Messaging apps without a phone number: what to use instead of Telegram

Messaging apps without a phone number let you chat without linking your account to your personal number. This can be useful when discussing trades in crypto communities, where you may not want to give new contacts information that could lead them to your personal profiles. SimpleX, Session and Threema have different registration requirements, privacy features and recovery options, so those differences should guide your choice.

This guide compares these services with Telegram, explains their registration requirements and limitations, and covers what you need to save to recover access if you lose your phone. We also look at Signal Login, which offers registration without a phone number in the Signal Android beta.

Why use a messaging app without a phone number?

When a messaging account is tied to a phone number, that number can help people find the user and connect the account to a real person. It may also reveal personal information, while someone who takes control of it could log in to the account or register it again on another device.

If your number is registered against an identity document, appears in banking records or has been exposed in a data breach, someone may be able to use it to find your name and other personal details. Posting it in a P2P exchange chat or crypto community can inadvertently help strangers find that information. A scammer who knows where you trade and which assets you discuss has a better chance of writing a convincing message while posing as exchange support or a trading counterparty.

An attacker who takes over your number through a SIM swap can receive SMS codes that, without additional protection, may be enough to log in to your account or register it again. Whether they can access older conversations depends on the service and its backups: taking over the number does not automatically expose all previous messages. We explain how to restrict remote SIM replacement in the practical section below.

Alongside message content, messaging apps process metadata: information about when messages are exchanged, IP addresses and, depending on the service, who is talking to whom. Linking a number to an account makes it easier to connect this information to a person. End-to-end encryption protects message content, but the amount of metadata available to servers varies between services.

A phone number is only one way to identify someone. Your IP address, app purchase, public profile and contacts can also provide clues. Choosing an app that does not require a number removes one of these links; the others depend on the service and how you use it.

What are Telegram’s limitations?

Telegram requires a number to register. Setting “Who can see my phone number?” to “Nobody” hides it from other users, subject to your exceptions, but the number remains linked to your account. You can sign in using a code delivered to Telegram on an existing device or by SMS, or with a previously created passkey. A passkey lets you sign in without SMS, but it does not remove the account’s link to a number.

Anonymous +888 numbers

Telegram supports registration without a SIM card through Fragment, a platform where you can buy a virtual number with the +888 prefix. These numbers exist as NFTs on the TON blockchain and are intended for Telegram: you retrieve the login code on Fragment. You need a TON wallet, such as Tonkeeper, to make the purchase.

Buying a number leaves a record on TON’s public blockchain. If you funded the wallet from an exchange where you completed KYC, or identity verification, the exchange may retain a link between you and that transfer. A +888 number lets you avoid using a SIM card, but it does not automatically conceal where the funds came from.

Control of the NFT gives access to login codes for that number. Protect the wallet holding it and set a password through Telegram’s Two-Step Verification. A login code alone will then be insufficient to access the account.

Are Telegram conversations end-to-end encrypted?

Regular Telegram chats and groups are not end-to-end encrypted. With end-to-end encryption, only the participants can read the messages; in cloud chats, the service can technically access the content. Telegram offers end-to-end encryption in one-to-one Secret Chats, which are not supported by every client. Telegram Desktop, for example, does not support them.

How to choose messaging apps without a phone number

A messaging app needs to protect your conversations and be practical for the people you talk to. We compare services using these criteria:

• Ease of use for your contacts: can someone without technical experience install the app and start a conversation?
• Funding and maintenance: does the team have the resources to develop the app and fix vulnerabilities? Session’s difficulties in 2026 show how much this can affect a project.
• Metadata protection: what can servers learn about your contacts, IP addresses and message timing?
• End-to-end encryption: is it enabled by default, and which types of communication does it cover?
• Recovery after losing your phone: what must you save in advance, and can you recover your chat history?
• Registration requirements: do you need a phone number, email address or payment?

Signal: register without a number using Signal Login

Usernames, introduced in Signal in 2024, made it possible to start conversations without exchanging phone numbers. The next step was Signal Login: registration without a number in the Android beta, version 8.28 or later. As this is a beta feature, check whether it is available in your app version before creating an account.

How Signal Login works

If you choose registration without a number, you make a one-time payment to create the account and receive your Signal Login details. According to the official instructions, the app displays a 32-character Account ID and a 64-character Recovery Key. Save both: they are required for login and recovery, and there is no SMS fallback for this type of account. Restoring your message history also requires the relevant backup.

Additional protection for Signal Login is configured separately from the standard Signal PIN. The available methods and setup steps are described in Signal’s support guide; check which options your beta version supports before switching.

Create a username and share it, its link or its QR code so other people can find you and start a conversation. Your contacts cannot find an account through their phone address book if it has no linked number.

These registration instructions require the Android beta. If you already use Signal with a phone number, check whether your version can transfer the existing account and chat history before making the move. Existing accounts do not switch to Signal Login automatically.

Protecting a Signal account registered with a number

In the privacy settings, set both “Who can see my number” and “Who can find me by my number” to “Nobody”. Then create a username and share it with new contacts instead of your number.

