# How does one send an "anonymous text"

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-send-an-anonymous-text/672208>\
**Category:** Factual Questions\
**Created:** [October 25, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-send-an-anonymous-text/672208 "2013-10-25T14:23:04Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 1

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Lasciel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e79b87/32.png) [@Lasciel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lasciel)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-send-an-anonymous-text/672208/1 "2013-10-25T14:23:04Z")

</div>

I see this all the time in book-jacket blurbs or as part of plot-lines, and I’m confused. On a land-line, a call could be anonymous if they call from a payphone or the landline doesn’t have caller-ID. But texts go specifically to cell-phones enabled to deal with them, and those phones DO have ways of showing the number a text came from, even if you don’t know WHOSE number it is.

Are there services or apps that let someone send a text without any accompanying name or phone number?

(I am somewhat of a luddite; I don’t know anything about modern phones)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Inner\_Stickler](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/inner_stickler/32/318_2.png) [@Inner\_Stickler](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Inner_Stickler)\
**Post date:** [October 25, 2013, 2:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/how-does-one-send-an-anonymous-text/672208/2 "2013-10-25T14:40:24Z")

</div>

Yeah, you can send a text via email if you know the provider of the person’s cell you want to text. Or you could just buy a tracphone, put 10 bucks worth of minutes on it, send the text and ditch the phone.