How to Get a Burner Phone? | Prepaid Options Explained

Getting a burner phone in the US comes down to two distinct routes: buying a physical prepaid phone or activating a second-number app on the smartphone you already own. Each serves a different purpose, and knowing which one you need saves both time and money. Which one fits your situation depends on whether you need a separate device or just a separate line. For older users who need a simple, reliable handset, a dedicated prepaid phone is usually the better fit — our tested roundup of the best burner phones for seniors breaks down the top options.

What Exactly Is a Burner Phone?

A burner phone is simply a prepaid, no-contract phone — usually a basic flip phone or low-cost smartphone — bought for short-term or temporary use. Instead of a monthly bill, you pay up front for a set amount of minutes, texts, and data, then top up as needed. They’re sold everywhere: Walmart, Target, Best Buy, 7-Eleven, CVS, Walgreens, and gas stations all stock them, alongside carrier prepaid outlets like Metro, Cricket, Verizon Prepaid, AT&T Prepaid, Straight Talk, and TracFone.

Option One: Buy a Physical Prepaid Phone

This is the classic burner route: a separate device with its own number, completely independent of your regular phone. The flow is straightforward — shop for a compatible prepaid phone, pick a plan, and activate it. AT&T Prepaid’s own shopping process, for example, is: pick your device, customize your prepaid service, choose your plan, then review your cart.

Activation typically follows a similar pattern across carriers. After turning the phone on, you’ll disable location sharing, activate from a computer rather than the phone itself, enter your plan’s PIN, provide the phone’s IMEI number, and choose a ZIP code to determine your new number. You’ll create an account, then reboot the device to finish. One honest caveat: paying cash at the register is common practice for reducing identity links, but it’s not a guarantee of anonymity. Activation, number assignment, and network use can still generate records tied to the device.

What to Watch Out For

• Buying the phone but forgetting the SIM or prepaid service card needed to activate it — they’re sold separately
• Assuming cash payment makes the phone untraceable — network logs and number assignment still create records
• Setting up the device at home or connecting to your usual Wi-Fi, which links it back to you
• Registering the phone with a personal email address, which defeats the purpose

Option Two: Use a Burner Number App

If you only need a second number — not a whole second device — a burner number app does the job on the smartphone you already carry. The best-known option is Burner, available on both Android and iOS. The app gives you a second phone number, lets you pick your area code, and sends and receives calls and texts over Wi-Fi or mobile data — no separate SIM required.

Which Option Should You Choose?

The physical phone wins when you need total separation from your everyday device, or when the person using it needs something simple — a flip phone with big buttons and nothing else. The app route wins when you just need a throwaway number for a week or two without buying new hardware; you can discard the line and generate a new one whenever you like.

Before you buy, run through the common mistakes that trip people up. Don’t skip the prepaid service card — the phone is useless without it. Avoid linking the burner to your home Wi-Fi, personal email, or any account that identifies you. And remember that a burner is a practical tool, not an anonymity guarantee: carriers and app providers can still keep logs tied to your payment method, the number itself, and the network activity on it. App-based numbers also depend on a working data connection, so they’re less useful in areas with poor coverage.