Why you need a second phone number (and how to get one without a second phone)

Your mobile number used to be a way for people to call you. Today it is also the key to your bank, your email and most of your accounts, the thing marketplaces and dating apps ask for first, and the field every form makes mandatory. Once it is out, it is out for good: you cannot un-share a phone number, and changing it means telling everyone you know.

A second phone number solves this without changing anything about your life. Your real number stays with family, friends and the bank. The second number goes everywhere else.

What a second number is for

Most people arrive at a second number through one specific problem, then discover the rest.

Privacy. Selling a sofa online, arranging a viewing, or meeting someone from a dating app should not require handing a stranger the number that unlocks your bank. A second number lets the conversation happen and then end.

Work. Freelancers, tradespeople and small businesses need a number customers can call that is not the one their children call. A second number can have its own business hours and voicemail, so the phone stops ringing at 9 pm.

Another country. If you moved abroad, work with clients overseas or have family elsewhere, a local number in that country is cheaper for them to call and looks like it belongs there. One phone can carry numbers in several countries at once.

Sign-ups and verification codes. Every service wants a phone number for a code and then keeps it. A second number takes the codes, and the marketing texts that follow, away from your personal line.

You do not need a second phone

The old ways to get a second number were a second handset or a dual-SIM phone with a second contract. Both mean another device or another plan to manage, and neither gives you a number in a different country.

A second-number app does the same job in software. Second Phone gives you local or mobile numbers in other countries that live inside one app on your existing phone. Calls and texts to those numbers arrive in the app; you call and text back from whichever number you choose. Voicemail, call forwarding and call recording are settings on each number. The first number comes with a subscription; additional numbers are paid with coins, for a week, a month, three months or a year, up to ten numbers on one account.

There is no SIM to swap, and your existing number and contract are untouched.

What makes a second number better than your first

A second number can do things you would never do to your main one:

• Switch it off for a fortnight and switch it back on.
• Forward it to a colleague's phone while you are away.
• Send it to voicemail outside the hours you choose.
• Let it expire when a project or a sale is finished, and get another.
• Keep its contacts separate, in a private list inside the app rather than your phone's address book.

Your main number cannot be paused or retired without disruption. A second one is designed to be.

How to choose

Pick the country first: local to you for a work line or a private line, or the country of the people who will call you. Then pick a number type. Local numbers look like they belong to a city or region; mobile numbers are recognised everywhere as personal. Check what the number supports before you buy it: calls, SMS, MMS, or all three. A number for verification codes only needs SMS; a work line needs calls at least.

The step-by-step version is in Get your first number.

Frequently asked questions

Is a second phone number a real number?

Yes. It is a local or mobile number from the country you choose, shown in that country's format. People call and text it exactly as they would any other number; the difference is that it rings in an app rather than on a SIM.

Can I keep my existing number and contract?

Yes. A second-number app runs alongside your current number and plan and does not change them. You can use both at the same time on the same phone.

What happens to the second number when I stop paying?

It expires and stops working, stays on your account for a period so you can renew it, and is then released. That is by design: a second number is something you can let go of, unlike your main one.