How To Hide Your Phone Number on BlackBerry Z10, Q10, Z30

Hiding your phone number during a phone call is a great way to protect your identity if you’re going to make an anonymous call or play a prank on someone. It is also useful when you want to call someone but don’t want them to call you back or have your phone number.

There are different ways to hide your phone number depending on your type of mobile phone and network carrier. I personally do not make use of the option within the phone settings as there have been cases where I forgot to turn it back on and friends I called later on were wondering why I suddenly decided to hide my number.

I’ll try to list out all the methods I can think of.

How To Hide Your Phone Number on BlackBerry 10

The BlackBerry 10 OS on devices like the Z10, Z30 and Q10 has the option to hide your caller identity. To access this option, go to your phone Settings, then pull down the top bezel / fold, choose Show my number, then turn it off (hide) or on (show) depending on what you want to do.

Note: This option is not available on Verizon and Sprint BlackBerry 10 phones. To hide your number on these devices, check out the other options below.

Hide Your Number Using a Code

If, like me, you are concerned about remembering to turn the phone option back on, or if you’re too lazy to go into settings to toggle it on/off everytime you want to make an open/anonymous phone call respectively, there is one method which is always available to every mobile phone, the #31#. You have to type #31# in front of the phone number you wish to call anonymously. For example, to call 1234567 anonymously you would have to dial #31#1234567. If #31# does not work, try *#30# or *#31# or *31#.

As you may have guessed, this is not a permanent setting as you would have to use that code every single time you want to withhold your phone number.

Note: Before using #31#, check from your phone options if your number is already hidden because using the #31# code in that scenario will reverse the process and show your number for that call.

Using 141 To Hide Your Number (UK)

This method only works in the UK. It is used just like #31#. Type 141 before typing the phone number you wish to call anonymously. For example, to call 9876543, you must dial 1419876543.

Using Disposable Phone Numbers

There are apps available on the Play Store (Android) and the AppStore (iPhone) which allows you to create disposable phone numbers you can use and discard at any time. The virtual phone numbers you create will be linked to your actual phone but won’t be visible to your call recipients (if you decide to call them with one). You can also share these numbers to people for them to call you on.
Note: The disposable numbers will become dead if you decide to discard them and whoever you have given that number to will not be able to reach you anymore.

BlackBerry 10 users may benefit from this method by downloading and installing the Android app.