When you make a phone call, your mobile network automatically transmits your phone number to the recipient’s device, where it appears on their screen via Caller ID. While this is helpful for friends and family, there are many situations where you might need to protect your privacy.
If you are returning a call to a suspicious business, contacting a service provider from your personal phone, or conducting a sensitive transaction, you may not want the recipient to save your direct number. Apple provides a simple built-in toggle on the iPhone that forces your network provider to withhold your number, causing your call to appear as “Unknown”, “No Caller ID”, or “Private Number”.
How to Hide Your Caller ID Permanently
If you use your personal iPhone for business and never want your number revealed to clients, you can change a global setting that masks your number for every single outbound call.
- Open the Settings app on your iPhone.
- Scroll down and tap on the Phone menu.
- Look under the ‘Calls’ section and tap Show My Caller ID.
- Wait a few seconds for your phone to check its status with your network provider. A toggle switch will appear.
- Tap the green switch to toggle it to the Off (grey) position.
As long as this setting remains off, every call you make will hide your number. To reverse this, simply return to this menu and turn the switch back to green.
Note: If the toggle is greyed out or does not appear, your specific mobile network carrier does not allow you to control this feature from your handset. You will need to contact their customer support line to request a Caller ID block.
How to Hide Your Caller ID for a Single Call
Changing the global setting is tedious if you only need to hide your number for one specific phone call. Fortunately, you can use a universal “star code” prefix to block Caller ID on a per-call basis directly from the keypad.
For Users in the UK and Europe (GSM Networks)
If you are located in the UK, Ireland, Australia, or most of Europe, the standard code to withhold your number is 141.
- Open the Phone app and tap the Keypad tab.
- Type
141. - Immediately type the phone number you wish to call (e.g.,
14107700900123). - Press the green call button.
Your number will be hidden for this call only. The next time you make a normal call without typing 141, your Caller ID will be visible again.
For Users in the USA and Canada
If you are located in North America, the standard code provided by the FCC to block Caller ID on a per-call basis is *67.
- Open the Phone app and tap the Keypad tab.
- Type
*67. - Immediately type the full phone number, including the area code (e.g.,
*675550198). - Press the green call button.
Why Hiding Your Number Might Not Work
It is important to understand that hiding your Caller ID is not a foolproof security measure. Toll-free numbers (like 1-800 or 0800 numbers) use a different routing system called Automatic Number Identification (ANI), which bypasses user-level Caller ID blocks. When you call a toll-free number, the receiving company pays for the call, and they have the right to see the billing number. Furthermore, emergency services (such as 911 or 999) will always be able to see your exact phone number and location data, regardless of your settings.