Do you know that there are many benefits for not having your number shown to the person you are calling? We just have to make it visible as Private Number. Imagine you can stall your friends or scare the hell out of them with such trick. If you make your number as Private, the person you are calling can’t be able to see your number but if they call you, you can see their numbers.
In a day to day life, all of us are often required to call several people, out of which many would be absolutely unknown to us. Revealing our personal phone numbers (especially women) to an unknown person has caused several incidents of threat and malicious activities. So, making your mobile number Private, you can come across all the problems when you displayed your number.
Here’s how you can make your mobile number appear as private:
First, let us learn about how to enable Private Number Service and some prerequisites.
Your mobile phone should have the option to block caller ID. Most phones have this option.
Your mobile operator should allow it. Generally, mobile operators in India do not permit private numbers.
Mobile operators do take a special amount of charge for activating private numbers.
For more details and activation, contact your customer care.
Mostly, this service is not available to prepaid users, but few networks might allow.
After you have these priors sorted out, then you need to hide your caller ID from your phone using the above method you can hide it from your device’s settings. If you have activated the private caller ID service then you can also use it for occasional calling. Imagine you have to call xxx-xxx-xxxx then before calling you can simply add the code *31# to the mobile number to block your caller ID then your dialer should call- *31#xxx-xxx-xxxx.
There are three options for hiding one’s phone number and making a private call.
1. Use Caller ID Blocking Prefix:
The caller ID blocking prefix is different for all or possibly same for some countries. In many countries, you can enter a code before you dial a number and your phone number will be blocked from appearing on the recipient’s caller ID. The code varies depending on your country and your service provider, and remember, it is not possible to block in all countries. In India, the prefix is *31#. Enter the prefix, followed by the number you are dialling. For example, if you are in the India and want to call xxx-xxx-xxxx, you would enter *31#xxxxxxxxxx.
North America: *67 or #31#, Albania, Australia, Denmark, Greece, Israel, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway: #31#, Argentina, Iceland, Switzerland, South Africa: *31*, Germany: *31# or #31#, Hong Kong: 133, Japan: 184, UK and Ireland: 141, New Zealand: 0197 (Telecom) or *67 (Vodafone), Australia: 1831 or #31#, India: *31#.
Countries not listed here, chances are you can use either *67 or #31#.
2. Permanent Caller ID Blocking:
If you want to hide your caller ID for all of your phone calls, you can contact your carrier and set up permanent Caller ID blocking. There is typically a charge for this, and the charges and terms will vary from carrier to carrier.
Most pre-paid plans cannot enable permanent Caller ID blocking.
India users need to enable Caller ID blocking before they can use the blocking prefix.
3. Hide your Number through your Device Settings:
Many phones allow you to block your Caller ID information by changing the phone’s settings. If your phone does not have the option to do this, then it is not allowed by your carrier, and you will have to try one of the previous steps.
Android 4.1 & later: Open the Phone app > Menu > Call settings > Caller ID > Hide number.
iPhone: Open the Settings app > Phone > Show My Caller ID > Toggle the slider to OFF.
Windows: Open the Phone app > More button (…) > Settings > Show my caller ID to > No one/My contacts.
Drawbacks of Activating Private Number Service:
Some people have Anonymous Call Rejection enabled, which means your call will not be able to complete unless you call from an unblocked number.
If you want to make an unblocked call after setting up a block on all your outgoing calls, you will need to enter the unblocking prefix before the phone number. In India, this prefix is not specified so you can use *31# as most GSM networks use this.
That’s how you can make your mobile number as a Private Number. If you guys know some other tricks to change number into Private, share with us in the comments section below.
I hope this article helps you to increase your privacy and security. If any of the methods is not working for your network, let us know in the below comments. We will try to help you as soon as possible.
Which method do you use to make your mobile phone number appear as a Private number?
Google Play store is the most enriched Android app store with millions of apps available for direct download to devices compatible with Google Play. Although 3rd party stores like 1MobileMarket do exist and are doing a great job, a lot of low profile developers only submit apps to the Play Store and not the 3rd party stores.
