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October 24, 2012

MyAKA – Protect Your Number


Not everyone who asks for your mobile number deserves to have it, and yet it can be awkward to refuse a person who asks how he or she should contact you by phone in the future. MyAKA is a privacy protection application that gives its users a secondary mobile phone number that they can pass out to people when giving out a real phone number doesn’t seem like the right thing to do.

Giving out a MyAKA number isn’t the same thing as giving out a fake number. It’s more like a souped-up forwarding service. Enroll in MyAKA, and you’ll be provided with a new mobile number with the same area code as your current number. MyAKA will automatically forward any calls or texts that come into your secondary number to your mobile phone, and you have the option to answer your phone or not. What separates MyAKA from most basic forwarding services is what happens if you choose not to answer. Calls that come in through your secondary number are forwarded to a special voicemail box. Meanwhile, you can easily call out through your secondary number to prevent giving people a glimpse of your real telephone number when you return their calls.

MyAKA also gives users an easy way to pause all incoming calls without turning off their cell phones altogether. By entering Do Not Disturb mode, a person can direct all calls coming into his MyAKA number to voicemail, where they can be stored and retrieved at a later date.

Practical Uses:

  • Give out a secondary number to people you meet at bars and nightclubs
  • Put your account on Do Not Disturb mode to avoid getting business calls on the weekend
  • Ask everyone from work to call your secondary number
  • Make sure telemarketers never have access to your real mobile phone number

Insider Tips:

  • MyAKA works on virtually any mobile phone, with no downloads necessary
  • MyAKA never reveals its users’ real numbers to third party providers
  • Incoming calls are directed to voicemail when a number is set to Do Not Disturb

What we liked:

  • Users can call back people without revealing their true mobile phone numbers
  • MyAKA works with all mobile operators
  • People can still use their real mobile numbers to call and text with friends
  • Users can instantly block abusive contacts

What we didn’t like:

  • People can only use MyAKA for texting if they already have SMS service set-up with their mobile phone carriers

Alternatives:

Company Info:

  • Launched: January 2012
  • Privately Held
  • Headquarters: Los Angeles, California
  • Founded by: John Skorick
  • Web site: http://myaka.com

Costs:

  • Texting plans range from $9.99 to $44.99 per month
  • Texting plus calling plans range from $12.99 to $49.99 per month

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