The idea of a software service that lets callers mask their identity isn’t new. 'A substitute for carrying two devices, because it’s cheaper and more flexible.' 'We see a lot of people who are using Burner as a substitute for carrying two devices, because it’s cheaper and more flexible.' 'Users are seeing the need for more than one phone number: one personal and one public,' says Cohn. The rise of the contract economy, with people renting their apartment on Airbnb and driving their personal car for Lyft or Uber, has also driven demand for a personal and professional phone number. 'My department does not issue cellular phones to patrol deputies so I use the app to be able to give people a direct contact without compromising the privacy of my personal number.' 'I currently work patrol division so I come in contact with different civilians every day,' he explained. Jeremy, a sheriff’s deputy in West Virginia, started using Burner to get around budget shortfalls.

Over the last year the startup has been among the top grossing apps in the utility category for for both Android and iOS, bringing in a solid six figures in monthly revenue and millions on an annual basis. Solving that problem has become a big business for Burner. Instead of drug dealers looking to hide their activity, many of their customers were lawyers, cops, teachers, and taxi drivers looking to create some separation between their personal and professional lives without the hassle or expense of having a second phone. 'It’s not a one time, one and done thing,' says Cohn. While the initial thesis was that people would want to create and quickly dispose of these numbers, over the last two years Burner’s internal data has told a very different story. ' It’s not a one time, one and done thing.' They created an app called Burner that allows users to quickly and easily create new numbers, which they can use to send and receive calls and text messages, then destroy them at any time. But they quickly realized that this feature was far and away the most popular part of their service, so they focused on that. They jokingly called it the Burner feature, an homage to the throwaway phones made famous by drug dealers on HBO’s The Wire.

One of the features generated a temporary number that you could share on social media so anyone could reach you. Back in the spring of 2012, Greg Cohn and his co-founder Will Carter were working on a product that would let others know when they were available for a phone call.

Actually free burner phone number app