If you have an Android device which does not support Google Services (like the Nokia X or the Amazon Kindle), or if a particular game/app is not compatible with your Android smartphone, you can use f0llow the steps below to download APK files off the Google Play Store without the need of a Google Account and the supported Android device.
Download APK Files from Google Play Directly
Have an Android Device which does not come with Google Play? Or need an app which is not supported on your phone, hence cannot be downloaded? Read below
Open play.google.com/store/ in your web browser (of your phone or PC) and search for the Application that you need.
From the search results, open the specific Google Play page of that application/game i.e. the detailed page which is presented to you upon clicking on an item from the search results.
Copy the full URL/Address of this page.
Open apps.evozi.com/apk-downloader/ in a new browser window or tab and paste the Google Play URL (that you copied in previous step) in the Package Name or Google Play URL Field.
Click on Generate Download Link.
The web service will take a coupe of minutes to download the application from the Google Play Store and then present you the download link.
Click on Click here to download [package name] to start the download of your APK file.
Copy it to your phone and install it the same way you do with rest of the apps.
Update: Another Tool to Download APK
If the above tool by evozi is not working, you can try this new alternative tool found at download.freeapk.ru/en.php (the service has since been taken down). It works the same way as the above tool, so steps will be almost the same. You just need to enter the Google Play URL of the app and it will be locally cached by the tool to be made available for download.
British police have arrested two men in the UK conspiring to hack into the computer networks of US tech giant Microsoft with plans to steal customers’ data from the software giant. The suspects — 22-year-old from Sleaford and a 25-year-old from Bracknell — were arrested by the detectives from the Britain's South East Regional Organised Crime Unit (SEROCU) Thursday morning (22 June 2017). The UK authorities arrested them from their home in Lincolnshire and Bracknell and seized a number of devices after searching their home.
While it is still unclear what systems were targeted, SEROCU believes the suspects are part of a larger international group that involved breaking into the Microsoft's network between January 2017 and March 2017 to scoop up the customer information.
"This group is spread around the world and therefore the investigation is being coordinated with our various partners," Rob Bryant, detective sergeant SEROCU's Cyber Crime Unit said while announcing the arrest. "We have made two arrests in the UK this morning and have seized a number of devices."
"We're still in the early stages of this investigation and will work with our partners to ensure that cyber criminals have no place to hide. It's too early to speculate on what information the group has accessed, however, after speaking with Microsoft we can confirm they didn't gain access to customer information."
Both the suspects, whose identities have not yet revealed by the police, are currently in custody and have been charged under the Britain's Computer Misuse Act for conspiracy to gain "unauthorised access" to protected computers belonging to Microsoft.
In response to the arrests, Tom Burt, Microsoft VP and deputy general counsel of the Digital Crimes Unit released a statement to BBC, saying:
"Today's action by authorities in the UK represents an important step...Stronger internet security depends on the ability to identify and prosecute cybercriminals. This requires not only a strong technical capability but the willingness to acknowledge issues publicly and refer them to law enforcement."
"No company is immune from cybercrime. No customer data was accessed, and we're confident in the integrity of our software and systems. We have comprehensive measures in place to prevent, detect, and respond to attacks."
SEROCU officials said they are working with Europol, the NCA's National Cyber Crime Unit, the FBI, the East Midlands Special Operations Unit (EMSOU), and Microsoft's cyber team to investigate the intrusions and bring culprits to justice.
Apple has finally revealed the iOS 11 update to the world. While it won’t be out for public until Fall 2017, we’ve got our hands on the iOS 11 beta for iPhone and iPad and we’ve been having fun digging around.
If you’re curious about all the new iOS 11 features and changes and how exactly they work, just keep reading.
While it might not look like it, the Lock screen has been redesigned in iOS 11. If you don’t have Touch ID or a passcode set up, you’ll be able to swipe up to unlock your device. Both Lock screen and Notification Center have been merged and behave in the same way.
So instead of swiping down from the top of the screen, you swipe up from the middle of the Lock screen to reveal all notifications.
2. Redesigned Notification Center
When you’re in an app and you swipe down, you’ll see a new, redesigned Notification Center that will show the current notifications and the Now Playing card. To view all notifications, you need to swipe up. Granted, this is a bit confusing and I hope Apple iterates on this approach before the final release.
