Not long ago I started a side project to escape my routine day job and challenge myself to build an iOS app. The power of Twilio’s API paired with my fear that recruiters would hunt down my phone number led me down a path that became LineUp. I wanted to build a new phone, separate from my real phone. Over a few months, I learned iOS + Rails development by iterating on various versions of the app. Soon I had something tangible and added features as I learned what I needed: text messaging, voicemail and multiple numbers. Before I knew it, LineUp was born.
Fast forward to today: LineUp has been on the App Store for five years. In that time, millions of texts and calls have been exchanged. People have responded to LineUp’s promise to allow them the choice to separate their lives as they saw fit. No longer was it necessary to hand out your permanent phone number and give up your privacy in order to post publicly on the Internet, connect with someone from a dating app, or sell something on an online marketplace.
Today I’m delighted to announce two major changes to LineUp.
First, LineUp and I have joined Keepsafe, a company that shares LineUp’s vision. Keepsafe has a family of consumer privacy and security apps that are used by over 75 million people. If you haven’t already, check out Keepsafe’s Photo Vault and VPN apps.
Second, LineUp is not only going to continue offering its service, but it’s also about to get even better. Today we’re re-launching the app as Keepsafe Unlisted. We believe this new name better represents the app’s core promise: You can choose when to use your real phone number—and when no to. You have the power to decide when to use your Unlisted numbers.
When you install or update your Unlisted app today, you’ll already see the results of my collaboration with the Keepsafe team; Unlisted 3.0 has been entirely rewritten and has a brand new beautiful design. We’ve also recently added the ability to automatically subscribe to an Unlisted number, so you never need to worry about having yours expire. Now you can choose between a prepaid plan and an auto-renewing subscription for your Unlisted numbers. We’re not stopping there––support for international calling and texting, international numbers, and an Android app are all coming soon! We have even more plans in store.
To people who have used LineUp, thank you for your continued support and feedback––the app is better today because of you. Unlisted has a bright future ahead, and I will continue leading its development at Keepsafe. I’m always interested in hearing your ideas and suggestions for the app, so send an email anytime to support, and it’ll find me.
Stay Unlisted,
Erik
