CallingVault – Keep Your Cell Phone Private

Just because a solicitor asks for your phone number, doesn’t mean you have to hand it over. Nonetheless, many people feel rude refusing to give companies, salespeople, or passing acquaintances a way to get in touch. CallingVault offers a solution, creating a way for people to use a secondary phone number for selective screening and private communication.

The next time a guy hits on you, or a cashier claims she needs your phone number to complete a transaction, hand out your CallingVault number rather than your personal line. For $3.25 per month, you can get a local CallingVault number to share. Link up your cell phone to CallingVault to route incoming calls, then get to work adding contacts and customizing privacy settings within the app to suit your needs. With CallingVault, you can block calls from selected individuals, forward certain calls to other numbers, and dial out privately without any records showing up in your cell phone log. Calls from people who aren’t in your CallingVault address book are automatically sent to voicemail, bypassing your phone altogether. Messages that come through while you’re logged in to the CallingVault system can be sent to your cell phone or computer browser. When you’re logged out of the system, you’re notified of incoming messages via text, voicemail, or email.

One of the ways that CallingVault helps you communicate privately is by allowing you to send text messages from within its web-based platform. Enter the message, the recipient, and click “Send.” Your message will go through without your personal phone number ever being revealed, and you can rest assured that anyone looking through you cell phone history won’t find a trace of the messages you’ve sent.

Practical Uses:

• Keep your cell phone number private
• Send text messages without revealing your actual phone number
• Send calls from telemarketers directly to voicemail
• Avoid giving a Craigslist buyer your actual phone number when arranging a deal

Insider Tips:

• Set up selective call forwarding to send all calls from your ex to voicemail
• Each CallingVault number is connected to an email account
• CallingVault phone lines are accessible through any computer, tablet, or smartphone
• Keep contacts organized by putting them into groups, like Work and Family

What we liked:

• CallingVault helps people retain privacy in situations where they don’t want to give out their real phone numbers
• People who suspect someone is looking at their cell phones histories can send text messages privately
• Calls from businesses or salespeoples can be automatically sent to voicemail
• Voicemail messages can be listened to on any web-connected device

What we didn’t like:

• Users can’t choose their CallingVault phone numbers
• CallingVault supports sending text messages to and from US phones only

Alternatives:

• Google Voice – https://www.google.com/voice
• MyAKA – http://myaka.com

Company Info:

• Launched: May 2012 (Beta)
• Privately Held
• Headquarters: New York, New York
• Web site: https://callingvault.com

Costs:

• $3.25 per month, billed annually
• Additional fees for extra texts and minutes