Burner telephones aren’t only for nefarious intentions, such as you see on TV. They’ll truly be a helpful software for individuals who get distracted simply (as a result of everyone knows how simple it’s to show off “Focus” mode).
Emmy-winning speak present host Conan O’Brien even makes use of one. He admitted on an April 2025 episode of his podcast ”Conan O’Brien Wants A Buddy” that he has a flip telephone for calling pals. “You may have the safety of figuring out, ‘I can name these key individuals and discover out what’s happening,’” O’Brien stated about his telephone, per CNET. “I actually like not being tempted to have a look at the texts, not being tempted to have a look at the emails.”
Even tech consultants have been noticing a return to low-tech burner phones recently.
“What we now name a ‘burner telephone’ used to only be a telephone,” Steven Athwal, CEO and founding father of The Big Phone Store, the fastest-growing U.Okay. refurbished tech retailer, advised HuffPost. “You had your Nokia 3310, despatched just a few texts, made just a few calls, performed Snake, and that was it. … It was the norm earlier than smartphones.”
Now, the telephones are coming again in a giant method. Rocky Cole, co-founder of iVerify and former cellular safety analyst at NSA, stated, “We’re seeing extra individuals flip to burner telephones or secondary gadgets, particularly for journey or when they need just a little extra privateness.”
“The shift away from landlines performs a small half, but it surely’s actually extra about individuals realizing how a lot private information lives on their primary telephone,” he added. “Utilizing a separate machine might help restrict publicity in sure conditions.”
Tech consultants shared a number of causes you would possibly wish to contemplate one for your self, from the foolish and enjoyable to the intense and sensible.
1. Privateness
It looks as if every thing requires a telephone quantity for verification, reductions and extra. Utilizing a burner telephone is a straightforward technique to maintain all the additional stuff off your primary quantity, in response to Cole, who says individuals would possibly “use a burner to keep away from giving out their actual quantity when signing up for apps or companies.”
2. Enterprise
Many individuals, together with entrepreneurs or those that need assist sustaining a work-life stability, might select a burner telephone for work. This helps separate enterprise and private life, in response to Nizel Adams, CEO and principal engineer at Nizel Corporation.
“These days, it’s extra widespread for individuals to offer out a digital quantity than their actual telephone quantity,” he stated. “This helps separate co-workers and acquaintances from family and friends members and makes it so that folks could be simply eliminated out of your life if you happen to ever want to alter your digital quantity on account of stalking, harassment, stolen id, and so forth.”
Moreover, having one other “layer of insulation” between you and your employer helps maintain workers from by accident sharing personal info or having firm information leaked.
Francesco Carta fotografo by way of Getty Photographs
3. Psychological Well being
At Athwal’s retailer, he sees many purchasers cite psychological well being as “the most typical purpose” for a burner telephone. “Persons are bored with being continuously plugged in,” he stated. “They need one thing extra primary with no notifications, no doom scrolling, no limitless feeds of movies and photos.”
“There’s something that feels very free about having a telephone that solely permits you to name and textual content,” Athwal added. “Some primary telephones have easy cameras too, however that’s about all they do … there’s no fixed noise.”
A burner telephone can also be “useful for staying targeted through the use of an easier telephone only for calls or texts with out all of the distractions,” Cole stated.
4. Nostalgia
With the rise of many “classic tech” choices — old-fashioned digital cameras, document gamers, camcorders — it’s no shock that “dumb telephones” are making a comeback as properly.
“We’re seeing increasingly individuals shopping for them once more,” Athwal shared. “Some actually love the retro look, particularly since kinds from the early 2000s have gotten common once more: [the look of] ‘Y2K.’”
Since 2023, Gen Z has been filming movies on TikTok of their new flip telephones, per CNN. This reveals that the pattern is simply getting extra common.
5. For Use Whereas Touring
The U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) is legally allowed to grab your telephone and different digital gadgets to examine them when crossing the border, though the group acknowledged that in fiscal 12 months 2024, less than 0.01% of worldwide vacationers getting into the U.S. had their digital gadgets searched by CBP.
Cole says individuals would possibly need their primary telephone offline when touring, “particularly in locations the place machine searches would possibly occur on the border.”
He provides, “For top-risk journey, a clear machine could be a sensible transfer, and that’s a part of why we rolled out a brand new answer not too long ago at iVerify to assist safe telephones in these sorts of conditions.”
Individuals might wish to keep away from different international locations spying on them by way of their gadgets.
“I hear from individuals each day, whether or not they be administrative assistants, executives or a upkeep employee, that inform me they use burner telephones when touring to international locations,” Adams stated.
“Within the info age international locations and organizations that spy on individuals have been uncovered,” he continued. “This new consciousness has led individuals touring or residing in these international locations to resort to burner telephones to keep away from being spied upon. You entry a cell tower in these international locations and the federal government instantly has entry to no matter information you’re transmitting and even entry to your telephone.”
Extra merely, some persons are simply frightened about dropping their telephones. “Some don’t wish to danger dropping or damaging their primary telephone,” Athwal stated. “Individuals use them to maintain work and private life separate, as a backup for weekends away or festivals.”
6. To Save Cash
Despite the fact that President Donald Trump has backed off on his China tariffs, bringing its 145% tariffs on Chinese language imports down considerably, the U.S. economy is still struggling. And the astronomical price of groceries may need individuals second-guessing their resolution to improve to the most recent iPhone.
With primary pay as you go telephones beginning at simply $29.99 at Best Buy and Target, it’s comprehensible that folks would go for this selection.
Issues To Know Earlier than Getting A Burner Telephone
If you’re utilizing a burner telephone for added safety, there are some things it’s best to be mindful earlier than you begin.
“Burner telephones are a safety measure to guard delicate information and privateness, however they aren’t the end-all, be-all,” Adams stated. “Keep in mind, criminals use burner telephones, they usually get caught each day. Safety itself is a wholesale answer that’s integrated into your total life-style.”
He recommends finally trashing a burner telephone, as they’re meant to be momentary. “Getting a brand new telephone and altering all your passwords (or deleting, then making fully new accounts) each few months is predicted when you begin utilizing burner telephones for safety functions,” Adams advisable. “That is normally coupled with not writing something down as properly.”
If you’re simply utilizing it as a piece telephone, Adams stated you solely must do a manufacturing facility reset to wipe it about annually to maintain your telephone working optimally. And if you happen to use it for touring, simply reset it and throw it away whenever you get house.
Cole stated, “It’s not nearly shopping for a second telephone. You need to take into consideration how you utilize it. When you log into all of your common accounts, you’re mainly connecting it proper again to your primary id.”
If you would like privateness, Cole recommends not utilizing private logins, getting a brand new SIM card, and avoiding linking it to your cloud companies. “And even with a burner, there’s nonetheless a danger of monitoring or compromise, so it’s vital to remain conscious of the fundamentals round cellular safety,” he added.
There are various choices for a telephone, from flip telephones to smartphones. Athwal stated, “When you’re fascinated by getting [a burner phone], simply test what options you want. Some include WhatsApp or a primary internet browser, and a few don’t. And ensure it really works along with your telephone firm and/or community.”
He added, “It’s not about being secretive. For most individuals, it’s nearly life being much less busy.”
