What is A Burner Phone & Why Do People Use Them?

What is A Burner Phone & Why Do People Use Them?

If you watch a lot of films or TV shows, you will have heard about burner phones. Jason Bourne used them a lot, and so too did the characters in Breaking Bad and The Wire.

But what is a burner phone and how is it different from a standard phone like an iPhone or an Android phone?

What is A Burner Phone?

Most people – fictional or otherwise – use burner phones because they’re private, they cannot be tracked, and you have a level of anonymity that you simply do not get with a traditional smartphone.

With a smartphone like Apple’s iPhone or an Android phone, you sign in with your email, most are purchased via credit cards via carriers or networks, and all of your data is tracked by both the phone’s manufacturer and your network provider.

Smartphones also have GPS, so you can track their location. On top of this, they’re internet-connected too, so your location is easy to find if you use applications like Facebook and Instagram.

Basically, a smartphone is really easy to track.

And if you’re wanting to get off the grid, or avoid the authorities, you do not want any of this. Instead, you want a simple phone that doesn’t have an internet connection and can be bought for cash either in a 7/11 or a store like Best Buy.

The idea with a burner phone is that it doesn’t leave a trail; there’s no purchase receipt (if you use cash), and the SIM card and number are effectively untraceable too as it is not tied to your credit card or anything of your personal data.

You can then use the phone to make and receive calls anonymously. There will be no way of anybody tracing it back to you. And because burner phones are cheap, if you do get in a tight spot, you can ditch the phone and make tracks.

Why Do People Use Burner Phones?

The main reason anyone would use a burner phone is the same reason by characters use them in shows like The Wire – to evade the authorities. If you run an illegal business, you need to make calls and be contactable, and this is where a burner phone comes into play.

Drug dealers use burner phones, not only for business but also to keep records on all their customers. And when they quit the trade, they can then sell the burner onto another dealer for profit – it is basically a Rolodex of potential clients.

Unlike an iPhone, a burner phone is essentially off the grid; even the police would struggle to track a burner phone. They’re sold for next to nothing in 7/11 stores and can be used and then disposed of if the user got themselves compromised.

The ability to use and discard them is what makes them so attractive to criminals, prisoners, and anyone that wants to stay off the grid. The only downside to a burner phone is that they’re very limited with respect to features.

You cannot run apps on them, nor do they have an internet connection. They’re basically feature phones, the kind of cellphones that most people used in the 1990s, before the rise of smartphones.

Burner phones do have great battery life, however – most last weeks at a time.

Can Burner Phones Be Tracked?

The main reason people use burner phones is anonymity, to stay off the grid, and to keep them out of reach. But can burner phones be tracked? In the movies, it appears they cannot be traced. But is this the case?

As it turns out, no – a burner phone CAN be traced.

Yes. A burner phone number can be traced. All mobile phones (including prepaid ones) and burner apps go through a cellular carrier or virtual number operator. Your identity can be tracked through call logs, data usage, approximate location, and text messages.

DataOverHaulers

This means that while a burner phone, especially if you buy one with cash, is tricker to track and trace than a traditional smartphone, it can still be tracked down by the authorities.

Although, in order to track the burner phone, the authorities would need to find the store you bought it from and then find out what SIM card you were using. At this point, however, the user of the burner phone could simply ditch the phone and get a new one.

The FBI’s Insane ANOM Burner Phone Sting Operation

Back in 2018, US and Australian feds got together over a few beers to discuss an operation involving burner phones loaded with a tracking app called ANOM to infiltrate drug gangs in the US and Oz.

The burner phones, complete with the fed’s ANOM app, were distributed on the black market and were marketed as “the most secure burner ever”. Needless to say, the demand for the phone was massive.

What the gangs didn’t know, however, was that the ANOM app that came installed on the phone was controlled by the FBI, so agents could listen in on calls and track the movements of gang members.

In total, around 12,000 burner phones were sold during the operation, reports suggest. And in the space of 12 months, the FBI seized hundreds of tons of cocaine.

“To give you an idea of the magnitude of our penetration, we were able to actually see photographs of hundreds of tons of cocaine that were concealed in shipments of fruit. We were able to see hundreds of kilos of cocaine that were concealed in canned goods,” Calvin Shivers, assistant director of the FBI’s Criminal Investigative Division, said in The Hague on Tuesday.

Where Can You Buy Burner Phones?

If you want to buy a burner phone – and you want to use it as a proper burner phone – you will need to A) pay cash for it, and B) get it from a brick and mortar store. The dodgier and less secure the better. You do not want to buy from a store with CCTV.

Most burner phones retail for anywhere from $10 to $50, so they’re cheap. You will have to buy a SIM card to go with it too. Again, you’ll want to use cash and make sure you buy it from a store that doesn’t have any CCTV cameras.

If you want to remain 100% anonymous, you should avoid using a credit card and/or buying the burner online via places like Amazon.

If you just want a burner phone for emergencies, or to just leave in the car, then you don’t need to bother with any of the above – just pick one like this up from Amazon. It’s cheap and it has insane battery life.

If you use a smartphone and you want to stop your ISP and network from tracking you, the best and easiest way to do that is to download and use a VPN – this will secure all your internet activity.

