this post was submitted on 27 Dec 2023
7 points (100.0% liked)

Ask Burggit!

173 readers
3 users here now

Ask Burggit!

Ever had a question you wanted to ask? Get an opinion on something?

Well, here's the place to do it! Ask the community pretty much anything.

Rules:

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS
Disabled@burggit.moe
7
How to use Telegram without a phone number? (burggit.moe)
submitted 2 years ago by mcuglys@burggit.moe to c/askburggit@burggit.moe
6 comments fedilink hide all child comments
 

While not illegal, basically nothing I would do on Telegram is something I would want associated with my IRL phone number, lol. Of course, Telegram is very much set up to prevent the creation of an account without a phone number, even though they have a desktop client.

The closest I've got is those websites that let you receive texts to a phone number, but if they work at all, the free ones have already been used to make telegram accounts. It's frustrating because basically every other website/social media account that exists, I've been able to sign up with a free anonymous burner email or something if I really wanted to. I don't like to basically give out my doxx if it's not for official business/family stuff.

Those of you who use Telegram, are you just all using your real phone number? Are you spending money on burner phones or premium SMS websites?

top 6 comments
sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] Ragemidi@kbin.burggit.moe 2 points 2 years ago

What about making a burner google account and then creating a google voice number?

[–] Sat@burggit.moe 2 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You can just make your number private and prevent people from being able to find you by it. If your issue is the account creation itself then at best get a prepaid number or use one from a 4g modem.

[–] rinkan@burggit.moe 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

You can just make your number private and prevent people from being able to find you by it.

Telegram themselves would still know who you are, and would be able to sell that information, or it could be stolen in a data breach. For some people that's not such a big deal, but it's not really an acceptable option for those that really care about privacy.

[–] Sat@burggit.moe 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I mean that's fair. Though if you use your phone they will probably store its hardware information as well. Then you will probably not get around having to use a burner number.

[–] rinkan@burggit.moe 2 points 2 years ago

Yeah, letting your device talk directly to them would make the whole thing moot, of course. blobcatlaugh2

[–] Disabled@burggit.moe 2 points 2 years ago

You could probably use a service like Crypton.sh to get a phone number to attach to Telegram, while not linking it to your actual identity. I've used this method for various sites which require phone verification.