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Ask HN: Can I receive phone calls and messages online?
My mobile phone is broken. And it occurred to me, I don't really need a phone. If I could keep my number, but do calls/texts/voicemail from the computer/browser, that'd be great.
I know Twilio exists, and I've used it before, but their numbers cannot receive many 2FA messages (which is important, since SMS 2FA is often forced by companies/banks).
Any tips for achieving this? In Australia.
- stop50 4y agoPhonecalls can be solved by sip, sms is harder.
- arthurcolle 4y agowith a typical iPhone + macOS combo, you can enable SMS via Messages app by enabling a setting in the System Preferences. I use this and frequently receive all SMS messages via this route.
- desertraven 4y agoJust so I'm clear, this isn't just using iMessage, but it will actually bill my provider when messaging in the mac app?
- arthurcolle 4y agoyes indeed, not just iMessage. It works even for when I message for example, my father, who only has a basic SMS plan with an Android phone
- desertraven 4y agoThanks for the info. Does the phone need to be plugged in? Turned on? Or enabling the setting is sufficient?
- arthurcolle 4y agoThe phone does not have to be plugged into the computer if that's what you mean. I haven't tried it with the phone turned off, but I would suspect it could be handing it off to the phone somehow, that might be what is happening. But once I enabled the setting it worked as described.
- ppjim 4y agoIf you only need it for 2FA, you can get feature phone. There are some solutions like https://hushed.com/ https://hushed.com/ that allow 2fa, but only the paid version.
- desertraven 4y agoHmm looks interesting, thanks. The only issue is they don't support AUS numbers
- plutoke 4y ago
- alxmng 4y agoYup. I use a VoIP through <https://www.voip.ms https://www.voip.ms>. SMS and voicemail forwards to email, and I use Signal, WhatsApp, or FaceTime for calls. I haven’t had a real number in over a year now.