I use NordVPN; it’s fast, secure, 100% no logs, and it has servers all over the world, so whatever server you connect to, you always have super-fast upload and download speeds. As VPNs go, I think it is currently the best option on the market right now.

Get a Burner Phone for Travel and Keep Border Agents Away from Your Private Info

As you gear up for summer travel, think about how to protect your information using a basic phone if you’re crossing into the US. Here’s what you need to know.

Palash Volvoikar Writer

Palash has been writing about technology (and entertainment) for over a decade. His focus has been on the evolution of computing, ranging from smartphones to PC builds and everything in between. You can reach him at lepalash(at)gmail(dot)com, or on Twitter @Whipalash.

• 10 years writing about technology professionally.

Palash Volvoikar
June 4, 2025 12:02 p.m. PT
4 min read

Agents of US Customs and Border Protection are reportedly becoming more aggressive about scanning people’s personal electronic devices when they arrive in the US — even for US citizens returning from traveling abroad. Some businesses are even recommending that their employees use simple “burner” phones to keep sensitive information safe. If your plans involve a border crossing, it’s time to look into getting a burner.

But a basic phone isn’t just for travel. A phone that doesn’t include all of your personal information or has a simpler interface can be quite handy, such as cutting down on unsolicited calls or even avoiding distractions. Comedian Conan O’Brien recently praised his burner as a way to not get bogged down in instant messages and notifications.

Although carriers have offered prepaid phones since the ’90s, the term “burner phones” or “burners” essentially became popular in the 2000s because of its use in the celebrated HBO series The Wire, in which characters use burner phones to avoid getting caught by the police. Although often portrayed as such, burners are not only popular among criminals. With privacy concerns rising, you might consider using a burner phone yourself.

So, what exactly is a burner phone and how does it work? Below, we explain everything you need to know about burners and how to get one.

What is a burner phone?

Simply put, a burner phone is a cheap prepaid phone with no commitments. It comes with a set number of prepaid call minutes, text messages or data and is designed to be disposed of after use.

Burners are contract-free, and you can grab them off the counter. They’re called burner phones because you can “burn” them, i.e., trash them after use, and the phone cannot be traced back to you, which makes them appealing to criminals. Burner phones are typically used when you need a phone quickly, without intentions of long-term usage.

Burners are different from getting a regular, contract-bound cellphone plans that require a lot of your information to be on file.

Why should you use a burner phone?

Burner phones are an easy way to avoid pesky cellphone contracts or spam that you may be getting on your primary phone number. Burners are not linked to your identity so you can avoid getting tracked down or contacted if that’s what you need.

However, you don’t have to dispose of it after use — you can just add more minutes and continue using it. Burner phones can still function as regular phones, minus the hassle of getting a phone with a contract.

You can also get a burner phone as a secondary phone for a specific purpose, like having a spare phone number for two-factor authentication texts, for business purposes or to avoid roaming charges while traveling. You can get a burner phone for any privacy reasons you may have.

Burner phones, prepaid phones, smartphones and burner SIMs: What’s the difference?

Burner phones are typically cheap feature phones and usually don’t come with the bells and whistles of a smartphone. Because these are designed to be cheap and disposable, you only get the essentials and very simple designs. The flip phone is a common sight in the burner phone market.

All burner phones are prepaid phones but not all prepaid phones are burners. What sets a burner apart is that you will not have to give away any personal information to get one and it won’t be traceable back to you. Also, it will be cheap enough to be trashed after use.

Prepaid smartphones are generally low-end models to begin with and burners are the cheapest prepaid phones you can get. However, you can use any unlocked smartphone with prepaid SIM cards if you want to, essentially making it a prepaid phone.

If you want to get a burner, you don’t necessarily have to buy a new phone. You can get a burner SIM and use it with an existing phone as well. Burner SIMs are prepaid SIMs you can get without a contract or giving away personal information.

Where can you buy a burner phone?

Burner phones are available at all major retail outlets. You can pick them up from Best Buy, Target, Walmart and other big retailers. They’re also often available at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Rite Aid, local supermarkets, gas stations and retail phone outlets like Cricket, Metro and others.

You can get a burner phone with cash; a typical burner should cost between $10 and $50. It may cost more if you get more minutes and data with the phone. If you’re getting a burner phone specifically to avoid having the phone traced back to you, it makes sense to pay with cash instead of a credit card.

If you just want a prepaid secondary phone, you can pay for one with a credit card. Credit cards will leave a paper trail that leads back to you but that shouldn’t be an issue unless you really don’t want the burner phone linked back to you.

There are also many apps that let you get secondary phone numbers, including Google Fi and the Burner app. However, these cannot quite be called burners in the ideal sense because these providers will typically have at least some of your personal information.

If you’re just looking to get a solid prepaid phone without anonymity, you can check out our full guide for the best prepaid phone plans available currently. We also have a guide for the best cheap phone plans you can get.

https://www.knowyourmobile.com/phones/what-is-a-burner-phone-why-do-people-use-them/

https://www.cnet.com/tech/mobile/get-a-burner-phone-for-travel-and-keep-border-agents-away-from-your-private-info/