A truly anonymous Australian mobile number does not exist in 2026. Telcos must take your name, date of birth and address and check your identity before they activate a prepaid SIM or eSIM. These rules cover Telstra, Optus, Vodafone and the networks that resell them.
What you can still do is stop one number being the key to everything else. Keep the carrier SIM for banks, myGov, Medicare and people who already have it. Use a second or third number (virtual, or eSIM in your name) for shops, marketplaces and ordinary sign-ups. Pair it with a private email and aliases (Proton is great for this), a Privacy Phone that doesn’t report your activity to Google or Apple, and Privacy Tools from our hub where they help (such as temporary email or a fake name generator). This gives you practical separation without claiming invisibility.
Quick answer
The 2017 Prepaid Determination requires the identity check before activation. A port faces an extra check under the 2020 Pre-Porting Standard. In December 2025 the ACMA allowed government-accredited Digital ID after warning Telstra for activating more than 18,000 services with a method the rules did not yet permit.
Virtual-number companies are not a workaround. Many log your IP, require a card, and often ban accounts they consider high risk. Free burner apps are the least reliable option.
A second SIM or eSIM from another carrier separates work from personal – both stay in your name. This is useful against apps and data brokers; not against a carrier request as both files exist.
MySudo is a practical second or third number for most people in Australia. The app works here and supplies US, Canada or UK numbers for calls and texts. Bank and government codes often aren’t sent to these virtual numbers.
Data-only or overseas eSIMs give data, not a secret Australian number. Silent Phone is encrypted calling, not a replacement mobile service.
A message that never touches a carrier never becomes carrier metadata.
On a Privacy Phone our recommended messaging apps already support this. Use the virtual number to register Molly (the hardened Signal client included with the phone), then turn on a username so people do not see the real number. SimpleX and Session do not need a phone number at all.
Our Off-Grid devices configured with MeshCore work differently. They have no SIM, no towers and no carrier account, so group messages stay out of the two-year metadata store. Messages hop from device to device over radio. They reach only people with a radio on the same network and do not replace your bank number.
Keep the carrier number for banks, myGov and Medicare. Put shops and one-off codes on a second or third number (virtual number, eSIM or a second SIM). Register that number with an alias email using Proton Mail rather than Gmail or Hotmail.
Set the virtual number up over a no-logs VPN. Do this on a Privacy Phone. A de-Googled handset running GrapheneOS removes the Google layer, so the second number is not backed up next to the real one. The phones use new Australian stock, carry a two-year warranty, and are configured before they ship. The SIM stays registered. The handset does not report to Google.
Use SimpleX or Session for conversations that do not need a number. Add a MeshCore radio if the group needs to keep talking when the towers fail.
What this does not do:
No. The telco must check your identity before activation. A port has a further check.
No. It is a second number. The company can still hold the payment, IP and call records. It is useful because that file is not your main mobile account.
Often no. Keep the carrier number for banks, myGov and Medicare. Use the virtual number for shops and sign-ups.
No. The SIM is still registered. The phone stops Google, Apple or Samsung adding their own record on top of the carrier’s.
They are not an anonymous phone number. Signal still needs a number. SimpleX and Session do not. A MeshCore radio creates no carrier metadata. None of them receives a bank code.
No. The account is theirs. Using their identity to hide yours is an offence.
There is no anonymous Australian mobile number available to buy. Australian telco carriers must have the SIM in your name and need to keep records of your activity two years.
What you can still do is stop that one number being the key to everything else. Shops and ordinary sign-ups can sit on a second or third number, the email can be a Proton alias instead of Gmail or Hotmail, and a Privacy Phone stops the handset reporting your activity to Google or Apple.
Messages that never pass through a carrier create no metadata the telco can store or hand over – no record of who you contacted, when, or where the device was.
-> See Privacy Phones
-> See Off-Grid Comms
-> Discover free Privacy Tools
