Burner: Second Phone Number Reviews

by K-Poff

I had a client pay nearly $500 USD to have my phone number. I chose this this app app because it offered picture messages that I could send and receive.
Once I paid for the best plan, I quickly realize none of my photos were going through. I couldn’t send them to myself or my client. It looked like they went through but we never received them. I messaged support and they told me it should work, and to uninstall Burner and reinstall... so I did that, and when I logged back in it actually made me pay AGAIN, but tbh the money wasn’t the issue. I can afford a few bucks, but I NEEDED this to work as someone paid me hundreds for it.
So reinstalling it didn’t work. I messaged support again and they said they could offer me another line for free, which I didn’t want bc my client already had “my number,” so it would be weird to change it so soon, but I said as long as it worked I’d figure it out. Setup that new line, tested it out, same exact issue. I’m using an iPhone 12 Pro Max. Taking the photos within the this app app itself. Their latest email said the specs of my photos are correct and that it should work... (but it doesn’t). And then they said the only thing they can do is offer a refund, but since it was purchase in Burner Store, they CANT process a refund... LOL they contradicted themselves in the same sentence. Ridiculous products. If you need picture messages. DONT USE Burner!

by Bnwing

This has been the most horrible experience! I signed up for a this app number, & downloaded Burner, to advertise a truck I have for sale. In the past 2-1/2 days, I have received over a dozen spam text messages & at least 73 spam phone calls! Day & night! All routed through Burner & sent to my regular phone number. The service is calling random people & then calling my line, with those random people’s numbers showing up. When I answer, the confused people are asking me who I am, why I called them, etc. But, they “called” me! On some of the calls I don’t answer, I tried calling back to follow up & it was the same thing... They had never called me & had no clue what was going on, even though their numbers were showing up as missed calls. So, I said “forget this nonsense!” & I logged out of the account, then deleted Burner . But, STILL, I kept receiving the automated spam calls! I finally had to just block the “this app” number that I was given so I wouldn’t keep having to deal with this nonsense! It’s been insane! This will be the last time I ever use this! How do I disconnect my line completely from this this app number???

by Philmoorehead

I downloaded Burner for a small purpose of not revealing my phone number if I have to verify something (which verification on some apps don’t even work). I used my real phone number to get the this app. I have not ever gotten random calls from number that I don’t even know of until I put my real number into Burner. Take note that I didn’t send a single message or call using the this app number, as I had no use for it, so then I burned the number right after I download Burner then deleted Burner . The next morning, I received random calls from people in which I don’t even know who they are. I don’t know if they are spam callers or just people who got my number somehow and one even tried to FaceTime me. I have blocked a few of the numbers because one had repeatedly tried calling me and I texted them and asked them who they are. They said a name in which I didn’t know of and then I told them they had the wrong number. Please tell me how I can stop this and why this happens.

by MiaTango

Before the end of my free trial I emailed to make SURE they knew I wanted to cancel. They wrote back: In regards to the subscription, that must be cancelled through your iTunes account. Keep in mind, deleting your this app account will not automatically cancel your iTunes based subscription and you will be charged the renewal fees until it is manually cancelled. Let us know what we can do to help, and if you’d still like your account deleted, just confirm that for me and I’ll start the process. SERIOUSLY? Let them know??? What the heck do they think the email said?? That I was still considering keeping it????? They scam you for the first month and then let you go but they get $10 off of you before you leave.
UPDATE: I got a second email AGAIN giving me instructions to let them know if I want to cancel. THREE TIMES I said I wanted to, how many times do they need? They said they’d send a confirmation text to ensure I’m the owner. No text ever came. They keep you hooked and won’t let you go!!

