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SALT LAKE CITY — If you've ever created a listing on KSL Classifieds or Craigslist, you were likely reluctant to publically display your phone number online.
A new app for the iPhone may help quell those fears.
The app, called Burner, provides users with a temporary additional number. You can use the number just like your ordinary number — sending text messages, making phone calls, and setting notifications. Burner users can create as many numbers as they wish (for a price), and manage them however they chose.
"Burner is for anyone who has more than one life — or who simply values their privacy," Greg Cohn, founder & CEO of Burner's parent company Ad Hoc Labs, said in a press release. "People are using their mobile phones all the time, and using SMS more and more for day-to-day tasks. Protecting your privacy is harder than ever."
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While the app certainly has its benefits, many users fear that it could also be used for fraudulent purposes. Cohn generally dismisses these fears, adding that Burner phone numbers are typically intended to serve short-term purposes as opposed to a more permanent option such as Google Voice numbers.
The app is available in the iTunes App Store for $1.99. Users are initially given three credits, which will provide them with a single number for seven days, or 20 minutes of use. Users can choose to purchase additional credits, extend the life of a particular number, or "burn" the number whenever they like. Once a number is burned, it is gone forever, and those who try to reach it will be met with an "Out-of-service" response.
"Phone numbers are part of an old network that is getting dumber, in relative terms, by the day," Cohn said. "You give out your number, and it's all or nothing; it's out there forever. And in the era of Facebook and social networking, we know the phone can be a lot smarter. Burner is the first piece of this vision."
