. TextNow says “we recycle inactive numbers tied to our free Wi-Fi service,” and that you’ll “receive most verification codes by activating a TextNow SIM card or purchasing one of the following recurring subscriptions”.
• Free receive-SMS websites list public numbers. Anyone can read the codes, so popular apps block those numbers quickly. Our own free temp numbers work the same way: fine for a quick test, never for an account you want to keep.

Do burner numbers work for verification?

Many apps check the type of number before they send a code, and burner numbers are exactly what they’re screening for:

The burner apps don’t promise otherwise. Hushed says its numbers “are NOT guaranteed to work with third-party verification due to blocks implemented by certain services”. Burner says “Most verification systems accept Burner numbers without issue,” and also sells “a separate Verified Number subscription, which is compatible with more third-party services.”

The burner numbers that keep working are real mobile numbers: a prepaid SIM, or a rented non-VoIP number. A carrier lookup shows them as mobile. For more, see VoIP vs non-VoIP numbers.

Burner numbers for dating apps and marketplaces

These are the most common reasons people want a burner number, and both kinds of app check numbers:

• Dating apps verify you through your number. See our guides for Tinder, Hinge, Bumble and POF.
• Marketplaces often refuse VoIP numbers. Craigslist says “International and VOIP numbers are not supported,” and OfferUp says “VoIP numbers will not work.” See our guides for Craigslist, OfferUp and eBay.

When a burner number is the wrong choice

A burner number is meant to be dropped, and that’s the problem for any account you need to keep. Apps text the number again when you log in from a new device or reset your password, and numbers get reassigned: Snapchat warns that a recycled number can “result in a compromise of your account.”

For banking, payment apps, email and anything with 2-step verification, use a number that stays yours: your own, or a long-term rental on auto-renew.

How to get a burner number from PVADeals

1. Create a free PVADeals account and add credits: crypto from $3, or a card through Stripe from $5.
2. Choose the website you want the number for, and the country: the United States or the United Kingdom.
3. Pick a rental. For a true burner, a short-term number lasts 20 minutes, from $0.09. If the app will text you again, a long-term number lasts 3, 7, 14 or 30 days, from $0.70, and you can renew it.
4. Enter the number on the website and ask for the code by text message. PVADeals numbers receive SMS only, not calls.
5. Copy the code from your dashboard, where it appears as soon as it arrives.

If an eligible number receives no SMS during the rental, its cost comes back to your balance automatically as store credit. See our US phone numbers and UK phone numbers, or read about virtual phone numbers and how to get a second phone number.