Is TextNow Used for Cheating? What a Second Number Really Means

They handed you their phone to show you a photo, and on the way back to the home screen you noticed an icon called TextNow. Or Burner, which isn't a name designed to put anyone at ease. A quick search told you what it does: it gives its owner a second phone number.

Why would the person you live with need a number you don't have? It's a fair question, with more boring answers than you'd guess.

Short answer: TextNow gives its user a second phone number for calls and texts. People use second numbers to cheat, and far more often to sell things online, sign up for services, travel, or keep work apart from private life. Finding the app proves that a second number may exist. It says nothing about who that number talks to.

This page covers what these apps are, how the four best-known ones compare, what their makers say they're for (dating included), what a second number can and can't hide, and how to bring it up.

What a second-number app actually is

TextNow is a phone service: calls and texts over the internet, from an app, published by TextNow, Inc. It isn't a dating app. Its listing claims "Over 100 million users" and offers "A free local phone number", usable as "a private second line". The uses TextNow names itself: "A 2nd line, business phone, side hustles, or personal use".

A second line without a second phone, in other words. And it's one of several apps that do the same job.

TextNow, Google Voice, Burner, Hushed: one job, four apps

Look at the Google Voice line again. A tool that keeps everything is an odd choice for someone with something to erase.

The makers say "online dating" out loud

Few articles mention this next part. Two of these publishers name online dating themselves as a normal use. Hushed lists it first. TextNow's site suggests "using a second number for online dating, financial transactions, online marketplaces, service providers, subscriptions, retailers".

In their wording, a second number for dating is a safety habit: not giving your real number to a stranger. For a single person, it is. For someone in a relationship, the question is the dating, not the number.

What people really do with a second number

Most of it is unglamorous, and the publishers name it themselves.

What it hides from you, and what it can't

A second number hides two things: calls and texts from the main phone bill, and the real number from the people contacted.

It doesn't hide the app itself, which is visible on the phone. It doesn't hide notifications, unless they're turned off. And it doesn't hide time spent on the phone. A second number is a second line, not an invisibility cloak.

You may read two other claims elsewhere that we could not confirm with TextNow: that the app can be locked with a passcode, or that one account can hold many disposable numbers. We leave them out.

A second number is a question, not an answer

What you know tonight: the app is installed, and a second number may exist. What you don't know: whether a number is active on it, who it's used with, whether it's for work, selling or something else, and since when.

Take the easy case first. They sell things online, or the number is used for work, or the app has been there for years. A buyer calls on Saturday morning about a bookshelf, and the app rings. Nothing to see.

The other case looks different. There's no side job, no selling, no travel, and no explanation. They say they never use it, and it rings. The app's notifications were switched off right after you noticed it. Or there are two or three second-number apps at once.

What changes the picture is that second kind of thing: a number you were never told about, used regularly. An explanation that doesn't match what you see. The app appearing with other changes, like a new passcode and hidden notifications. If odd abbreviations in their texts are one of those changes, see what so-called cheating text codes really are.

How to bring it up

Don't go down the last road. Sites that promise to reveal the owner of an app-based number, or to read its messages, mostly sell monitoring software. See what spy apps actually do and is it illegal to put spyware on your partner's phone.

For other kinds of apps that keep things out of sight, see our guide to hidden cheating apps.

Where a dating profile search comes in

Dating apps ask for a phone number at sign-up, and a second number is one way to provide it. That's the link between this app and the worry underneath it. If a code text is what you noticed, here's what an unrequested Tinder verification code means.

CheatEye doesn't search by number, real or second, so a second number neither blocks nor helps the search. It looks for the profile itself: on Tinder, from a first name, an age, a gender and a location, with a photo if you have one, and on Bumble, Hinge, Happn and OkCupid as an option. When a profile matches, you see the bio, the photos, when the profile was last active and where it was last used. Your partner isn't notified, and you don't need their phone. A search costs $17.90 in one payment.

What it can't do: identify who owns a number, read texts or see calls, search by email, show a live location, or say what the second number is used for. A profile is a separate fact from the number, and finding one is a reason to ask, nothing more. For a husband, our guide to finding out if he's on dating sites covers how to have that conversation.

Run a search on CheatEye, or see is my spouse on dating apps if your partner's possible profile is your concern.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is TextNow used for cheating? Sometimes, like any second number. Its publisher describes it as a free phone service with over 100 million users, and the uses it names are work, privacy, travel and saving money. We ask the same question about a messaging app in what it means if a partner has Telegram.

Why would someone in a relationship have a second phone number app? The usual reasons are online selling, a side job, sign-ups, and travel. If none applies and no explanation is offered, that's the thing to talk about.

Is a TextNow number a real phone number? Yes. It's a working number that can call and text, provided through an app instead of a SIM card.

Can you find out who a TextNow number belongs to? Not reliably from outside. Be careful with sites that charge for it.

Is Google Voice used for cheating? It can serve as a second number too. Note that Google says calls, texts and voicemails are "stored and backed up" in the account.

Does a second number mean they are on a dating app? No. Two publishers do list online dating as a use, but most second numbers have nothing to do with it. A dating profile is a separate fact, and it can be checked separately. The ways to do that without paying are in how to find hidden dating profiles for free.