Also enable Registration Lock, which protects re-registration with your Signal PIN. Re-registering will require the PIN, so taking over your number alone will not be enough. The lock expires after seven days of inactivity, so it primarily protects an account you use regularly.

SimpleX Chat: no shared user identifier

Unlike Session and Threema, SimpleX does not assign you a single network identifier, whether a phone number, email address or random ID. Instead, separate message queues on servers handle communication with each contact. The server has no shared ID it can use to link all your contacts, and your contacts cannot match your profiles using such an identifier alone. Reusing a name or photo, or revealing recognisable details in conversations, can still make you identifiable without a shared ID.

You add contacts through a one-time link or QR code. To publish an address where new people can reach you, you can create a reusable link and delete it later. Deleting it prevents new people from using that address, while existing chats remain available.

Direct chats between compatible SimpleX versions have post-quantum protection combined with conventional cryptography. Do not assume the same applies to groups and calls; check their capabilities separately. Private routing hides your IP address from the recipient’s server, and the protocols’ cryptographic mechanisms have undergone a Trail of Bits review.

SimpleX includes a Ukrainian interface and channels. Public names for channels and businesses are also being tested, allowing new contacts to find an address for enquiries.

Recovery depends on a saved copy of your database. If you lose your phone without backing up that database, neither a phone number nor customer support can restore your contacts. The apps do not synchronise all data across devices as Telegram does. On a computer, you can work with a connected phone’s profile or create a separate profile with its own contacts. People used to finding others by phone number may need help accepting an invitation.

Session: Account IDs and onion routing

When you create an account, Session generates an Account ID, a long string starting with 05, and a recovery password consisting of a set of words. No phone number or email address is required. Messages travel through Session Network nodes using layered, or onion, routing. Different nodes handle different parts of the route so no single node sees both the sender’s IP address and the final recipient.

The current Session protocol has a significant limitation: it does not provide perfect forward secrecy, or PFS. With PFS, stealing a long-term key does not allow an attacker to decrypt older conversations once their individual message keys have been deleted. Without PFS, an attacker who records encrypted messages and later obtains the relevant key may be able to read those conversations.

Session Protocol v2 is intended to restore PFS and add post-quantum protection. In an update dated 13 October 2026, the developers reported that the core cryptographic mechanisms had been implemented in the libsession library, but integration into the main apps and the migration plan for existing accounts were still unfinished. Preparatory support for Protocol v2 in newer app versions does not mean all conversations already have PFS. Updates to the Session Router networking component should also be distinguished from changes to end-to-end message encryption.

Funding shortages led Session to pause development in 2026. Work later resumed with a smaller team after a donation campaign. This affected the pace of updates, so check what the stable release actually supports rather than relying solely on announced features.

As the Session FAQ explains, direct chats and closed groups are end-to-end encrypted, while public Communities are not. Calls are also encrypted, but a direct connection can expose your IP address to the person you call and the server helping establish the connection.

If your contacts use Session, you can keep it as an additional communication channel. For conversations where protecting older messages after a key compromise is particularly important, we recommend a service with PFS already deployed, while also considering how actively the app is maintained.

Threema: a paid messaging app under Swiss jurisdiction

Threema assigns each user a random eight-character Threema ID. Linking a phone number or email address is optional; you can add them if you want people in your address book to find you. The personal app is a one-time purchase, and the service is funded through product sales. Its apps are open source, and its servers are located in Switzerland. Swiss government bodies and the military are among its users.

Buying the app through the App Store or Google Play leaves a purchase record in your store account. Threema Safe backs up your ID, contacts and other profile information. Threema Safe does not include message history or media files. To transfer your conversations as well, use the separate backup options available on your platform.

Threema is worth considering for a family or small team whose members are willing to buy the app and want to chat without linking a number.

Other options: Briar, Element and Delta Chat

Briar transfers messages between devices without a central server. Online, it uses Tor, which hides IP addresses by routing traffic through several nodes. Offline, it can synchronise messages over Bluetooth or local Wi-Fi, allowing people nearby to chat during outages as long as they remain within range. The full mobile app is available for Android; the desktop version is in beta, and iOS is not supported. Both devices need to be connected at the same time for direct message exchange. To receive messages while your phone is offline, you can set up Briar Mailbox on a spare Android device that stays connected to power and Wi-Fi and stores encrypted messages for you.

Since July 2026, Briar has been in maintenance mode: the team releases essential security updates and bug fixes. The developers also acknowledge high battery usage and unreliable background operation on Android. Before relying on Briar during an outage, test whether messages arrive on your devices, including when the screen is off.

Element is a client for the Matrix network, where you create an account on one of many servers. The network itself does not require a phone number; email requirements and other registration conditions depend on the server administrator. You can set these rules yourself if you run your own server. Personal conversations in Element are encrypted by default, but Matrix servers process metadata about rooms and their members. It can be practical for teams and communities, although the information visible to servers needs to be considered separately from message encryption.

