Privacy
What calling and messaging apps encrypt, and what they still reveal.
- Hiding your caller ID: the codes that withhold your number, and who still sees it
How to withhold your phone number on one call or on every call, with #31#, *67, 141 and the phone's own settings, what the US and EU rules guarantee, and why emergency services, toll-free lines and your own operator still see who is calling.
- One-ring scams: why a missed call from an unknown foreign number can cost you money
How "Wangiri" or one-ring calls work, who earns money when you call back, how to recognise a premium destination that looks like a domestic number, what US rules now let carriers block, and what to do if you already returned the call.
- Recording phone and internet calls: consent rules, built-in recorders and what to tell the other side
When you may record a phone, VoIP or app call: one-party and all-party consent in the US, the stricter European approach, how iPhone and Android recorders announce themselves, and a simple routine that keeps you on the safe side.
- SIM swap fraud: how criminals hijack a phone number, and how to lock yours
How SIM swapping and port-out fraud work, why a stolen number opens bank and email accounts, the warning signs, and the steps that make your number much harder to take over.
- What calling and messaging apps actually encrypt (and what they still reveal)
End-to-end encryption in calling apps explained: how it differs from network encryption, which apps encrypt calls by default, and why metadata and backups matter as much as the call itself.
