WhatsApp, how to send anonymous messages

Installing the Text+ application allows you to use WhatsApp anonymously on your smartphone. Here's how to do it

One of the cornerstones of WhatsApp has always been the obligation, for the user, to communicate to the instant messaging service their phone number. And to verify it. It is therefore impossible to use WhatsApp anonymously, without showing others your phone number.

Or, rather: it was impossible. Now you can, thanks to an app for iOS and Android called Text+, which circumvents the problem in a very simple way by allowing us to create infinite phone numbers with which to create as many WhatsApp profiles. Text+ was created, in fact, to send SMS and MMS for free in the U.S. and Canada and to make national and international phone calls to any number in the world, with a cost starting at 2 cents. But the ability to create infinite virtual phone numbers (by paying for them) was soon used to send anonymous messages on WhatsApp.

How Text+ Works

The Text+ app is available on the Google Play Store and App Store.  Buying individual phone numbers is a pay-as-you-go or you subscribe. Among its official features, there is no mention at all of anything related to WhatsApp. Not even searching through the FAQs on the official website you can find information on how to use Text+ to create anonymous WhatsApp profiles.

The developer, therefore, does not encourage its users to use the app for this purpose. But it is possible to do so, and it is also easy: once we download and install Text+, in fact, we will be able to create our own temporary phone number and, immediately after, use it to create a fully functional WhatsApp profile. What's more, the Text+ user can choose whether to keep the virtual number for a long time (the app has been around since 2009 and there are users who have been using it for almost ten years) or to change the number whenever they want. And then he can also create as many WhatsApp profiles as he likes. But the smartphone has to support WhatsApp app duplication, or you have to use an app like Parallel Space that allows you to have multiple accounts on the same device. Also, Text+ might have problems working in Italy: before requesting the number, check that everything is working at its best.

Facebook won't like it

Using WhatsApp anonymously, in principle, violates the service's privacy policy. In theory, then, using Text+ to send anonymous messages to our contacts could lead to profile deletion. But to be deleted would be only the fake profile associated with the virtual number, so the risk for those who use this app is virtually zero. Even in the event that WhatsApp manages to understand that the number is fake and in which this number is banned, we can in a few minutes create a new number and a new profile. The other side of the coin is that apps like Text+ make life incredibly easy for spammers and criminals, who can use WhatsApp to exchange messages anonymously.