What is number masking?

Marketplaces built the pattern. A driver and a rider, a buyer and a seller, both need to talk and neither should keep the other's number afterwards.

The proxy is usually short-lived. It exists for the booking and stops working once the job is done.

Staff privacy is the other common use. A plumber calling a customer back from their own mobile has handed out a personal number permanently.

It also makes the conversation loggable, which cuts both ways. The business gains a record; the two people lose a private line.

Say a home cleaning marketplace connects clients with independent cleaners. When a job is booked, the client sees a number for her cleaner and the cleaner sees a number for her client. Both are the same proxy number, and neither is real.

When the client dials it, the platform checks her caller ID against open bookings, finds the match and connects her to the cleaner's cell. One proxy number can serve hundreds of pairs this way, because the platform tells them apart by who is calling.

That lookup is also how it fails. If the client calls from her office line and not the cell on her account, the platform doesn't recognize her. She hears a recording saying the number isn't in service, while her cleaner is standing outside a locked door. Any business setting this up needs a fallback for unknown callers, even if it's only a message pointing to support.

Most small businesses asking about masking want something simpler. They want staff to stop giving out personal cells.

A business line that staff can call out from covers that. The customer sees the company number, calls it back, and reaches the company. Nothing expires, and the customer relationship stays with you when an employee leaves.

True masking earns its cost when both sides are strangers and you sit in the middle, as marketplaces, delivery apps and rental platforms do. There the expiry is the point. It's also useful when staff safety is a concern and even a business cell shouldn't lead back to a person.

Don't confuse either one with caller ID blocking. Dialing *67 before a call hides your number, and many people won't answer a call marked private. A masked number shows up as a normal number, which is why it gets picked up.

GreetKeeper answers your published business number, which is the opposite arrangement. Callers reach a number meant to be public.

Staff numbers stay out of it. Transfers connect through the system rather than by handing a caller someone's mobile.

Caller numbers appear in the transcript and summary, so you can call back from the business line rather than a personal one.