Tomas — building CloakID

Building @CloakIDapp — a private phone number that screens your calls so your real one stays yours. Beginner dev shipping a live telephony app.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

It's live. 🚀

CloakID — a phone number you can give out freely that screens every call, so your real number never leaks.

The dentist gets through. The spam, the brokers, the strangers don't.

Now on iPhone and Android:
→ iOS: https://t.co/gcg5MB3NlQ
→ Android: https://t.co/H0Rb7aMpfJ

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@spackardwork @marcjoffe That's basically the right instinct — a filtered layer in front of your real line. The ceiling is that the number itself is still exposed, so the filtering never ends; you're permanently absorbing hits instead of drying up the source.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@robdeleonjr @TMobileHelp @TMobile The brutal part is blocking doesn't scale here — they burn a fresh spoofed caller ID every call, so your block list is chasing numbers that already don't exist. The carrier isn't the leak; your number being out in the open is.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@troyhunt @TheRegister The part people underestimate: a leaked email you can rotate, but a leaked phone number is basically permanent. It's the one identifier most people carry for a decade and hand out to everyone. Breach it once and the spam tail lasts years.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@bluemilk4d5 That sudden spike usually means your number just hit a fresh resale list somewhere — once it's out, it just keeps getting passed around. Less a "spam problem," more a "my number is public now" problem.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@robdeleonjr @TMobileHelp @TMobile T-Mobile can't really fix this — the number calling you today gets burned and replaced tomorrow. It's not a blocklist problem, it's a "your number is already on 50 lists" problem. Meowing back honestly sounds more productive than reporting each one lol

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@troyhunt Deletion requests race resale speed and lose — by the time one processes, your number's already resold to three more buyers. Emails you can rotate away from. A number tied to your bank, your doctor, your kid's school? Much harder to delete your way out of that one.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@_ItsKiaBITCH Data brokers, mostly, any app, store, or site you gave it to years ago probably resold it. Once it's out there you can't really un-share it, which is the annoying part.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@robdeleonjr @TMobileHelp @TMobile 30 in 3 days is rough, and honestly not really a T-Mobile problem. Your number's been floating around data broker lists for years, carrier-side blocking can't keep up once that's happened.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@lavishlylevada It's less a spam problem than a "your number is just public now" problem, it's been sold and leaked so many times that blocking barely helps since they just spoof a new caller ID next time.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@troyhunt The uncomfortable part is you can delete an account, but you can't un-share a number once it's out there. That's the one I gave up trying to erase and just started rotating instead.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@offgriddesigner Ha, fair. That's kind of the point though, I'd rather hear the boring "yeah spam calls suck" version than wait for a dramatic story. Still up for trying it?

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@gkctweets @IDFCFIRSTBank The "different numbers" part is why blocking never wins — they spoof a fresh caller ID every call, so you're blocking disposable masks, not people. The only thing that actually helps is the number they're hitting not being your real one.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@hayleyrebecca "Today" usually means your number just got freshly listed and blasted to a batch of callers at once. Feels random, but it's not — someone sold or leaked it recently and now it's making the rounds.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@offgriddesigner Honestly this is the exact thing I'm building for — a number you hand out that screens and absorbs all this, so your real one stays clean. Still early and rough. If you ever want to be a guinea pig and tell me everything that sucks about it, I'd love that.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@SGTWipper1Each Honest answer nobody likes: once your number's on the lists, you can't fully stop it. Blocking and Do Not Call barely help — they just spin up new caller IDs. The only real fix is not handing out your real number, so the line getting hammered is one you can screen or replace.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@ASHCASHJONEZ Right question, ugly answer: usually a company you actually trusted. Most "spam" starts with a legit signup or form that sold or leaked your number downstream. Once it's out, it's out — you can't un-share a number.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@Illuminati196 @SGTWipper1Each Two weeks is the tell — your number just landed on a fresh list (a signup, a form, a breach) and got resold fast. Once it's on a list it never comes off, so the calls only compound. The calls are the symptom; the number being out there is the cause.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

@cOc0coaaaa The brutal part is yelling costs them nothing. Your number's on a list someone sold, and they're just working down it. Nothing you do on the call matters — the number reaching you at all is the problem.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

If this hits home, CloakID is live on iPhone and Android:

iOS → https://t.co/6GVOehNSWP

Android → https://t.co/Fm7tPSL7HE

7-day free trial. Take your number back.

[Tomas — building CloakID @LoudaTomas]

Researchers at UC Davis & Stanford filled out 105 online lead forms with fresh phone numbers.

Half the first calls came within 2 minutes of hitting "submit." Over 60 days, one of those numbers got 1,676 calls.

That's what sharing your number really costs: your phone is the last line that's always on — and the moment your number is out there, you've handed that access away. It gets sold, resold, and you can't take it back.

That's why I built @CloakIDapp: you decide who reaches you on the one line that never turns off — and you can revoke it anytime.

Your number isn't leaked. It's sold — instantly.