HACKER Q&A
📣 desertraven

Can I receive phone calls and messages online?


My mobile phone is broken. And it occurred to me, I don't really need a phone. If I could keep my number, but do calls/texts/voicemail from the computer/browser, that'd be great.

I know Twilio exists, and I've used it before, but their numbers cannot receive many 2FA messages (which is important, since SMS 2FA is often forced by companies/banks).

Any tips for achieving this? In Australia.


  👤 alxmng Accepted Answer ✓
Yup. I use a VoIP through <https://www.voip.ms>. SMS and voicemail forwards to email, and I use Signal, WhatsApp, or FaceTime for calls. I haven’t had a real number in over a year now.

👤 ppjim
If you only need it for 2FA, you can get feature phone. There are some solutions like https://hushed.com/ that allow 2fa, but only the paid version.

👤 arthurcolle
with a typical iPhone + macOS combo, you can enable SMS via Messages app by enabling a setting in the System Preferences. I use this and frequently receive all SMS messages via this route.

👤 stop50
Phonecalls can be solved by sip, sms is harder.