Flyp Review: Good Concept with One Huge Flaw

Flyp offers users the ability to have a different number for different areas of their life. You can have up to 6 unique numbers.
One number for work, another for friends, and another if you’re Batman.

Everyone from Gizmodo to Techcruch has written about the app. But most early reviews read like a press release: “This is the app. This is what it promises. Here’s the intro video. We’re calling it the “app of the week.””

These reviews aren’t much help as what’s important is whether the app works, call quality and reliably of texts and voicemails from 6 numbers, etc. One might also want to know what happens to his/her Flyp numbers if the company folds. These answers are available somewhere, but I didn’t get that far as I found another prohibitive flaw with Flyp.

I thought this app would be perfect for me. I want a way to shut off “work” calls in the evening, and block “friends & family” who like to include me on incessant mass texts during the day. With the app, you can create a new, unique, number for each group. You can then give one number to friends, another to co-workers, and–if you’re Batman–a third to Gotham police.

Here’s the Huge Flaw

There’s one major flaw with Flyp that makes it useless for me, and it’s this: If someone already has your phone number (let’s call it your “core” non-Flyp phone number), there’s no way to turn off those calls or texts.

For example, if I wanted to stop getting work calls at night, I’d have to reach out to every work-related person who has my phone number and say, “Don’t call me on the number you have. Use this new number from now on.” Then, if they still tried to reach me on the old number (which they would), they’d bypass the Flyp app and get right to me.

I reached out to Flyp on Twitter, and to their credit, they did say they’re working on part of this problem.

@getflyp Can one change their main/standard phone number and then use the decomissioned one as a flyp number?

— Anthony Centore (@anthonycentore) April 3, 2015

@anthonycentore Right now we don’t offer number porting—but we plan to with one of our earlier updates!

— flyp (@getflyp) April 3, 2015

Even if this feature becomes available, a user would have to

Go to their phone carrier.
Change their “core” number.
Port their old number to Flyp.

It seems, for those who have a phone number that’s already “out there”, currently one’s only option is to:

Go to their phone carrier.
Change their “core” number.
Never give out the new “core” number.
Create new numbers for different areas of their life: work, play, etc.
Abandon their old “core” number and deal with the fact that anyone with their old number can’t reach them anymore.

Come to think of it, maybe that’s not so bad…

P.S. Flyp confirmed these limitations. If anyone already has your phone number, there’s no way to effectively use flyp. It seems that even if one sets their “core” phone number to “do not disturb”, flyp numbers won’t work either.

@getflyp am i right that if someone already has your "core" (ie non-flyp) phone number, there's no way to shut off those calls with the app?

— Anthony Centore (@anthonycentore) April 3, 2015

@getflyp if i set my phone to "do not disturb" from native settings will #flyp calls still come through?

— Anthony Centore (@anthonycentore) April 3, 2015

@anthonycentore It depends what the DND settings are, but if you aren’t notified for incoming calls, you won’t get Flyp notifications either

— flyp (@getflyp) April 3, 2015