Phone numbers are a little similar fingerprints; they can reveal a lot about a person, for example, their proper noun or where they live. If you received a call from a number you don't recognize, the post-obit resources can help you identify the caller before you lot ring them back. I option fifty-fifty calls the number for you.

Several online tools let y'all reverse lookup and possibly identify who a phone number is registered to. Unfortunately, you'll probably encounter several limitations with any phone number identification:

  1. If someone added their number to the National Practice Non Call Registry or had it removed from a site like White Pages, it will be hard to trace that phone number.
  2. It's almost impossible to find out the identity of the person behind a mobile phone number for free. Though with North American numbers, yous can at least find where the number was registered.
  3. Moreover, many "gratis" services volition try to sell you their service, fifty-fifty if it is possible to discover the information for complimentary elsewhere.
  4. Some countries, including the UK and Commonwealth of australia, have restricted the reverse lookup of phone numbers. So, if you're trying to notice a number from these countries, yous're out of luck.
  5. Phone numbers can go out of service or change owners. Since it can accept some fourth dimension for a service to catch upwards on these changes, you lot tin never fully rely on the information yous detect online.

With those restrictions in mind, allow'southward look at the best strategies to check for the origin or possessor of a phone number.

1. Google

Google Do Not Call List Search Suggestions

This is the brute strength method of identifying a phone number, but it's quick, piece of cake, and completely free. If the call is from an official or otherwise public source, a search engine like Google or DuckDuckGo might come up with every terminal detail nigh the location and owner of the phone number.

The screenshot below, for case, shows the Google event when searching for the number of the National Exercise Non Call Registry.

Your Google search did not amount to much, so what next?

Bonus: Observe Out Where the Phone Number Is From

Before you lot tin choose the best service to identify the owner of a phone number, permit'southward narrow it down to a specific location first. Y'all can skip this step if you recognize the country and surface area code. For automated location lookup, you can also skip ahead and try the first online tool listed beneath.

Generally, a North American phone number consists of x digits. The first iii digits represent the area code, meaning you can use these numbers to narrow downwardly the location of the number. An easy way to do this is to type the three digits followed by the phrase "area code" into a Google search.

Google Area Code Search

It'south a piffling more than complicated if yous've received a phone call from an international number. You lot should meet a much longer number, including a state code, which tin be anywhere from i (eastward.thou. +one for USA and Canada) to 3 (e.m. +506 for Costa Rica) digits long.

Just as outlined in a higher place, head over to Google, type in the number with the phrase "country code", and you'll get an instant answer. To discover out more nigh the number's location inside a land, yous'll demand to learn more than near how their phone numbers work.

For example, expanse codes in Germany by and large outset with a cypher and can be iii to five digits long, such equally 030 for Berlin or 0711 for Stuttgart. In a long distance call from Federal republic of germany (country code +49), yet, the number should show up every bit +49-711-xxxxxx, i.eastward. omitting the goose egg from the surface area code.

Now that you have a better thought of where the phone number is from, choose a service that covers this location.

2. Whitepages

Whitepages Phone Number Lookup offers people search, reverse phone and address looking

Location: North America

Whitepages is 1 of the most established online services to find people and phone numbers in the US. Use this website to do a reverse lookup for North American landline and mobile numbers. But enter the number in the Telephone search field and hit Enter.

If Whitepages does not have an entry, information technology will requite you some basic details most the number, such as its location and spam or fraud risk.

Note: Whitepages offers monthly subscription packages for users located in the United States. Premium users will gain access to additional information, like mobile phone numbers and total address history. This is 1 of the more trustworthy services you lot'll encounter when trying to look up a phone number online.

3. WhoCallsMe

WhoCallsMe Reverse Phone Lookup

Location: International, but primarily North America

Do you suspect that yous're receiving unsolicited calls from a scammer, telemarketer, or a pollster? Then this is the service you should endeavor. Enter the number in the search field and hit Search.

WhoCallsMe will tell you everything it knows about this number, including its location and whatever reports it has collected from other users. In one case you've entered a number, y'all can contribute to the service's database past leaving your own notes about the caller.

4. Searchbug

Searchbug Names Numbers Now

Location: North America

This tool tin quickly assistance you look up the location of Northward American telephone numbers. Just type in the phone number, hit Search, and wait for Searchbug's information on this number.

If they can't observe a public record for this number, you lot'll at least acquire whether this is a price-free, landline, or mobile number and possibly where the caller is located.

Note: Searchbug will try to charge you for additional information, like the full name of the owner of the telephone number, though you might be able to notice it for free online.

v. NumberVille

NumberVille Phone Number Lookup Service Start Screen

Location: International

This site is like to Searchbug, just it works with international numbers, too. It appears to offer more than information for costless, including electric current and past addresses associated with a phone number; we suspect it pulls this data from Whitepages

We likewise had the impression it was more up-to-date than its competitors, such as ReversePhoneLookup or SpyDialer.

Note: NumberVille will log and publicly display your IP address, then you lot better use a VPN in instance you want to stay anonymous.

6. NumLookup

Location: International

NumLookup builds on directly partnerships with telecom companies around the world, including AT&T, Verizon, and T-Mobile. Each fourth dimension someone enters a phone number, they brand a realtime API call to place the possessor's name. For us, this didn't piece of work with numbers from Canada, Us, or Federal republic of germany, just the service correctly identified the number's location.

Annotation: NumLookup displays a public list of recent phone number searches. While our numbers didn't show up in that list, yours may.

7. SpyDialer

SpyDialer results of a reverse phone number lookup

Location: United states of america simply

SpyDialer will really phone call the number y'all enter to record voicemail or verify the line is active.

This is the just services that managed to identify the possessor of the phone number we used for testing. Where other services claimed the data wasn't available, SpyDialer actually had the correct name on record.

8. EmobileTracker.com

EmobileTracker Mobile Phone Number Search

Location: International

Need to identify the owner of a mobile telephone number? If nothing else worked, this service is your best bet. Specifically designed to rail mobile numbers, EmobileTracker.com might even give you the possessor'southward name, location, and telecom provider.

We tested information technology with a few different numbers, and while it never identified the owner'south proper name of a mobile number, information technology did get a few details correct. In one case, even so, information technology guessed the wrong provider with a European number.

Did You Manage to Place the Telephone Number?

It'southward not easy to notice the possessor of a telephone number, including their proper noun and location. Only hopefully, you now take a better idea of who has given y'all an unsolicited call. If you're even so looking for results, try i of these contrary phone lookup sites.

Still getting spam calls from the same number? Notation that you can hands stop unwanted calls and texts on Android, and you can cake telephone numbers on your iPhone.