6 Reasons You Might Want A Burner Phone

Burner telephones aren’t only for nefarious intentions, such as you see on TV. They’ll truly be a useful device for individuals who get distracted simply (as a result of everyone knows how simple it’s to show off “Focus” mode).

Emmy-winning discuss 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 Good friend” that he has a flip cellphone for calling associates. “You have got the safety of realizing, ‘I can name these key individuals and discover out what’s happening,’” O’Brien mentioned about his cellphone, 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 these days.

“What we now name a ‘burner cellphone’ used to simply be a cellphone,” Steven Athwal, CEO and founding father of The Big Phone Store, the fastest-growing U.Okay. refurbished tech retailer, instructed 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 an enormous approach. Rocky Cole, co-founder of iVerify and former cell safety analyst at NSA, mentioned, “We’re seeing extra individuals flip to burner telephones or secondary gadgets, particularly for journey or when they need a bit extra privateness.”

“The shift away from landlines performs a small half, however it’s actually extra about individuals realizing how a lot private information lives on their principal cellphone,” he added. “Utilizing a separate system might help restrict publicity in sure conditions.”

Tech consultants shared a number of causes you would possibly wish to think about one for your self, from the foolish and enjoyable to the intense and sensible.

It looks as if every little thing requires a cellphone quantity for verification, reductions and extra. Utilizing a burner cellphone is a simple solution to hold all the additional stuff off your principal 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.”

Many individuals, together with entrepreneurs or those that need assist sustaining a work-life steadiness, could select a burner cellphone 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 frequent for individuals to provide out a digital quantity than their actual cellphone quantity,” he mentioned. “This helps separate co-workers and acquaintances from family and friends members and makes it so that individuals will be simply eliminated out of your life for those who ever want to vary your digital quantity attributable to stalking, harassment, stolen id, and so on.”

Moreover, having one other “layer of insulation” between you and your employer helps hold workers from unintentionally sharing non-public info or having firm information leaked.

At Athwal’s retailer, he sees many purchasers cite psychological well being as “the commonest motive” for a burner cellphone. “Persons are bored with being continually plugged in,” he mentioned. “They need one thing extra fundamental with no notifications, no doom scrolling, no countless feeds of movies and footage.”

“There’s something that feels very free about having a cellphone that solely enables you to name and textual content,” Athwal added. “Some fundamental telephones have easy cameras too, however that’s about all they do … there’s no fixed noise.”

A burner cellphone can also be “useful for staying centered through the use of a less complicated cellphone only for calls or texts with out all of the distractions,” Cole mentioned.

With the rise of many “classic tech” choices — old style digital cameras, report gamers, camcorders — it’s no shock that “dumb telephones” are making a comeback as effectively.

“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 in style 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 development is simply getting extra in style.

The U.S. Customs and Border Safety (CBP) is legally allowed to grab your cellphone and different digital gadgets to examine them when crossing the border, though the group acknowledged that in fiscal yr 2024, less than 0.01% of worldwide vacationers coming into the U.S. had their digital gadgets searched by CBP.

Cole says individuals would possibly need their principal cellphone offline when touring, “particularly in locations the place system searches would possibly occur on the border.”

He provides, “For prime-risk journey, a clear system generally is a good transfer, and that’s a part of why we rolled out a brand new resolution just lately at iVerify to assist safe telephones in these sorts of conditions.”

Individuals could wish to keep away from different nations spying on them via their gadgets.

“I hear from individuals on daily basis, whether or not they be administrative assistants, executives or a upkeep employee, that inform me they use burner telephones when touring to overseas locations,” Adams mentioned.

“Within the info age nations and organizations that spy on individuals have been uncovered,” he continued. “This new consciousness has led individuals touring or dwelling in these nations to resort to burner telephones to keep away from being spied upon. You entry a cell tower in these nations and the federal government instantly has entry to no matter information you’re transmitting and even entry to your cellphone.”

Extra merely, some persons are simply frightened about shedding their telephones. “Some don’t wish to danger shedding or damaging their principal cellphone,” Athwal mentioned. “Individuals use them to maintain work and private life separate, as a backup for weekends away or festivals.”

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 choice to improve to the newest iPhone.

With fundamental pay as you go telephones beginning at simply $29.99 at Best Buy and Target, it’s comprehensible that individuals would go for this feature.

If you’re utilizing a burner cellphone for added safety, there are some things you need 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 mentioned. “Bear in mind, criminals use burner telephones, they usually get caught on daily basis. Safety itself is a wholesale resolution that’s included into your complete life-style.”

He recommends ultimately trashing a burner cellphone, as they’re meant to be short-term. “Getting a brand new cellphone and altering your whole passwords (or deleting, then making totally new accounts) each few months is anticipated when you begin utilizing burner telephones for safety functions,” Adams advisable. “That is normally coupled with not writing something down as effectively.”

If you’re simply utilizing it as a piece cellphone, Adams mentioned you solely have to do a manufacturing facility reset to wipe it about annually to maintain your cellphone operating optimally. And for those who use it for touring, simply reset it and throw it away whenever you get house.

Cole mentioned, “It’s not nearly shopping for a second cellphone. It’s a must to take into consideration how you employ it. In the event you log into all of your normal accounts, you’re mainly connecting it proper again to your principal id.”

If you’d 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 cell safety,” he added.

There are numerous choices for a cellphone, from flip telephones to smartphones. Athwal mentioned, “In the event you’re enthusiastic about getting [a burner phone], simply examine what options you want. Some include WhatsApp or a fundamental net browser, and a few don’t. And ensure it really works along with your cellphone firm and/or community.”

He added, “It’s not about being secretive. For most individuals, it’s nearly life being much less busy.”