It is safe to say that phone calls are the immediate replacement for face-to-face engagements when friends and relatives, the people you need to call, are distant because, aside from getting a personal response, it saves time, which would have been used to exchange numerous text messages.
You can make a phone call to anyone and everyone, provided your number is not in their block or spam list, and every time you ring a number, the caller ID feature displays your phone number to the recipient or mobile number and name if you are in their contact list.
Calls keep us connected through their value of interactive communication, but not everyone you call deserves to know your phone number. In fact, when you call unknown people with an active caller ID, it opens you up to various risks, such as identity theft, robocalls, and SIM swapping, among others.
It gives you a reason why you should block your caller ID before dialing numbers that you doubt are legitimate. If you are using a Safaricom line, here is how to hide your number to make calls in private mode:
Calling as private number on Safaricom line
If you are concerned with your privacy, you may wish to withhold your phone number when making calls from your Safaricom SIM card in Kenya – this is by blocking outbound caller ID that would otherwise display your mobile number on the recipient’s end.
The callee will receive your call as a ‘private number.’ To be polite or to make them pick up your call, you may warn them that you have blocked your Safaricom call ID because some people avoid responding to such calls as they are associated with spam callers.
How can you make a call without showing your Safaricom number? Here is how to do it on an Android smartphone;
- Go to the Phone Dialer app on your phone
- In the upper part, there is a settings icon. Click on it
- Select ‘SIM card settings’ then ‘Carrier features’
- You will open Calling accounts, choose Safaricom
- Click on ‘Additional settings’ and next, the ‘Caller ID’ option
- To call as a private number using the Safaricom line, withhold your phone number by selecting ‘Hide number’
Upon loading the setting on your Android phone through these steps, you will call other numbers anonymously. This technique applies to most Android smartphone types, and it will hide your caller ID permanently until you remove it through the same steps but choose ‘Show number’ in the Caller ID option.
If you want to make a quick private call without changing the entire call settings, you can dial the Safaricom hide caller ID code #31# before the phone number you wish to dial in the format #31#07xxx…, for example, #31#0722000000.
