Hi my fellow Lemmings and friends!
I need to get a second number, and I would prefer not to use Google Voice. I have an Android phone and it needs to be a USA (+1) number.
What are the reputable, privacy friendly apps for this? It would be amazing if it was free but I will not hold my breath on that.
😸
Their big idea is phone numbers that pipe all calls AND SMS into XMPP. It’s $5 mo for unlimited messages, and the rate for voice calls is less than 1¢/min (I forget exactly).
So now calls and sms for my second number come through an XMPP app on my phone (Cheogram), and through apps on other devices/operating systems (e.g. Snikket on iOS, Gajim on Windows and Linux).
Voicemail show up as attachments via XMPP in Cheogram, and it does transcription.
You can use pretty much any XMPP app you want, but I’ve found only Cheogram supports phone calls well. I do use Monacles Chat on my phone for messaging and disable message notifications on Cheogram.
TBH if it’s free, that makes you the product, same as everything else.
You probably shouldn’t be even remotely considering any free option if you’re after something with any reasonable amount of privacy.
I don’t have a recommendation for a non-free one, since I just build shit with Twilio when I need things, which isn’t really uh, applicable to your desires.
MySudo
