Send an Anonymous Text With SMS Gateways
The simplest way to text anonymously is to use SMS gateways, which only require an email address. All major carriers offer a service where your phone number also serves as an email address, and any emails sent to that address are delivered to your phone as a text. For example, if your friend’s number is 555-867-5309, and they’re on Sprint, you can send an email from your email address to 5558675309@messaging.sprintpcs.com. Even better, they can reply to you via text and you’ll get the response in your email, allowing you to treat your email account as a sort of texting machine. This is particularly useful if you’ve been emailing someone you don’t know well, or can’t remember their email address. However, there are two disadvantages:
Message lengths: Due to the design of the SMS gateway protocol, messages longer than 160 characters are broken up; longer messages may be sent out of order, or some in the series may not be sent at all.Fees: Text messaging fees will apply to the person receiving your message, so be polite with how you use it.
Consider writing out these email addresses and saving them in your address book for close friends and family. It’s a useful way to text them without needing to switch to your phone. Here are the major carriers and their email formats. Just substitute their ten-digit number in place of [NUMBER]:
AT&T: SMS: [NUMBER]@txt.att.net; MMS: [NUMBER]@mms.att.netSprint: SMS: [NUMBER]@messaging.sprintpcs.com; MMS: [NUMBER]@pm.sprint.comT-Mobile: SMS/MMS: [NUMBER]@tmomail.netVerizon Wireless: SMS: [NUMBER]@vtext.com; MMS: [NUMBER]@vzwpix.com
Send an Anonymous Text via Instant Messenger Apps
You may remember chat programs like AOL Instant Messenger (AIM) or iChat on older Macs. These also support sending messages directly to phones. There are several modern services that will let you send messages to phone numbers, usually by typing the number into the “send” field. Depending on the app you use, this will also offer features like end-to-end encryption and self-destructing messages. To preserve your privacy, you’ll need to create a new account with no ties to your identity, and possibly a new email account. You should also check the rules of the app, which may limit certain features such as sending pictures.
How to Block Your Number When Texting
Another technique is to set your phone to withhold your number. This is best if you want to keep your number as private as possible and don’t want it shared with strangers. However, this won’t disable functions like calling back a number that sent a text, and depending on the phone and carrier, it may disrupt other functions on your phone. Generally, you’ll receive an alert on which functions are impacted when you select this option.
Withhold Number on Android
Withhold Number on iOS
Use a “Burner” Number for Anonymous Texting
You can also use a disposable phone number, generally called a “burner,” to send text messages without identifying yourself. They’re very useful for people who don’t want to give out their phone number or would prefer to keep communication one-way. There are several ways to secure a second phone number that’s functionally anonymous, but the simplest is to sign up for a Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP, number. VoIP services include Google Voice and Skype and will issue you a phone number at your request. Some will require you to “buy” a number, like Skype, while others, like Google Voice, will simply give it to you for free as part of your Gmail account.