3. New Lock screen Now Playing
When you’re playing something, it now shows up as a card in the Lock screen instead of taking over the entire screen.
4. Redesigned Control Center
One of our biggest wishes has come true. Apple has finally redesigned Control Center. Now, it’s back to being just one page. Design wise, each tile has a dark background. There are some tiles that can be expanded to reveal more functionality. Like the toggles tile and the Now Playing tile.
When you 3D Touch the Now Playing tile, you’ll get access to audio outputs. The toggles tiles shows more toggles when expanded, including Cellular Data and Personal Hotspot.
5. Customizable Control Center
And it gets better. Control Center is customizable. Go to Settings -> Control Center and you’ll be able to add and remove several actions like Notes shortcut, Alarms, Magnifier and so on.
6. New Unlock Animation
When you unlock your device by pressing on the Home button, the Lock Screen now pushes out by sliding up to reveal the Home Screen.
7. New Status Bar Icons
One of the subtle changes is in the Status bar. Instead of the bubbles, you now see a classic Nokia style cell range icon. The location icon is also hollow and the battery icon looks slightly different and more rounded.
8. Screen Recording
One of the customizable toggles in Control Center is for Screen Recording. Tap on it and you’ll be able to start recording the screen. Tap on the blue bar on top to bring up the popup to stop recording. The video file is saved in Photos app.
9. Redesigned iMessage Apps Drawer
Apple is trying to fix the iMessage apps discovery and usability problems by integrating a small, horizontal scrolling apps bar right in the bottom of the conversation view. Tap on an app icon to directly jump into the iMessage app. Tap and hold on the bar for a larger view of the apps, along with their names.
10. Redesigned Messages App
Like many other default apps, Messages app sees a redesign that puts a big bold Messages tag at the top of the messages view. There’s update in typography as well, with titles being a lot bolder across the app.
11. Redesigned Calculator App and Icon
Calculator apps redesign makes it look more like the circular keypad in the Phone app. The new icon has a retro feel to it.
12. Do Not Disturb While Driving
Do Not Disturb While Driving is a new feature that automatically engages when you’re in a car. It’s built on top of Do Not Disturb so it automatically disables notifications from everyone except your Favorite contacts. When someone tries to contact you via iMessage, they’ll get a canned reply that you’re currently driving.
13. Siri Intelligence Throughout iOS 11
It looks like Siri is going to be everywhere on iOS 11, paying attention to things you do in apps like Safari and suggesting other actions. For example, it can prompt you to create a calendar event for a concert you just booked in Safari.
14. Same Siri For All Devices
Apple will now sync your personal data and customizations between all your devices (in a private and encrypted manner) so that the Siri experience across all devices is similar.
15. Siri’s Voice Is More Natural
Apple has made improvements in Siri’s speech engine to make it sound more natural and less robotic.
16. New Male Siri Voice
There’s a new male Siri voice as well, just as natural sounding.
17. New Siri Visual UI
Siri’s UI has also been slightly tweaked. There’s more space everywhere, and the replies are in bold and Siri now presents multiple results instead of just one.
Plus, the text is now left-aligned. There’s also an always animating Siri orb in the bottom and a much clearer, Tap to Edit button that lets you change your command.
18. Translation Feature in Siri
While it’s in Beta, Siri is bringing translation support for Chinese, French, German, and Italian, and Spanish.
19. Ability To Type To Siri
If you go to General -> Accessibility -> Siri and turn on Type to Siri, you’ll now get a type only UI in Siri. Unlike Google Assistant, there’s no option to have both voice and typing feature side-by-side. Which is a shame.
20. Lists and QR Code Support in SiriKit
Siri can now support two more kinds of apps – lists and QR Codes. You’ll be able to ask Siri to display your QR code from an app so that your friend can scan it. And you’ll be able to add things to a to-do list app like Todoist right from Siri.
21. App Store Redesign
App Store sees its first redesign since it launched 9 years back. The app’s redesign looks like the Music app, with big cards and horizontal swiping lists.
22. Today Tab in App Store
Along with a new tab for Apps and Games, there’s an entirely new Today tab. This will be a great way for users to discover new apps, videos, in-app purchases, features and more everyday.
