Have you ever called someone only to learn from them that your caller ID is private or hidden? 

Most people are not comfortable with private numbers and will automatically decline calls if they cannot see the caller ID.

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If you are wondering why your number is on private. It maybe because you or someone else had activated private number for all outgoing calls and had forgot to remove or deactivate it.

In this guide, I am going to explain how you can activate and also turn off a private number using your phone menu or a USSD code . For Android devices like Samsung and for mobile network providers like MTN , Glo, 9mobile, Vodafone, Airtel etc. And how you can find out who is calling from a private number.

Why Use A Private Number

There are situations where it is appropriate to use a private number. You may be calling someone you are not sure whether to trust or not. And would not want to have your phone number fall into the wrong hands. 

In such a situation, you can hide your number when calling them. you can do this by activating private number or unknown number on your mobile phone.

I will show you all the different ways you can do this on an iPhone and Android. This should also work irrespective of the mobile network provider you are currently using whether it is MTN, Glo, 9mobile or Airtel.

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How To Activate A Private Number

Use the Code #31#

The simplest way to make your number private is to add the code #31# at the beginning of the number you want to call. 

For example, if you want to hide your number when calling 08012345678. Just dial *31#08012345678 and hit send. And your number will show as private or hidden on the called number.

How To Hide Your Number on Android

Change The caller settings on your phone

You can also hide your number by adjusting a simple settings on your Android or iPhone.

if you are on Android,

• Go to settings 
• click call settings 
• Click Advance settings 
• Click Caller ID
• select Hide number.

here is how to make your number private on iPhone

• go to settings
• click on phone
• select show my caller ID
• Use the toggle switch to show or hide your number.

How To Remove Private Number

While you can hide your caller ID so that your number won’t show up when you call people. Sometimes you would want to turn off private number when you call certain people so that they know it’s you calling.

This can be done by dialling a USSD code to remove the private number feature or by using your phone menu to turn off private number.

The method you use to deactivate a private number will depend on how it was activated in the first place. 

If it was activated from your mobile phone menu then it should be deactivated using the phone’s menu. If however, it was activated using a USSD code then you should also use a USSD code to turn it off.

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Turn off private number with code

As discussed earlier, you can hide your number using the USSD code #31#. 

So to disabled or turn off private number simply dial the called number without *31# code.

If your caller ID was blocked using your mobile phone settings, then this method will not work. 

You will have to go to your phone settings and disable it from there. Which I have provided the guide below.

Turn Off Private Number From Your Phone Menu

since different mobile phones will often have different settings menu, I am going to use the two most popular mobile phone softwares settings in my example which are Android and iOS.

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Turn Off Private Number on Android

Most Android smartphone will allow you to disable or turn off private number permanently from the phones settings.

on Android, go to settings menu. then tap on call settings. 

If you can’t find call settings tap-on more or additional settings. you can also use the search box at the top of the settings screen to search for “call settings”. Now tap on caller ID and  select  “show my caller ID”.