by Bohotechie

I have now been waiting almost 36 hours for a response from the this app team, after sending at least 3 messages to their support email. I have had an auto-renewing line for more than six months. I recently changed the number (for the first time) and their system automatically burned it (deleting all the text messages at the same time???!!!) three days before it was set to renew? When I received an alert that my number was set to burn, I contacted support, expressing my confusion—after all, my subscription was paid. They eventually replied, asking for my number. I immediately answered. When I got another alert, I wrote again. And again. Nothing! No response! Then I received an alert that my number had been burned and all messages deleted! I wrote to this app again, and that was Saturday afternoon. It is now after 11am on Monday and I have had no response from the company. That is not acceptable support and I am very displeased. Mind you, they still have my money and I fully expect to be changed again in two days. Use this service at your own risk and copy everything immediately. :(

by Jonnyb5

Great idea, especially for a business. But after gaining a real phone line I wanted to end my auto-renew subscription number but this app App has made it nearly impossible to do so. There is no way to actually do it through Burner . Then after having to Google how, you have to go on their website. After gaining access by entering your account information there is a link button to cancel subscription. But then a message pops up saying it’s not a web account and to further cancel the account it has to be done through Burner Store or Google play store….. hmmm this being an app, I’m assuming that all accounts are not web accounts and how exactly would any account cancellations be done through Burner Store? So heed my warning if you’re pondering upgrading to a subscription line number which will require auto pay. They don’t make it easy to cancel your account as I am still waiting for them to respond even to my emails let alone cancel my account

by Burned By Burner

Like others, I had my service terminated without notice for reportedly ‘Violating Terms of Service’. The phone number was used, as per the advertising and their own Terms of Service acceptable practices, to be forwarded to my phone. Couldn’t have been a more low key and compliant customer. A year paid in advance yielded about 6 months of utility. Cut off. No warning. No reason given by Support (quick to respond as they were, which gave them the star) when contacted other than ‘Terms of Service’ (not indicating to which one they are referring) and ‘contact legal’. To date no response has been received by legal despite multiple requests for justification. Not a business I would recommend supporting.

It seems that any issue A: Is not brought to the attention of a customer to address, which, in the least is just good business practice by reputable firms, and B: Is met with the same rote answer, hiding behind some ‘catch all’ that, while on paper seems clear, is interpreted by them and therefore ambiguous at best. When asking for any clarification, you will receive no real response. But on the bright side, they’ve prohibited me from wasting more money as I’ve been banned from Burner for bringing the matter to their attention with an inquiry. Buyer beware, it’s a crap shoot.

by GUYINTAMPAFL

I went to send a text and Burner said. “Every once in a while we have to confirm your phone number” , It doesn’t say if they want your this app, or actual number. I tried one, then the other. Both times it said they weren’t able to send the verification text because my phone needs me to update international call settings to an approved country? No info was given how to do this.

I sent a really rude email to them. Very rude. Everything instantly makes me angry being locked at home. Anyway, I get a email saying activity on my account violates their terms of service and my account is cancelled and to email their legal Dept if I want more information? I sent replaced and asked, “what are you taking about??”. Rec reply that said legal handles all terminations and to email them. I guess if your curse at them via email they will cancel your service. On to the next app I guess. I was reading reviews and someone mentioned using their this app number for Craigslist or something.

I’m not sure, but about 30 min before they cancelled my account, I used the this app number as contact for a online credit account application. I used it because I don’t want 500 calls from telemarketers. I’m not sure, but maybe they don’t allow that? But how would they know anything about me giving it to credit application?? It’s strange.

by Bn1mbl3

Used to work for phone verification, no longer works for tinder, no longer works for okcupid, doesn’t work for google verification. It’s still good to use for stuff like craigslist when you dont want to give out your real number. This problem is not completely this app app’s fault, more to do with these dumb companies who want to data mine you and sell your number. I get constant spam calls on my real number and using this app numbers is a defense against that trash. The whole phone number system is broken and outdated. We need a better way to protect our numbers from these sites that sell them to spammers. I am tired of the car insurance bot calls i get every day. So yeah this app needs to find new numbers that pass verification or at least warn users that Burner will not work on certain sites. Again it used to be great and I used it with tinder and a bunch of apps and it worked fine. It still works with Bumble for now but that’s likely due to bumble not checking whatever voip number lists that google and match group(owns tinder and okcupid) are now using. I’ll still use it for giving out my number to randos on craigslist etc but worthless now for sms verification for most sites.

by MrWufz

Love the idea for Burner. I sell things on Craigslist and using my actual # was getting me added to massive SMS spam groups. Worked great the first month. Just renewed and notifications stopped working. Only other thing that changed was update the other day to 12.1.4.