23. Person to Person Apple Pay
Apple will now let users pay each other using Apple Pay. It works using the iMessage app that’s integrated in iMessage threads. You’ll be able to enter the amount, pay from your connected card and authenticate using Touch ID.
24. Apple Pay Cash
When you recieve money using Apple Pay, it will go to your Apple Pay cash. You can use this wallet balance to pay for apps, to other users or to transfer to your bank.
25. Apple Music Friends Network
Apple Music now lets you have your own public profile that people can follow. When you’re in the For You tab, you’ll see icons for people who have listened to or liked the songs and albums. So you have an idea what your friends are listening to.
26. Photos App Redesign
Photos app also sees a minor redesign like the Messages and Notes apps.
27. Memories UI and Technology Overhaul
The Memories tab has been overhauled in UI and the technology. Memories engine is now much smarter and will automatically create videos for your pets, your kids and more. They also have a new style when it comes to text.
28. Portrait Memories Videos
Memories videos are generated intelligently and just like Snapchat’s Spectacles, they’ll automatically adjust themselves when you switch from landscape to portrait mode.
29. Live Photos Effects: Loop, Bounce, Long Exposure
To add an effect to a Live Photo, just swipe up and select one from the Effects left. There are three cool effects. Loop lets you loop the effect like a GIF. Bounce adds a reverse effect that looks like a Boomerang. Long Exposure does a really cool thing that adds long exposure effect to the moving parts of the photo, while the background stays still.
30. Live Photo Editing: Trim, Mute, Key Photo
When viewing a Live Photo, tap the Edit button. You’ll now see all frames in the Live Photo in bottom. Select a frame and tap on Make Key Photo to make it the main image. To mute the Live Photo, tap on the speaker in the top-left. To trim a Live Photo, grab the handles at either side of the frames and pull them in.
31. Indoor Mapping in Maps App
Maps app brings indoor mapping for hundreds of Malls across the world. They’ll also be adding Airpots in future.
32. Lane Guidance in Maps App
When you’re navigating in Maps, you’ll now also get lane guidance for making the turns.
33. New Files App Replaces iCloud Drive
Files replaces the iCloud Drive as the preinstalled app when you update to iOS 11 on iPhone and iPad. Files app gives you access to files on your device, along with services like iCloud Drive, Dropbox, Box and more.
The app lets you create folders to manage your file structure. There’s tagging support as well.
34. Markup Screenshots
When you take a screenshot on iPhone or iPad, you’ll see a preview for it in the bottom-left corner. Tap on it and you’ll be able to mark it with a doodle, annotation, text, signature and more. When done, you can save it to Photos or share it to any app using the Share sheet.
35. Makeshift Dark Mode Using Smart Invert Colors Feature
There’s a new setting in Accessibility -> Display Accommodations -> Invert Colors called Smart Invert. It inverts the colors for just the UI elements and text and not images and rich media. So what you end up with is a version of a dark mode, especially in apps like Settings (but it doesn’t work so well across the OS).
36. iPad: The Dock
There’s a new, Mac style floating Dock on the iPad. You can now add more than 6 icons here. And your recent apps and Continuity apps show up in the far right edge.
37. iPad: New Slide Over
Instead of swiping in from the right edge to bring up Side Over, you now swipe up when you’re in an app to bring up the Dock. Tap on an app in the dock and bring it up to expand it as a floating bubble. You can dock it to the left/right edge. Or swipe it away.
38. iPad: New Multitasking System
To actually dock an app to the right/left side of the running up, bring up the Dock, and drag an app icon to the far edge of the screen till you see the dark edge. Then drop the app. Use the handle bar to adjust the width.
39. iPad: New App Switcher
Swipe all the way up from the bottom of the screen, double click the Home button or swipe up using four fingers to reveal the new App Switcher. This now integrates apps, spaces, Dock and even Control Center. Tap and hold on apps or spaces to get the option to close them.
40. iPad: Drag and Drop
When two apps are open side by side, you’ll be able to drag text, links, images and files between the two apps.
