HushMessaging Apps That Don't Need Your Phone Number
Some messaging services use a phone number for signup; others use an account ID or username. Compare the account requirement separately from chat access, notifications and recovery.
Session and Threema offer account-ID approaches. Signal documents number-based signup and an optional paid phone-numberless Android route; Telegram accounts remain linked to a number. Hush's current default signup needs no phone number or email, then requires a username. Skipping a phone number does not mean there is no account, service metadata or recovery limitation.
Compare account requirements separately from privacy controls
A phone number can be an account identifier or help contacts find each other. Visibility and discovery depend on the service's settings. A username or account ID changes the identifier; it does not by itself remove service identifiers or establish chat confidentiality.
Examples of account-ID approaches
Session's documentation says it does not require a phone number or email to create an account. Share its Account ID to connect. Read Session's account documentation.
Threema identifies accounts by a Threema ID; linking a phone number or email is optional. Check its current purchase and recovery requirements. Read Threema’s account FAQ.
Signal and Telegram: check the signup route
Signal’s ordinary registration uses a phone number. Its Android documentation also describes an optional paid Signal Login route without a number, with account keys you must preserve. This is an Android-specific documented option, not a promise of the same route on iPhone. Number registration · Android numberless registration.
Telegram accounts remain number-linked, even when a username lets people contact you without knowing that number. Phone-number visibility is a separate setting. Check Telegram’s account and username rules.
Skipping a phone number does not promise anonymity. Hush's default signup is pseudonymous, not untraceable: account, network, app-usage and purchase records can still exist.
The gap: a no-number account still looks like a messenger
Account requirements and what a messenger displays are separate questions. A no-number account can still expose chats, notifications or usage records. Check both before choosing an app.
Chat locks, app locks and hidden-folder settings can limit access. Hush uses a keypad home screen and a separate code for each chat. Compare the actual controls in the password and chat-lock guide.
How Hush works without a number or a home-screen chat list
Hush's home screen is a numeric keypad with no contact or conversation list on that screen. Each chat opens with its own six-digit code; leaving the chat returns you to the keypad. Requests, blocked users and security alerts can show names or badges elsewhere in the app.
Start with free messaging and a limited photo/video sharing allowance. Plus increases eligible sharing allowances and adds longer expiry options and custom contact names. Either person's Plus can extend eligible benefits to that conversation; it does not upgrade the other person's account or personal storage. See the current limits, available settings and prices in the app.
- Install Hush from your app store. It is free to download, with optional in-app purchases.
- Create an account and choose a username. The current default signup needs no phone number or email.
- Connect by username or invite link. For a username request, choose your six-digit code when sending or accepting it; the other person must approve and chooses their own code. A one-tap invite link from Hush connects you without a separate approval once the person who received it has set up Hush and taps it.
- Open the chat with your code. Return to the keypad when you leave.
- Check notification controls on both phones. Select show name, hide name or mute for that contact, then check the actual notifications.
An incorrect code does not open a chat or space. The keypad can give error feedback. Security alerts can warn about several different incorrect codes tried in a short time. A single typo does not normally trigger an alert, and an alert does not prove who tried the codes.
- Hush conversations happen inside Hush. It does not hide existing SMS, iMessage or WhatsApp chats. Both people need Hush to message each other.
- Keep your codes and account access safe. There is no in-app forgotten-code recovery or master unlock. Reconnecting with a known username starts fresh and does not recover earlier history. The default account has no implemented recovery route after session loss; do not assume reinstalling or changing devices restores it.
- Hush is not end-to-end encrypted. Backend services store messages, media and access data. Code-based access is not a guarantee against server or device access.
Common questions
Do I need an email address?
The current default signup needs neither phone nor email. It still creates an account and requires a username. Older accounts and cached signup configuration can differ.
Is a no-number account anonymous?
No. A username is pseudonymous; Hush still uses account identifiers, network connections, app analytics and purchase records.
What if someone learns my username?
They can send a request, which appears in the app and may produce a notification. You can approve, block or report it. A username alone does not open a chat.
Is it really free?
Start with free messaging and a limited photo/video sharing allowance. Plus increases eligible sharing allowances and adds longer expiry options and custom contact names. Either person's Plus can extend eligible benefits to that conversation; it does not upgrade the other person's account or personal storage. See the current limits, available settings and prices in the app.
