We are used to searching for phone numbers by names and addresses, but sometimes it is so important to know who owns a certain phone number. You come across so many numbers that you want to know who the owners are: the number of a private caller who made a missed call, or a number that you have noted down somewhere but have forgotten who it belongs to. Searching for the owner of a phone number is known as reverse phone number lookup.

Since each number must be assigned to a person or company, you should technically be able to trace the number back to that entity, but you don’t always get satisfactory results. In fact, there is no certain and reliable system for looking up a number. It doesn’t work like the telephone directory, where everything is systematic, approved and complete.

Most people want to keep their numbers private and it is the responsibility of the phone provider to ensure that it remains that way. So you will not get satisfactory services from such telecommunication companies unless it is only for landline numbers. But many people do reverse phone lookup for mobile and VoIP numbers which makes it even more difficult. Some services charge you for looking up mobile phone numbers but as the communication industry matures, free services are becoming more common and quite effective.

When it comes to landline numbers, you get them from the phone providers, which are listed in their directory. But mobile phone numbers often belong to different and often competing mobile operators. Reverse phone lookup engines have to work as collectors and crawlers to feed their databases. In fact, behind every reverse phone lookup app or site is an engine that captures every phone number that comes within its reach, along with all the associated information about its owner – a name, an address, a country, and even photos.