Is TextFree safe to use?

TextFree integrates 46 third-party SDKs spanning advertising, support, and analytics. Its App Store privacy label declares cross-app tracking via Location, Identifiers, and Usage Data. It collects data linked to your identity including Purchases, Location, Contact Info, and Contacts and 5 more categories. It includes 15 advertising or attribution SDKs. Whether this is acceptable depends on your personal privacy preferences.

What permissions does TextFree need?

TextFree requests 13 iOS permissions: App Tracking Transparency, Camera, Microphone, Contacts, Photo Library, Location (When In Use), Location (Always), Location (Always & When In Use), Calendars, Save to Photo Library, Bluetooth, Bluetooth Peripheral, and Siri.

What data does TextFree collect?

According to its App Store privacy label, TextFree declares cross-app tracking via Location, Identifiers, and Usage Data. It collects data linked to your identity including Purchases, Location, Contact Info, Contacts, User Content, Search History, Identifiers, Usage Data, and Diagnostics.

How many SDKs does TextFree have?

TextFree integrates 46 third-party SDKs. 14 for advertising, 1 for attribution, 3 for analytics, 10 for customer support, and 17 for other.

Does TextFree use Facebook tracking?

Yes. TextFree includes 4 Facebook SDKs: Facebook AEM, Facebook SDK, Facebook Login, and ISFacebookAdapter. These are used for ad measurement, attribution, and integration with Facebook's advertising platform (developers.facebook.com).

Does TextFree use Google SDKs?

Yes. TextFree includes 4 Google or Firebase SDKs: Google Ads Conversion, Google AdMob, Firebase Analytics, and Google App Measurement. These are used for ads, analytics, and cloud services.

Does TextFree use App Tracking Transparency?

Yes. TextFree requests the App Tracking Transparency permission, which means it asks for your consent to track your activity across other companies' apps and websites.

Does TextFree access your location?

Yes. TextFree requests location access. The developer states: "This helps you select a local area code for your phone number.".

Does TextFree access your camera or microphone?

TextFree requests access to both your camera and microphone. The developer says camera access is for "Camera access is required to take photos and videos, and share them through text". Microphone access is for "Microphone access is required to make calls, send audio messages, and customize your voicemail". These permissions are only active when you grant them in iOS Settings.

Does TextFree access your contacts?

Yes. TextFree requests access to your contacts. The developer states: "Contacts access is required to show you who’s calling or texting. Your contacts are never shared without your permission.".

Does TextFree run in the background?

Yes. TextFree registers 3 background modes, which means it can perform certain tasks when you're not actively using it.

What are some alternatives to TextFree?

Other social networking apps include Yik Yak , 3F , AM , Backbone , BeReal. , and BiP . Each app takes a different approach to social networking and varies in its data collection and SDK usage.

Social Networking · Privacy report

Text Free: Second Phone Number

Free · ★4.7 · Pinger, Inc.

Is TextFree safe?

It collects a lot of your data, and shares it with trackers.

Our take. TextFree carries 18 third-party trackers and its own label declares it links 9 categories of your data to you. It collects a lot itself, and shares a lot with outside companies.

Privacy footprint · vs 97 social networkingHeavy

Trackers from other companies18 · a lot

typical social networking: 4

Data the app links to you9 types · a lot

typical social networking: 5 · from its own privacy label

What it collects about you

TextFree links 9 categories of your data to you.

From the developer's own App Store privacy label. These are the kinds of data TextFree ties to your identity, and it also declares it shares data to track you across other apps.

PurchasesLocationContact InfoContactsUser ContentSearch HistoryIdentifiersUsage DataDiagnostics

Who else is inside

It carries trackers from 9 companies.

Third-party SDKs found in the app, matched to the company that publishes each. Present in the code; we do not observe what they transmit.

🏢Other third partiesadvertising

A third-party SDK.

SDKs

🇺🇸MetaAdvertising

Facebook advertising SDKs, built to link app activity to Facebook and Instagram ad profiles.

SDKs

🇺🇸GoogleAnalytics

Firebase, AdMob and Google analytics SDKs, built to record how you use the app and serve ads.

SDKs

🇺🇸AppLovinAdvertising

A mobile advertising and monetization network.

SDK

🇮🇱ironSourceAdvertising · Israel

A mobile advertising and monetization network.

SDK

🇺🇸UnityAdvertising

In app advertising from Unity.

SDK

🇺🇸LiftoffAdvertising

In app video advertising network.

SDK

🇩🇪AdjustAttribution · Germany

Marketing attribution, built to tie installs and in app events back to ad campaigns.

SDK

🏢Messaging SDKMessaging

Push notification and messaging platform.

SDK

How it compares

Where it sits among social networking.

Every one of these apps we have scanned, on the two measures above: third-party trackers it carries (across) and data it links to you on its own label (up). Toward the top right is more invasive.

Each dot is one social networking app. TextFree sits to the right, carrying more third-party tracking than most.

Other signals

Two more flags.

Each is a fact read straight from the app. The same checks run on every app we scan. Only the ones that apply here are shown.

It declares cross-app tracking

Its own App Store label says it tracks you across other companies apps and websites using your advertising identifier.

It sends analytics to a company in Israel

ironSource is a Israel company. Its analytics SDK is built into the app.

The evidence

What it's built from.

All 46 SDKs in the app, grouped by what they are for. 18 are third-party trackers.

14advertising

1attribution

3analytics

28standard libraries

18 of the 46 are third-party trackers. The rest are the app's own code and standard open-source building blocks.

Show the full SDK list

Other third partiesadvertising

Amazon Publisher Services (DTB) · Google Ads Conversion · Digital Turbine (InnerActive) · Moloco Ads · Google UMP (Consent) · Google App Measurement

MetaAdvertising · USA

Facebook AEM · Facebook Audience Network · Facebook SDK · Facebook Login

GoogleAnalytics · USA

Google AdMob · Firebase Analytics

AppLovinAdvertising · USA

AppLovin

ironSourceAdvertising · Israel

ironSource

UnityAdvertising · USA

Unity Ads

LiftoffAdvertising · USA

Vungle Ads

AdjustAttribution · Germany

Adjust Signature

Messaging SDKMessaging

Braze

Standard libraries28 · on-device

The app's own code plus open-source interface, storage and networking libraries.

How we know this

Counterspy downloads the app from the App Store and statically analyzes its compiled binary. Embedded SDKs are matched against a signature database and resolved to the company that operates each. We also read the developer's App Store privacy label, which lists the data the app says it collects and links to you. We do not run the app or intercept its traffic, so we report capabilities present in the code and the developer's own disclosures, not proven transmission. We assess privacy and data collection, not malware, security flaws, or developer intent. Reports are automated and never edited for payment. Scan v13.13.1, 2026-04-03.

Third-party trackers are advertising, analytics and attribution SDKs detected by static signature matching. Presence shows a capability is compiled in, not that it ran or transmitted data.
"Data the app links to you" is the count of data categories the developer declares as Data Linked To You in its App Store privacy label. Labels are self-reported and not verified by Apple.
Comparison across the 97 social networking in our corpus. Trackers: median 4. Data linked to you: median 5.