Sideline: 2nd Phone Line App

Review by eFreeware

Sideline is a communication app from Pinger, Inc. that gives your phone a second number for calls and texts, so the number you hand out to clients, buyers or new contacts is not the one your family and friends already have. It has been on Google Play since October 2015 and has passed five million installs, with a 3.8 average across more than 62,000 ratings.

The appeal is straightforward. Instead of carrying a work phone or giving a stranger your personal line, you run a separate number inside the same device. The developer's pitch is that this second number behaves like a normal one, because calls travel over your carrier's cellular network rather than over an internet calling service.

That distinction matters more than it might sound. A number that leans on the cellular network is meant to feel like the line you already use, which is the main reason to consider Sideline over the various internet-based alternatives.

Who tends to need a second line

The clearest fit is anyone whose phone number doubles as a business address. Freelancers juggling client calls, small business owners who would rather not buy a second handset, and people running marketplace listings all end up giving out a number they would prefer to keep at arm's length. Sideline puts those conversations on their own line while leaving the personal one untouched.

It also suits people who simply want tighter control over who can reach them. Dating, signups and one-off transactions are the situations the developer highlights, and they share a common thread: you need to be reachable now, but you do not want that reachability to follow you around indefinitely. A number you can abandon or manage separately is easier to walk away from than the one tied to your bank and your contacts.

If your phone is already a single-purpose personal device and you rarely hand the number to strangers, the case for a second line is thinner. The app is built for people who mix the two kinds of communication and want them separated, and that is the audience it serves best.

Calling and texting on the second number

The core of the app is ordinary phone behavior attached to a different number. You can place calls and send SMS and MMS messages from the Sideline line, and the developer describes the volume of messaging as unlimited. Calls are routed through your carrier's network rather than VoIP, which the developer presents as the reason quality should hold up like a regular number.

You get to decide what the number looks like. Sideline lets you pick an area code of your choosing, which is useful if you want a local presence in a region you do not live in, or you can port a number you already own into the app and keep using it. Either way, the second line sits alongside your primary number rather than replacing it.

The number can be reached from more than one device, which matters if you answer messages on a tablet as well as a phone. I would treat that as a convenience feature rather than a full multi-device calling setup.

Tools that keep the two lines apart

Beyond the raw calling and texting, Sideline bundles a handful of organizational features. Caller ID and a custom voicemail greeting let the second number introduce itself properly, and voicemail messages arrive with transcripts so you can read them rather than dial in. Auto-Reply sends an instant response when you miss a call, which is a sensible way to acknowledge a client or buyer without stopping what you are doing.

For repeat conversations, the app lets you save texts you send often and reuse them, and you can attach notes to conversations and contacts. Those two features are aimed squarely at the work side of the app: a saved reply for standard questions, a note reminding you who a contact is and where you met them. Blocking unwanted callers rounds out the set, which is useful on a number that gets published in listings.

None of this is exotic on its own. What makes it coherent is that all of it applies to the second line, so your personal messages stay free of work signatures, saved replies and marketplace chatter.

Getting set up and verifying the account

Signing up does not require a government-issued ID. Accounts are verified through two-factor authentication instead, which keeps the process short and avoids uploading identity documents just to obtain a number. You download the app, verify, and choose or transfer the number you want to use.

That low-friction setup is a real part of the pitch. Anyone who has been put off by services that ask for a passport scan before issuing a number will find this approach easier to live with. It also means the barrier to trying the app is small, which fits a tool whose value only becomes clear once you have a reason to hand out a number.

What it costs and how it is funded

Sideline is free to download, and the developer does not run ads in it. The app does offer in-app purchases, so some parts of the service are paid. If a paid element is central to how you plan to use the number, it is worth checking the current options inside the app before committing.

The absence of advertising is a point in its favor for a communications tool, where interruptions are more annoying than they are in a game. The trade-off is that the paid side exists, and the honest position is simply that the app is free to install with purchases available on top.

How it compares with the alternatives

The obvious comparison is a second physical phone or a second SIM. Those give you a genuinely separate device or line, but they also mean another monthly bill and, in the case of a handset, another thing to carry and charge. Sideline's advantage is that everything happens on the phone already in your pocket, and the developer's carrier-network approach is meant to keep call quality close to a normal line.

The other comparison is internet-based calling and texting services. Those can be cheap or free, but they depend on a data connection and often behave differently from a regular number. Sideline's stated position is that it does not work that way, which is the trade you are making: a number that acts like a phone line rather than one that lives entirely online.

There are also single-purpose tools for particular jobs, such as a dedicated app for business messaging or a marketplace-specific chat. Sideline's breadth is its differentiator: one second number that covers calls, texts, voicemail and organization rather than a separate tool for each task.

A second line worth having if you hand out your number

Sideline is a reasonable choice for anyone who regularly gives their phone number to people they do not know well. Freelancers, small business owners, online sellers and anyone fielding marketplace inquiries get a clean separation between the line they publish and the line their friends use, without buying another phone or another plan. The carrier-network approach, the choice of area code, number porting and the organizational tools all support that single job.

The caveats are modest but real. You need to be comfortable with a second number living inside an app rather than on a SIM, and the in-app purchases mean the free download is not necessarily the whole story. The 3.8 average across a large number of ratings suggests a service that many people find useful and some find frustrating, which is typical for communication tools that depend on network conditions.

If your goal is simply to stop sharing your personal number with the wider world, Sideline addresses that directly, and it does so with a feature set that has been refined over years of updates. For a free install with a clear purpose, that is an easy case to make.

What's new in version 13.28

Better. Faster. More Reliable. That's our motto for every update. And in this release, performance updates make Sideline all of those things. If you're enjoying the app, please leave us a rating or review. Need help? Email us at: [email protected]