Delta Chat sends messages through email servers. With a chatmail server, you can create an account without a phone number or an existing personal email inbox; conversations between compatible clients are end-to-end encrypted. Connecting a conventional email account instead of using chatmail also allows unencrypted messages, so check the protection of each conversation. It can work for trades if the people you trade with are willing to use it too.

WhatsApp: usernames instead of sharing numbers

On 29 June 2026, WhatsApp announced username reservations ahead of a rollout intended to let people start conversations without exchanging phone numbers. The announcement says there will be no public directory or profile suggestions: someone contacting you for the first time will need your exact username. An optional username key can add another requirement for new people trying to reach you. Check availability in your version of the app.

A username does not remove the requirement to register with a phone number. Once the feature is available for your account and you enable it, you will be able to share your username with new contacts instead of your number, but WhatsApp will still know the number. End-to-end encryption protects the content of personal conversations, while account data and metadata are handled under the service’s policies. To use an account without a linked number, you need a different service.

Messaging app comparison

Registration, payment and encryption

Account recovery and platforms

Keeping access to an account without a phone number

Many services use your number to help verify that an account belongs to you. Messaging apps without a phone number rely on saved keys, passwords or backups instead. Prepare these in advance, remembering that recovering account access and restoring conversations are different tasks. Check exactly what your app’s backup includes.

• Threema: enable Threema Safe and save your Threema ID and backup password. Messages and media need a separate backup.
• Session: save the recovery password made up of words. It restores access to your identifier but is not an archive of all your conversations.
• SimpleX: save a database export and the details needed to decrypt it. Update the backup after adding important contacts so it contains the information needed to reach them.
• Signal Login: save your Account ID and Recovery Key, and check how message history is backed up. If you enable a second factor, make sure you can still access it after losing your phone.

Keep login details in a password manager such as KeePassXC or Bitwarden, with a second copy separate from your main device. Identifiers and keys can be recorded on paper; the SimpleX database must be exported as a file and stored encrypted.

Do not keep secret keys as screenshots in your regular photo gallery or as unencrypted cloud notes. Anyone who gains access to your photos or notes could see them.

Choosing settings for your needs

Your choice depends on what you want to keep private: your number from strangers in a group, the link between trades and your personal profile, or your contacts from server operators. Defining that goal will help you choose an app and its settings.

Hide your number from people you do not know

If you take part in crypto communities and want to reveal less personal information, start by securing your existing accounts and number.

• Check your number’s protection against SIM replacement. For Ukrainian mobile numbers, Kyivstar lets you block self-service SIM replacement with *245*1# and check its status with *245*3#. Ask Vodafone about its restriction on remote SIM replacement, which requires additional checks when replacing a SIM. For lifecell, call 5433 and ask which SIM and eSIM replacement restrictions are available for your number.
• In Telegram, open “Privacy and Security → Phone Number”, set “Who can see my phone number?” to “Nobody” and “Who can find me by my number?” to “My Contacts”. Review the exceptions and enable Two-Step Verification.
• In Signal accounts registered with a number, hide the number, create a username and enable Registration Lock.

Create a separate account for trades and crypto communities

A separate profile can help you avoid disclosing your main number during P2P exchanges and over-the-counter trades. To make it harder to link that account to your personal pages, consider the name and photo you use and where you publish the profile link.

• Choose an app with the people you plan to use it with. Options include SimpleX, Threema or Signal Login, provided you have access to the relevant beta and its registration requirements suit you.
• Save recovery information before your first trade and check whether chat history is backed up.
• Do not reuse the name and photo from your personal profiles, or import contacts from your main phone unnecessarily.
• If the people you trade with only use Telegram, a +888 number lets you avoid a SIM card. Keep TON’s public transaction history in mind, and protect both the wallet holding the number NFT and the Telegram account.

Reduce what others can learn about your communications

If you have reason to expect targeted surveillance or an attack, consider both your network connection and device security. Switching messaging apps alone will not address these risks.

• Use SimpleX with private routing and check whether you can connect through Tor if you also need to hide your IP address.
• If necessary, use a separate device without personal accounts and keep its operating system and apps updated. We cover system security and app isolation in our guide to GrapheneOS and NitroPhone.
• Agree with the other person how long to retain conversations, and enable disappearing messages to reduce the history left on devices. They can still copy the text or photograph the screen before it disappears.
• Decide whether you need conversation backups; if you do, keep them encrypted and control who can access them.
• Verify security codes with important contacts in person or over another trusted channel to reduce the risk of impersonation.
• For local communication during outages, install Briar on compatible devices and add the contacts you need in advance. Bluetooth or local Wi-Fi communication requires the devices to stay within range.

Which messaging app should you choose?

If you only need to hide your number from new contacts, start with Signal’s privacy settings and Registration Lock. Among messaging apps without a phone number, SimpleX and Threema are worth considering; Android users can also try Signal Login if they are comfortable with the beta. SimpleX is useful when avoiding a shared network ID is a priority, while Threema may suit a family or small team. Prepare Briar as a separate option for local communication during outages.

Once you have agreed on an app with your contacts, save everything needed to recover access before using it for important conversations. Check what your saved keys and backups will restore: just the profile, or the message history as well.