Sometimes I'll get notified of texts, sometimes I won't. Even when I do, upon opening the conversation, Burner hasn't updated with the text (even if it was present in the notification)! The only way I can see it in those instances is to force-close and reopen the conversation. Other times, I never get a notification and when I go back to check, the other person texted me what seems like hours ago. It only shows me the last time I sent a message, so I'm not sure.

This needs to be fixed. I won't be renewing this month if it's not. Also, there should be a time stamp on every message. Either via pulling to the side like in Messages or long/3d-touching a message.

by Aellus

I’ve used this app for years at this point and loved it. I’ve recommended it to plenty of people. Like most people (I presume) I use it for things like Craigslist where I need to text or call but don’t want my real number out there. It was perfect. I don’t use it all the time, but every few months I’d log in and pick up a few lines as I went through selling stuff.

Well I just logged back in and was disappointed to discover that this app has joined the ranks of so many tech companies to completely misread their market and try to cash grab on subscriptions. It would be fine if I could just ignore the subscription option, but they’ve removed all but one option for the credit-based lines. Now you have to buy the 8 credit line with 100 texts and 50 minutes, there are no other choices. I used always prefer the 250 text line as it was much better for selling posts since you get a ton of texts. They’ve crippled their old business to push you towards a subscription you might not need.

I’ll have to find a new app to use for selling. Really disappointed here…

by Janae L

Hello, could you please make Burner more cleaner, a more accessible for people with disabilities who use screen reading software on their phone such as for the iPhone their screen reader is called voice over. For Google it’s called Google talk back. I don’t know if Windows has a screen reader for any windows related phones. The buttons on your app, and how they’re set up, and other options are not clearly defined and easily accessible when trying to create a voicemail message, or how to make sure that your account is active. Please make these adjustments. There is a federal law called the Americans with disabilities act of 1990 has been amended and in that act all companies need to make their websites and apps and other things accessible for people of all types of disability. This is a great app. You just need to make it more user-friendly. For everybody. Especially people with disabilities. We are important too. More companies need to pay attention to making things accessible. For people with disabilities. If companies do not. They can be sued.
I encourage companies if you’re not sure how to make things accessible. Reach out to Apple. Reach out to Google. Find out what their best practices are for making their website an apps more accessible.

by Anicknamenooneelsehasyet

I used Burner for online dating and it really is the best! I love how I can send pictures and also create a contact for each caller. Luckily I never had to used the “ghost” feature because there was 1 great person I ended up giving my real number to. And the other guys never texted back after I told them I wasn’t interested, so we’re good on that too. Keep in mind— you cannot use Bluetooth while using Burner . I tried it once in my car and it failed. You have to answer directly from your cellphone, there’s isn’t an option to answer from a wireless source. Second thing— glitches. Twice in 2 months (90% success rate) I worked through mis-communications because a text I sent never made it to the guy and a text he sent me I never received. If the text is too long, it won’t go through. Better to send many small texts, not a paragraph. Even better to talk over the phone. Just be aware of this so you don’t jump to conclusions and think the other person is a jerk for not replying or answering in a way that has nothing to do with your last response.

by Ksmm

This service works almost as well as the texting service provided by your cellular phone company. And it has much more compatibility than Google Voice; it works with most services that I've tried (though a few will still reject any VoIP number). And it can receive MMS/picture messages and send them too (for a fee).

Burner , on the other hand, has a few rough edges. Notably, trying to position the insert cursor, doesn't show you the text as you move, leaving you to guess where the cursor will land. Also, renewal reminders are hit or miss. Sometimes you'll get reminded that your this app is about to expire; sometimes you won't. And even when it works, it may only give you an hour or two advance warning. Too bad for you if you're busy when that happens. Expired Burners disappear and take your number and all your messages along with them.

