Published: 12/20/2025By: Megan Francis
Do you want to call someone without them knowing your phone number? Whether you want to prank a friend or try calling a prospect again, calling them privately is a great way to conceal your identity and hide your phone number. That said, you might be wondering – how do I actually make that phone call private?
The good news is that you’ve come to the right place. In this article, we cover how to call someone privately along with what a private phone number is and much more. Read on to learn more below.
What Is a Private Number?
Whether you’re getting phone calls with a private number label or you want to know what it will look like when you call someone privately, it’s important to know what a private number is. A private number is the result of someone intentionally blocking their phone number from caller ID.
Instead of leaving a blank phone number in the incoming call section, the caller ID generates a private label. Now, this might look slightly different on different devices, but you can always expect the phone number of the callers to be hidden when making or receiving private phone calls.
Overall, private phone numbers shield the caller’s identity and sometimes even prevent recipients from calling them back.
Why You Should Call Someone Privately
There are many reasons to call someone privately. You may want to reach a new prospect without revealing your personal number, or you may want to check if someone is trying to scam you without revealing your identity.
Learn more about why you should call someone privately below.
Protection from Scammers
Worried that someone who called you may be a scammer? Or did someone give you their number online and you’re worried about who may be on the other end of the line? If you don’t want someone to be able to track you down or call you back, it’s not a bad idea to call someone privately.
Ultimately, by hiding your number from someone you won’t have to worry about them calling you back.
Protection from Unwanted Phone Calls
The last thing you want to do is call a telemarketer or robocaller on accident. This is because once they have your phone number there’s nothing stopping them from calling you every five seconds.
The good news is that when you change your caller ID to private, they won’t be able to see your number or even use a vertical service code to call you back. Therefore, if you’re unsure about the person on the other end of the line being a telemarketer or robocaller, calling privately is a smart move.
Privacy
At the end of the day, sometimes you just need a little privacy. It doesn’t matter who you’re calling; sometimes you don’t want them to know it’s you on the other line. For example, you may want to check in on a friend without seeming too pushy or you may want to reach out to an old friend. It’s also a great way to call someone you don’t know well because it hides your number and prevents them from calling you back.
How to Call Someone Privately
Calling someone privately isn’t challenging and there are a few ways you can do so. For example, you can use a dial code from your device’s dialpad, like *67, or you can download an app on your smartphone. What’s more, the type of phone you’re using may change the best ways to call someone privately.
Learn how to call someone with a private number below.
1. Dial Codes
Most phones in the United States have dial codes or vertical service codes that allow you to enter a code before someone’s number. The codes tend to be short, around two digits, and allow you to trace calls, hide your number, and much more. To use a vertical service code you usually have to enter the * or # key and then enter the phone number.
When it comes to making your phone number private, you’ll want to use *67 because it will hide your caller ID. Depending on the service provider, your phone call will appear as blocked, unknown, or private. Therefore, it may depend on your phone carrier, so keep that in mind before you make any phone calls.
2. Check Your Device’s Settings
Depending on the device you’re using, there may be a way to hide your caller ID. For example, some iPhones allow you to make phone calls with your caller ID disabled as long as you choose that specific setting.
You can also do this on Android devices depending on the model, although Samsung phones aren’t known for having these features. This will show your caller ID as Blocked or private in most cases.
It’s also important to note that some landline and wireless telephones will also have this setting. This is common for telemarketers and businesses, but some in-home models may also come with these capabilities.
3. Download an App
Depending on your device you can download an app to call someone privately. There are plenty of apps you can download to change or alter your caller ID. You can even choose whether or not you include your number, name, or other parts of your caller ID.
That said, apps can depend on your device, so you may find that some apps aren’t available for Android and vice versa. Thankfully, there is usually a suitable alternative if an app is missing from a specific app store.
4. Use a Prepaid Phone
Last but not least you can go the prepaid phone, or burner phone, route. There are a handful of places that sell these devices, so you’ll have to shop around for the best prices. The purpose of these phones is to make phone calls in a limited number of minutes with a number that’s not your own. Essentially, you don’t have to register the phone number under your name.
Another benefit of using a prepaid phone is that it’s not traceable. While some phone numbers can be traced, it’s almost impossible to trace or tie a burner phone to you. Therefore, while it may cost you money, it’s not a bad way to call someone privately if you want to make it hard for someone to find you.
How to Find a Private Caller
Now, if you find yourself on the other end of a private call, you might be wondering, ‘how can I find out who’s calling me?’ The good news is that we can help you with that as well, so if you’re trying to call back a private number you have a few options.
Vertical Service Codes
Vertical service codes that can help you make a private call can also help you find the number of an unknown caller. If you’re getting calls from unknown numbers and you’re worried about being scammed, or worse, harassed or stalked, vertical service codes have you covered. For example, you can use *57 to trace someone’s number and your phone service provider will try to learn more information about the caller or even notify the authorities.
You can also use vertical service codes that call back the last caller as well. The best one for this application is *69. If possible, your device will attempt to call back the last caller.
USPeopleSearch.com
When you need answers about who’s calling you, USPeopleSearch can help. If someone left their name in a voicemail or you caught it when speaking with them, you can enter it into our people search tool and learn more about them.
Didn’t catch their name? Don’t worry, because you can also use our reverse phone lookup tool or even our address lookup tool if you find the phone number or address in the caller ID.
The best part is that once you enter the information into our search tool we’ll help you find everything that’s publicly available. This includes:
- Full name
- Address
- Email address
- Business
- Social media accounts
- Additional phone numbers
- Criminal records
- Public court records
Overall, this is only the tip of the iceberg in terms of what you’ll find, so we recommend running every private number through our tool just to be sure.
Call Someone Privately Today
Calling someone privately is helpful for a lot of reasons. It can help you connect with prospects and protect your sensitive information if you suspect that someone is a scammer. Depending on your situation you may even have your own reasons to call someone privately, so it’s important to keep your options open.
On the other hand, if you’re receiving private phone calls and want to call them back, you can always use vertical service codes or our reverse phone lookup tools. At the end of the day, you always have options.
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