Archived Number - What they are and how to recover your number

When your plan expires, or a prepaid number reaches its expiration date, Burner doesn’t delete your numbers right away. It archives them. An archived number stays in your app with its chat history, but it can’t make calls or send texts. In many cases you can recover it from the banner in the app.

Before you start: Make sure your Burner app is up to date.

What to expect

Here’s how the timeline works:

Plan expires. A red banner appears in the app showing the date your numbers and chat history will be archived. Your numbers are still held for you until that date, but you can’t call or text from them.
Numbers are archived. On the date shown, your numbers are archived. You can still see the number and read your past messages. The phone number is no longer reserved for you, so it may become available to someone else.
Six months later. Archived numbers and their chat history are permanently deleted. You won’t get a separate notice before this happens.

While a number is archived, you can:

Read your past conversations
Change basic settings, like the number’s name or color
Recover the number, if it’s still available

You won’t be able to:

Make calls or send texts
Upload a new voicemail greeting

How to recover your numbers

Open Burner and find the red banner. It appears on Chats, inside a conversation, in Number Settings, and on the Account screen.
Tap Recover Numbers in the banner.
Burner checks whether your number can be recovered. Follow the prompts for your situation:
- If you have an active plan with an open line: The number is added back to your plan and you’ll see a confirmation.
- If you don’t have an active plan, or your plan has no open lines: Choose a plan and complete your purchase through the App Store (iOS) or Google Play (Android). Your number is recovered once the purchase goes through.
- If the number is no longer available: You’ll be asked to choose a new number, then select a plan.
Go back to Chats and confirm the number no longer shows the archived banner. Send a test text to make sure it’s working.

Tip: If your banner still shows an upcoming archive date, renew before that date. Your numbers and conversations stay exactly as they are.

Important notes

Recovery isn’t guaranteed. Once a number is archived, it can be assigned to someone else. If that happens, you can choose a new number instead.
Verified Numbers can’t be recovered. If a Verified Number is archived, you’ll be prompted to get a new Verified Number.
If you recover a prepaid number, it will be added to a subscription. It won’t return as a prepaid number.
Deleting an archived number removes it and all of its messages immediately. This can’t be undone.
If you see an error during recovery, close the app, reopen it, and try again. If it still doesn’t work, contact support.

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