41. iPad: Handwriting Recognition in Notes App
When you write using Apple Pencil in Notes app, Apple will be able to scan the text and index it in Spotlight so you’ll be able to get back to your handwritten notes using Search. We don’t know if other features like text export are supported yet. This feature works over iCloud so you can even search your handwritten notes from your iPhone.
42. iPad: Unlock with Apple Pencil
On the Lock Screen, just tap with your Apple Pencil to open your most recently used note in Notes app.
43. iPad: QuickType Keyboard Flick Gesture
On the iPad keyboard, just swipe down any key to type the alternative character.
44. iPad: Inline Drawing
In Notes and Mail app, just start doodling with the Apple Pencil to create a sketch.
45. One Handed Keyboard
iPhone 6 and above users can tap and hold the Globe key to dock the keyboard either to the left/right side of the screen, making it easier to type with one hand.
46. Redesigned Storage Management Section
Storage and Cloud Usage section in Settings is now renamed to iPhone Storage. It has a new UI that shows a graph of storage space by apps, photos, media and other.
46. Offload Unused Apps
A new feature in iPhone Storage section automatically deletes old and unused apps when you’re low on storage. All of the app’s data and documents are saved.
47. Unified Siri and Search Section
There’s a new Siri & Search section in Settings tab that unifies both Siri and Search sections.
48. New Accounts and Passwords Section
There’s a new section called Accounts & Passwords that lists all your Mail and Contacts accounts, along with all the passwords saved on the device.
49. AirPods Settings
iOS 11 now lets you customize actions for individual AirPod. So you can double tab left one for Siri and right one for Play/Pause. There’s also new actions for Next and Previous tracks.
50. Automatic Setup
When you buy a new iPhone running iOS 11, you’ll be able to copy over passwords, data and apps easily from your old device. During setup, you’ll see the Automatic Setup section. At that time, just bring your old iPhone closer to the new one to start the transfer.
51. New App Store and iTunes Store Icons
52. New Passcode UI
The new passcode UI has buttons without borders and bolder text.
53. Phone App Redesign
Phone app also gets huge titles in all tabs, bolder titles and the keypad looks like the Passcode.
54. New Spotlight UI Design
Now, when you search for an app in Spotlight, it will show up in the Siri Suggestions box, instead of a list. And right, below you’ll get autocomplete like search lists.
55. No Labels in Dock
On both the iPhone and iPad, the Dock no longer has labels for apps and folders.
56. Persistent Status Bar for Location Services
Whenever an app is using location in the background, you’ll see a persistent bar at the top. This is great for spotting when apps like Uber keep using location even after you’ve left the app. But it’s not so great for apps like Moves.
57. 32 Bit Apps No Longer Supported
While you’ll still find them on the App Store, you can no longer install 32 bit apps on iOS 11.
58. No Volume HUD When Playing Videos and Audio
When you’re playing a video or audio, you won’t see a Volume HUD take over the middle of the screen when you go to change the volume. Other times (and when adjusting the ringer), it still does show up.
59. FLAC Support
You can now play FLAC files in iOS 11 using the built-in media player.
60. Create PDF from Pages (and Mark up)
In Safari, in the Share sheet, there’s an option to covert the entire page into a PDF (on both iPhone and iPad). Plus, once coveted, you can start marking it up right there.
61. Quickly Share Screenshots
After taking a screenshot, tap on the preview in the bottom-left corner and then tap on the Share button to quickly send it to a device using AirDrop or to an app like WhatsApp.
62. New Purchases Overlay in App Store
When you got purchase a new app on App Store, you’ll see an Apple Pay style overlay before you confirm the purchase.
63. Seconds Option in Timer
You can now set Timers in seconds.
64. iMessages in iCloud (with Manual Sync)
iMessages can now live in iCloud and can be the same between all devices. There’s a toggle for it in the Settings and also an option to manually force the sync.
65. New iMessage Effects
There are two new iMessage Effects – Echo and Spotlight.
66. Podcast App Redesign
Just like the App Store, the Podcasts app also sees an Apple Music style redesign.
67. Social Sharing Features in Apple Music
You can now create a profile in Apple Music, and follow people. Others listening recommendations will show up throughout the app.
