13 Secret Codes That Unlock Hidden Features on Your Phone
The USSD protocol allows you to access hidden features you didn't know
about right from your smartphone's dialer. But there is some trickiness
you'll need to know about.
Remember
that scene in
War Games
when the socially broken code monkeys were explaining to aspiring
hacker Matthew Broderick all about "back doors" (i.e. secret pathways
planted by programmers)? Well, that's actually a thing.
Coders have a storied tradition of baking in secret passageways (or sometimes, just
fun little Easter eggs) that can only be accessed by inputting a special "key." And so that tradition continues in the mobile age.
Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD)—sometimes known as
"quick codes" or "feature codes"—is an extra-UI protocol, which allows
people to access hidden features. This protocol was originally created
for
GSM phones, but can be found on
CDMA devices as well (if that's a bunch of acronym gibberish to you,
here's a quick primer).
READ: 15 Cool Tricks You Didn't Know Your Phone's Camera Could Do
These publicly available backchannels allow users to directly
communicate with their service provider's computers and/or access
back-end features in their device. They are accessed by inputting them
into the phone's dialer (the screen you use to start a phone call) and
usually begin and end with the * or # keys with a sequence of numbers in
between (there's close-to-zero chance that anyone would accidentally
access them).
They're not terribly practical. Most people don't really need to know how their local cell towers are performing or what their
IMEI number
is (more on that later). Still, it can be fun to play around and see
what unexpected functionality your phone is hiding beneath the surface.
We would LOVE to provide you with a comprehensive list of the dozens
of codes out there, but that would be an exercise in futility. These
codes seldom work across different carriers, OSes, or phone models (or
even on generations of the same model).
If you really want to try them out, your best bet may be to Google
your phone's make and carrier + "USSD" for a tailored, comprehensive
list. I attempted a number of codes using an
iPhone SE (while trading out numerous carrier SIM cards) in addition to a
Galaxy S5 and
Galaxy S7 Edge
running on AT&T. Some of them worked! Check out the list below for
13 codes that I can confirm worked on at least one device. Good luck and
have fun!
-
1
Field Mode: *3001#12345#*
Type *3001#12345#* into your phone's dialer and then
press the green call button to access "Field Mode," which can give you
access to info about local networks and cell towers.
You'll probably never ever have to know about your local cell tower's "Measured RSSi," but it's fun to look around for a bit.
-
2
General Test Mode: *#0*#
I could only get this to work on Android. But this prompts a library of
different phone operations, which could be operated with a single push
(e.g. Sleep, Front Cam, Vibration).
-
3
Display your IMEI: *#06#
Here's a code which I found out does not work with Verizon on
an iPhone, but I could make it work after switching to a T-Mobile SIM.
It also worked on my Android AT&T device as well. To access it, type
in the above code, and then the green call button to prompt your IMEI
number (or your International Mobile Station Equipment Identity number,
but you already knew that).
The IMEI is unique to your device. Among other things, the number can
help "blacklist" stolen devices or help with customer support.
-
4 Check Your Call Forwarding: *#67#
This code allows you to check which number your phone is currently forwarding calls to when you're busy or reject a call.
By default, this is probably your carrier's voicemail service, but you
can change it to forward to a different number (a home number, office
number, or third-party answering service for example). On an iPhone, you
can change this number by going to Settings > Phone > Call
Forwarding. On Android (varies from system to system), tap the Phone app
> hamburger icon > Settings > Call > More Settings >
Call forwarding
-
5
Get Even More Info on Call Forwarding: *#61#
On my Galaxy phone, this code prompted a pop-up that let me know how
long until a call is forwarded to the message center. On the iPhone,
regardless of carrier, this code just showed me the same info as *#67# .
-
6
Check Your Available Minutes: *646#
Apparently this one only works on postpaid plans. I was not able to get
it to work on my test iPhone (regardless of carrier; I tried three), but
I did get it to work on my Galaxy phone (which happens to have an
unlimited texting plan from AT&T). Instead of showing the info on a
new screen, it sent my phone a text message.
-
7
Check Your Bill Balance: *225#
Once again, I couldn't get this one to work on the iPhone, but on
Android I did get it to prompt a SMS message with my current balance
due.
-
8
Hide Your Phone From Caller ID: #31#
I could only get this to work on Android. But entering this code
prompted a pop-up stating that my Caller ID had been disabled. In order
to re-instate Caller ID, enter *31# .
-
9
Check Your Billing Cycle: *3282#
Once again, I could only get this to work on Android. It prompted an SMS message with my billing info.
-
10
SMS Message Center: *5005*7672#
This code will tell you your SMS message center number. I have no idea why you'd need that info, but there ya go.
-
11
Activate Call Waiting: *43#
This code will activate call waiting; you can deactivate it by entering #43#.
-
12
Quick Test Menu (Samsung Galaxy Only) *#7353#
As far as I can tell, this code only works on Samsung Galaxy models (I
tested it on my Galaxy S7 Edge). This is similar to the General Test
mode mentioned earlier, in that it brings up a menu with a number of
one-tap test prompts.
The first test is "Melody," which prompts a jaunty little K-Pop diddy. I
don't know who the artist is (it's un-Shazammable!), but a search of
the lyrics pointed me to this YouTube clip,
with a title that translates to "Samsung Anycall Galaxy basic level -
Hey Now (Good bye)." If you have any details on this mobile mystery,
drop it in the comments.
-
13
Firmware (Samsung Galaxy Only) *#1234#
Once again, as far as I can tell, this only works on Galaxy devices. But
it will let you know your phone's current firmware. So, have fun with
that.
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