Also, Burner drains your phone battery like nothing I've ever seen. Like streaming video. Like continuous GPS navigation. Even if you're idle waiting for texts to appear, your battery will die quickly. It makes me suspicious about what Burner is doing behind the scenes.

Other than that, the service is great for times that you don't want to use your permanent, identifiable cellular phone number. And it's reasonably priced.

by Bradleygt0226

It does exactly what it’s supposed to. The only downside is not being able to set a different ringtone for the this app line, and still show the caller’s incoming phone number at the same time. Currently you have to set this app to display YOUR own this app number as the incoming phone number when someone calls that line. You save your this app number into your phone’s contact list and set a separate ringtone for that phone number. However, since the caller ID shows your this app number, you can’t screen who’s calling you that way. It will display the caller’s phone number in your call history so you still have access to the number after the call. Overall good app though and I was even able to get a local area which I was unable to do through even google voice.

by Erblemoof

If you know what a this app phone is, then you already understand the concept behind Burner. Except, it's SO MUCH better because you only need a single phone to use multiple phone numbers. How it works: you pick a phone number, and give that number to people. They call the number, which then calls your own phone's number. The caller never learns your "real" number, so it stays completely safe. If you never want that person to contact you again, you can burn the number you gave them, and that's it. They can't get in touch anymore. The only challenge with using Burner , which you quickly get use to, is you must press the "1" button to accept an incoming call. After you do it a few times it becomes a habit and is not a big deal. I highly recommend Burner, I use it all the time and find it to be very reliable and convenient.

by Monica00000

Burner pays for itself in value. I got sick of getting robocalls constantly, so I purchased a this app subscription in the hopes of using it in lieu of my personal number on websites etc to keep my personal phone more private. I use the this app number for basically anything that wasn’t super important/personal— every time I’m prompted for a phone number on a website I purchase something from, every time I need to give an app my phone number to “verify” an account, etc, I use the this app number. I can already tell it’s working because I’ve begun getting spam texts and calls on the this app line, probably mined from the various apps and websites I’ve used it on. Once I get enough spams etc at that number, I can just burn it and get a new this app line. Kind of neat!

by Papafriz

You use a phone number that might have been used before. Which means you might get calls expecting someone or something else. What I do is wait and see the contact then return call/ text if it was someone I knew or expected. Best service, has saved me in ways you’d have to think about if you had a string of bad luck.

Update to Dev(8:48, 13 June 2019): I love your service and I was just trying to explain to others. It’s not your number even if you get spam, the spam comes from previous owners/users of the number. Burn the number and use a different number. This service is such a useful and blessing. I’d rather give a number out that isn’t my personal number of 5-10+years to all the places that have “said they don’t sell your info” or potential crazy.

by SauseboiLdurr

These guys charge a fraction of the price for numbers that 95% of these other companies are charging exorbitant amounts for. I have had this app for 2 years now and I have not found any other app that even comes close to what Had Hoc Labs does. this app is extremely efficient too and I almost never have a problem making or receiving calls from other clients. Best of all, the customer service is elite, the only time ever had an issue is recently and they responded to my email within 24 hours and immediately fixed my problem within their server. I usually do not leave reviews like this but I was compelled to make one after discovering how bad these other competitor phone number apps actually are.

by Pixelwizard

I use my this app lines for my business and set it up so the this app number appears to my phone, however it would be useful if I could keep my setup the way it is but the phone number of the caller is displayed in the description screen of the incoming call from this app as I need to be able to separate my incoming calls per this app number and the only way I can do that is by maintaining the incoming calls to display as the this app number but I’d like to see the incoming callers number displayed somewhere on the screen that displays my this app number as well.....

My other feature request is I make 100 calls per day using my subscribed this app number and I’d like to be able to search my history of phone calls by the last 4 digits of the incomings phone number. That would allow me to easily search through my history of phone calls to find a call I may have made earlier....

Otherwise great app....