68. UI Changes in Safari
In Safari, the URL bar is now more spaced out and tabs are more rounded out. Reading List UI also gets the huge headers.
69. Faster Scrolling in Safari
Scrolling in Safari now works the same way it does in the rest of the OS. The inertial scrolling is gone.
70. Create Tables in Notes
There’s a new Tables option in the formatting bar in Notes.
71. Document Scanning in Notes
In Notes, tap the + button and select Scan Documents to scan paper documents in color or gray scale. The borders will be selected automatically but you can always edit them yourself later.
72. Swipe Options in Notes
Swipe in from the right edge to get the option to lock the note, move it or delete it.
73. Pin Notes to Top
Swipe in from the left edge of a note in the list view and tap on the Pin button. It will now always show up at the top of the list.
74. Change Paper Style in Notes
From the Share menu, select Change Paper to get the option to get grid and lined paper options.
75. New Notes Typography
The typography in Notes app is slightly tweaked.
76. GIF Support in Photos App
You can now save and playback GIFs in the Photos app.
77. Create Watch Face from Photos App
When you’re viewing a photo, tap on the Share button and select Create Watch Face to make a watch face from the current photo.
78. Auto Answer Calls
This is an accessibility option. Basically, you can tell iOS to automatically answer any call after a set seconds.
79. Mail App Design Updates
Mail app also gets the huge headers and spaced out UI.
80. New Background Refresh Options
You can now select the Background App Refresh to only happen when connecting to Wi-Fi and not to Cellular data.
81. Prevent Cross Site Tracking in Safari
The new Apple feature that prevents sites from following you everywhere you go is enabled by default.
82. New Wallpaper
iOS 11 brings a new beach wallpaper.
83. New Numeric Keypad Design
There’s a new, more button-like rectangular design for the keypad.
84. Disable Aut0 Join Feature by Networks
In Wi-Fi settings, you can now toggle auto-join feature based on each network.
85. Alerts look like Banners
Persistent alerts now look like banners and show up from the top of the screen instead of the middle.
86. Share Wi-Fi Passwords
When a friend of your comes over, and if they’re running iOS 11, you’ll now be able to log them into your network without them doing anything. When both devices are near, you’ll get an AirPods style popup asking if you’d like them to connect to your network.
87. Family iCloud Sharing
If you have a 200 GB or higher iCloud plan, you can now share it with your Family members.
88. HEVC (H265) Video Support
iOS 11 has officual HEVC support and that’s what Apple will use for recording videos, resulting in a 2x compression in size.
89. AirPlay 2
AirPlay 2 is the update to Apple’s audio stream format. AirPlay 2 now supports multi-room audio.
90. Kannada, Malayalam and Odia keyboards
91. Flashlight for iPads
iPads now get Flashlight controls in Control Center.
92. 3D Touch for Safari Tab Switcher
You can now switch between tabs quickly using 3D Touch.
93. Spotlight Tab in News App
You can now search through the News app.
94. iCloud File Sharing
You can now share files you have stored in iCloud Drive.
95. WebRTC Support
A big deal for the open, web-based audio and video interface format. Safari now supports WebRTC.
95. One Handed Zoom in Maps app
Just like Google Maps, you can now tap and hold with one finger in Apple Maps and swipe up and down to zoom in and out.
Now, just open the Camera app and point to a QR code. iOS 11 will recognize it and if its a Wi-Fi QR code, it will even offer to connect to the network for you.
97. Dictation Works in Hindi
What could be a boon in India, the Dictation (Speech to text) feature now works in Hindi as well.
98. Move Multiple Apps on iPad
Tap and hold on an app and move it, now tap on other apps and you’ll select them too. Move to another page, release your finger and you’ll be moving multiple apps.
99. HEIF Replaces JPEG
Just like HEVC, HEIF is an open, compressed format for images. Apple will end up saving half the storage space. When you share photos, they’ll go out as JPEG though.
100. New Video Player UI
The new video player UI has a floating view and is dark. There are clearer buttons for Picture in picture and AirPlay.
Stay Tuned!
According to Apple, iOS 11 includes hundreds of new features and refinements, so we won’t rest till we find all of them. So don’t forget to bookmark this page for the complete list of iOS 11 features.
