Comparison

Text Vault vs Buddies Beacon

Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.

Head to head
About

Text Vault

Protect your real phone number with a private, disposable number for texting. Send and receive messages, including pictures, with temporary or permanent numbers from various countries. Keep your personal information secret during online transactions or when texting strangers.

Highlights
  • Disposable burner phone numbers
  • Private texting and SMS
  • International texting
  • MMS Picture Messaging support
  • Message deletion for privacy
  • Caller ID lookup
  • Do Not Disturb scheduling
Features
Read full description

Best Free Texting App with burner phone numbers for text messages. Add as many phone numbers for texting as you want. Text Vault is the best texting app for protecting your real phone number during texting by keeping your personal phone number private and secret. Text to strangers with a disposable temporary protected phone number. + Get a free private phone number for private texting & SMS. Sign up today to get a free phone number and text now. + Add as many burner phone numbers as you like from countries like USA, UK, Canada and Australia + Support phone number verification for services you do not want to reveal your real phone number when you text. + Supports text & MMS Picture Messaging + Delete individual messages or entire message to protect privacy + Set up do not disturb schedule or privacy to hide texts in notifications. + Lookup phone numbers & caller ID + International texting to a number of countries. + Temporary or permanent phone numbers available + Text free using our protected numbers. Text Vault texting app gives you a free private second phone number to protect your real phone number and caller id. Text now to someone in peace knowing that you can block them off anytime, burn your phone number plus get a new 2nd phone number when you download right now. With Text Vault Phone App, you can text freely to a date, someone you are buying and selling with on Craigslist, Etsy, Ebay, or any online ecommerce sites or listings. Protect your identity and caller id today with a new private text number. Text Vault offers a subscription plan for new alternate numbers for you and me. - Your subscription automatically renews unless auto-renewal is turned off at least 24 hours before the end of the current subscription. - Your account will be charged for a renewed subscription within 24 hours prior to the end of current subscription. - Your account will auto renew once a month, every 3 months or once a year depending on the subscription period you choose. - The subscription price ranges from $4.99-$79.99 and will vary depending on the type you pick but will be shown before you confirm purchase. - Payment will be charged to iTunes Account at confirmation of purchase and will auto renew within 24 hours prior to the end of the subscription period. - You can manage your subscription and switch off the auto-renewal by accessing your account settings after purchase. - You cannot cancel the current subscription during the active subscription period. - Any unused portion of a free trial period, if offered, will be forfeited when the user purchases a subscription to that publication, where applicable Privacy Policy: https://www.appsverse.com/privacy-mobile/ Terms of Use: https://www.appsverse.com/terms-mobile/

About

Buddies Beacon

This app allows users to send location-based signals to a select group of friends. Friends can respond with quick status updates, and location sharing is temporary and controlled by the user. It focuses on direct communication without public feeds or usernames.

Highlights
  • Send location beacons to friends
  • Receive quick status responses
  • Temporary and controlled location sharing
  • Create custom buddy lists
  • Plan future meetups with flares
  • Signal presence in crowds
Features
Read full description

Buddies is a small app for lighting a beacon when you're out. Tap the button and every buddy sees the signal. They tap back — on my way, twelve minutes, can't tonight — and that's it. No group-chat limbo. No public feed. No usernames, no search, no directory. You invite the people you actually want to see, and beacons stay between you. Buddy lists let you send to your golf crew, your poker crew, or all of them at once. Flares let you plan ahead — Sunday brunch, Thursday dinner — and they light themselves at the moment. Light a torch when a friend is trying to find you in a crowd. Everything you have live sits in one list. Your location is shared only when you light something, only with the buddies you chose, and only while it shows on your lock screen. Swipe that away and sharing stops. It is deleted when the beacon or torch ends. Made for the friends you'd actually want to show up.

Screenshots

Text Vault4 screens
Buddies Beacon4 screens

Verdict

The call

The clearest difference is rating: Buddies Beacon at 5.0 against Text Vault's 4.4. Buddies Beacon also leads on in-app purchases (none vs 10) and ads (none vs shown). Text Vault's advantage is ratings volume (23K vs 1) and device support (3 vs 1). On price there is nothing between them.

Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS

CostPrice · In-app purchases · Ads · Monetization

Both are free to download. Text Vault sells 10 in-app purchases, starting at $4.99 per month. Buddies Beacon asks for nothing beyond the download.

ReceptionRating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings

Buddies Beacon holds the better App Store score, 5.0 against 4.4. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Text Vault has 23K ratings behind it against 1, so its average is the more settled of the two.

UpkeepUpdate frequency

Text Vault ships an update every 3 weeks, Buddies Beacon weekly. The most recent releases landed on November 3, 2026 and October 24, 2026 respectively.

Scorecard8 real differences · 2 level
Text Vault versus Buddies Beacon: the parameters behind the verdict, then further details
ParameterText VaultBuddies Beacon
PriceFreeFree
Rating4.4 (23K ratings)5.0 (1 ratings) — better
Positive reviews77.3% of reviews—
Number of ratings23K — better1
Update frequencyEvery 3 weeksWeekly — better
AdsYesNo — better
In-app purchasesYesNo — better
MonetizationFree with in-app purchasesFree — better
DevicesiPhone, iPad, iPod — betteriPhone
Requires iOS13.0 — better17.0
Further details — not scored
Size93 MB8 MB
Age rating17+12+
DeveloperPhoner Holdings LLCLiam Maxwell

Customer experience

Text Vault

All ratings22,861 ratings
Positive83.8%
Neutral7.4%
Negative8.8%
Written reviews542 reviews
Positive77.3%
Neutral5.4%
Negative17.3%

Buddies Beacon

All ratings1 ratings
Positive100.0%
Neutral0.0%
Negative0.0%

Bugs and requests

Text Vault

Reported bugs

3 issues
  • Login screen freezes
  • Incompatible with older devices
  • Texts not always delivered

Requested features

3 requests
  • Voice messages
  • Dark mode option
  • Advanced analytics dashboard

Buddies Beacon

Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.

In-app purchases

10 purchases

Text Vault

Subscriptions5
  • New Number Offer$4.991 Month
  • Different Number Monthly$9.991 Month
  • Virtual Number$9.991 Month
Show 2 more
  • Alternate Number$9.991 Month
  • Different Number3 Days trial$14.991 Month
One-time5
  • 50 Text Credits$4.99
  • Starter Credits$4.99
  • 100 Text Credits$5.99
Show 2 more
  • Number Level 4$9.99
  • 250 Text Credits$14.99
None

Buddies Beacon

No in-app purchases

Questions

Is Text Vault free?
Text Vault is free to download, with in-app purchases available.
Is Buddies Beacon free?
Buddies Beacon is free to download, with no in-app purchases.
Which has better reviews, Text Vault or Buddies Beacon?
Buddies Beacon is rated higher. Text Vault averages 4.4 out of 5 from 23K ratings, while Buddies Beacon averages 5.0 from 1 ratings.
Do Text Vault or Buddies Beacon have ads?
Text Vault shows ads; Buddies Beacon does not.
Which is updated more often, Text Vault or Buddies Beacon?
Text Vault ships an update every 3 weeks, and Buddies Beacon weekly. Most recently, Text Vault was updated on November 3, 2026 and Buddies Beacon on October 24, 2026.

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