I wanted to add I realized I could search last 4 digits of a phone number in this app past calls using search of iPhone and it locates number in this app app and takes me right there. That allows me to do what I have to do :)

by Laura Caitlyn

Signed up for this service 24 hours ago and already having problems receiving text messages! When I visited the support site all it suggested was restarting/reinstalling Burner or emailing them. I closed Burner and reinstalled it but the texts that people had sent me still failed to appear and I now I have no idea how many texts I have missed and from who. This is completely unacceptable.

Charging for a defective product and offering such little support is also unacceptable. With no phone number to call for support, how am I supposed to get this fixed quickly? The fact is that even if they did fix it, there is no way I would continue to use this service since it has proven to be so unreliable and I was using this number for something important. After spending the day updating my contact information across multiple platforms I am extremely disappointed.

by Point Missed

After almost 3 years of having Burner on a automatic renewal I contacted customer service which is only available by email not by phone and takes a minimum of 24 hours to answer in reference to my account after telling me that everything was OK this canceled my account a few weeks later. I emailed asking about reviving my account because it was for business and 48 hours later they responded saying that yes they can but never did. Now 24 hours from then they just told me that FT are able to do it they will try so I told them to cancel it. Bad enough you will see that Burner loses its speed and efficiency and drops calls or makes it so you’re unable to make calls if you use it frequently throughout the day. Don’t waste your time Google voice is free.

by Mr. Parking Lot

In the same way that it doesn’t make sense how there’s different numbers of buns then there are hot dogs in the grocery store, the same here with the number of credits that they sell in packs versus how much the different services costing credits so you always end up like just one or two credits short with you change from the last purchase. On top of that the subscription system I’m not sure if this is an Apple thing or an app thing but
There certainly problems when it will either tell you that the purchase was successful or tell you it was unsuccessful because you arty have a subscription but that I would never let me make a number from that credit and repeated out reach to customer service field in them Knowledge Ing in the problem at all

by 26Nada

I’ve been very pleased with Burner. It works as advertised. I regularly use it so I don’t have to give out my real number on sites like craigslist. The service isn’t free, but I would not expect it to be. I like how it gives me the option to get rid of a temp number right after use, or keep it for as long as I may choose to. I can also have multiple lines active at once.

The only issue I have had has nothing to do with the developers. Some of the numbers it activates receive an excessive amount of spam callers. This is annoying at times but that is a risk you will always run into when getting a new phone number, as it has most likely been used by someone else before.

by INTECHsf

Initially I wasn’t sure if Burner was a product that I would enjoy. I decided to use Burner on a trial basis and I had a conflict with my Hardware upon installation and the this app app was not working on my device as described. I reached out to the technical team and they were able to quickly isolate my iPhone X hardware issues and resolve the problem. they Unlocked the premium features of Burner so that I may get the full experience during my trial. The customer service I received and ease-of-use inspired me to subscribe to a Annual subscription. Looking forward to seeing Burner evolve as improvements and updates are released. Thanks this app App!

by Docmeek

I have a 3-line subscription. It was a real nuisance to change my real number and keep Burner but support helped. Obviously, identity must be confirmed. There are glitches when you insert text and can’t see what you pasted until you do more. It can’t accept video messages. One number started getting spam calls nearly immediately but the beauty is that this could happen with any new number and I just burned it and chose another. Also, Google the specific number when choosing it. I once got a number that was still being advertised online by an escort. I thought it was funny but I understand that others may not be amused. Grade: A-

by Rumham9

My company doesn’t provide work phones but still expects us to use a phone for work. this app has been a lifesaver for this reason and I’ve recommended it to a few of my co-workers who also love Burner .
I love being able to turn it on do not disturb mode during my non-working hours, as well as being able to record a custom voicemail and being able to set auto-reply messages. I only wish Burner would have the option to set the do not disturb mode to set days/hours so I could set it for my work hours and not have to manually turn the do not disturb mode off and on myself.

by Storm Matrix

Burner is super convenient while using dating apps. It allows you to carry just your regular phone instead of two separate ones and with the upgrade you can block numbers just like your regular phone. If you find that the person you meet is crazy you can just burn the number and not the entire phone! I used to have a cheap Walmart family mobile this app phone but it was $25/month where as Burner is only $5/month, so it’s definitely cheaper and way more convenient!