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SpareLine gives you extra phone numbers that live in an app and work over Wi-Fi or mobile data. You call and text ordinary phones from them and pay from a prepaid balance. It is not a SIM card or a mobile subscription, and it cannot call emergency numbers.

SpareLine runs as an Android app, as a desktop app for Windows and macOS, and in a web browser. You can sign in on several devices at once, and a call to your number rings all of them. Linux is not supported.

Open the Numbers tab, pick a country and a number, choose a term and whether it renews automatically, and pay from your balance or by card. The app shows the price, including any VAT, before you pay.

A number with automatic renewal is renewed from your balance when its term ends. If the balance does not cover it, the number enters a short grace period, shown in the app as "Payment required by" a date. Top up before that date to keep it, or the number is released.

Turn off automatic renewal to keep a number until its paid term ends, or release it to end it immediately. A released number cannot be recovered, and you are sent a written confirmation by email when the service for a number ends.

Some countries' regulators require proof such as identity or an address before certain number types can be activated. The app shows what is needed before you commit, and one approval covers every number of that type in that country.

Each number can forward calls to another phone, take a voicemail, or send the caller a text when nobody answers. You set these in the number's settings. Forwarded calls, voicemail and text replies are charged like ordinary calls and messages.

SpareLine cannot call 112, 911 or any other emergency number, and it does not pass on your location. Use the phone app your device came with. If you dial an emergency number in SpareLine, the app says it cannot call it and can open your phone's own dialler.

Start with the device check on the Help & support page. It shows whether notifications and the microphone are allowed, and on Android whether the device can be reached. Then check the number's own settings, such as forwarding, ringing hours and blocked callers, and use "Test this number" to see which devices a call would reach.

Outgoing calls are priced per minute by destination and paid from your balance. Before a call connects, the app can show its price, including any charge for placing the call and the shortest time that is billed. You are charged for the time the call actually lasted.

The most common reasons are that the balance ran out, which the app warns about during the call, and a lost connection. You are charged only for the time the call lasted.

A call is not started when the balance does not cover its first minutes, when billing details are missing, when the number is already on a call, when SpareLine does not carry calls to that destination, when calls are placed too quickly, or when the account is frozen. Emergency numbers are never called.

When an outgoing call starts, SpareLine sets aside enough of your balance to cover its first minutes, and adds to that as the call goes on. When the call ends, you are charged for the time it actually lasted and the rest is released. The final charge can take a few minutes to appear.

A message can be refused before it is sent, for example when the number does not carry SMS, the balance is too low, the text is too long or the destination is not supported. It can also be sent but not delivered by the receiving network, and the app then marks it "Not delivered".

Numbers that can carry text messages send and receive SMS in the app. Whether a number can is shown when you choose it, as calls only, SMS only, or calls and SMS. Picture messages (MMS) are not supported, and some services refuse to send their codes to virtual numbers.

The app keeps your messages and calls encrypted on your device, and they stay there when you sign out. In a browser they are kept encrypted in that browser, and clearing the site's data removes them. SpareLine keeps the text of a message only until your devices have it, so the copy on your device can be the only one. On Android you can keep an encrypted backup in your own Google Drive.

If you closed the payment page or the app before returning, SpareLine remembers the payment and checks it when you come back. You are charged once, and the balance or the number arrives when the payment is confirmed. You can resume or cancel a payment that was not finished.

Open Account → Invoices & payment and choose how much to add. You pay on a secure payment page that opens in your browser, and the balance appears once the payment is confirmed. Numbers, renewals, calls and messages are all paid from this one balance.

Unused balance can be refunded to the payment method it came from on request. The refund excludes what has already been used and any number term that has already started. When you delete your account, the app asks what should happen to your balance, and amounts below a small minimum are not refunded.

Your invoices and top-up receipts are kept in the app under Account → Invoices & payment, and can be downloaded as PDF files. Invoices cover what your balance paid for, such as numbers, calls and messages, and usage is invoiced after the month it happened in.

VAT is applied according to where you are and whether you are a consumer or a business, based on your billing details, which calls and messages also need. An EU business in another member state with a valid VAT ID is charged under the reverse charge. Prices in the app show whether VAT is included.

Choose Delete account on the Account screen and sign in again to confirm. Your numbers end immediately, your profile and data are removed, and unused balance above a small minimum is refunded to your payment method. Invoices and tax records are kept as the law requires. A deletion cannot be undone.

Open Account → Privacy & security and choose Ask for a copy of my data. Preparing it takes a few minutes. You get an email when it is ready, and the file can be downloaded in the app for seven days. It is a ZIP file with every table in JSON and CSV.

A frozen account cannot move money. Calls, messages, top-ups, number purchases and renewals are stopped until the freeze is lifted. You can still sign in, see your balance and history, and contact support. Adding balance does not lift a freeze.

A sign-in session ends after 30 days without use, and after 180 days in any case. It also ends if the device's access was removed under Account → Devices. Signing in again restores everything, because your numbers, balance and history are kept on your account.