How to Receive Phone Calls in Your Browser: A Virtual Number Without a SIM, an App, or a US Address

For most of the last twenty years, "a phone number people can call me on, answered from my laptop" meant a Skype Number. Skype closed in May 2025, Google Voice still refuses anyone without a US phone number and address, and the second-line apps that filled the gap all want you to install something on a phone. This guide covers the browser-only way to do it in 2026: a virtual number from Kinvo that rings in an ordinary browser tab, what it costs, and the cases where it is honestly not the right tool.

The quick answer: Sign up at kinvophone.com from any country, buy a virtual number in the US, UK, Canada or Australia, and keep the Kinvo dialer tab open. Calls to that number ring in your browser and show the caller's real number. Incoming calls cost $0.04 per minute with no connection fee; missed calls cost nothing. There is no SIM, no app, and no US address check. Details on the receive-calls page.

Why "receive calls online" is harder than it sounds

Making a call from a browser has been a solved problem since WebRTC landed in Chrome. Receiving one is harder for three reasons that have nothing to do with technology.

• Numbers are regulated. A phone number is a scarce, national resource. Whoever hands one out has to know who holds it, which is why Google Voice asks for a US number and address, and why many services simply refuse non-residents.
• Someone has to be listening. A mobile phone is always registered with the network. A browser tab is only "on the network" while it is open. Any browser-based service has to be honest about that, and most marketing is not.
• Inbound minutes cost money. The carrier that owns the number charges the service for every minute it delivers, so "free incoming calls" either means ads, a subscription, or a number that quietly stops working.

Kinvo's answer to the first is to sell numbers only in four countries where it can provision them properly: the United States, the United Kingdom, Canada and Australia. Its answer to the second is to ring the tab and, when the tab is closed, tell the caller you are unavailable and email you. Its answer to the third is a flat, published per-minute rate for incoming calls.

What you actually get

• A real number. A landline-style number in the US, UK, Canada or Australia. Anyone in the world can dial it from any phone; they need nothing installed and no internet.
• It rings in the browser. Chrome, Safari, Firefox or Edge, on desktop or on a phone. The ring screen shows the caller's number and you answer with the microphone or headset you already use for outbound calls.
• Caller ID both ways. The same number is your outbound caller ID, so when you ring someone back, they see the number they called.
• Missed-call handling. If you do not answer, or the tab is closed, the caller gets a busy tone, the call lands in your history with the number, and you get an email.
• A per-number switch. Incoming calls can be turned off for a number without giving it up. It keeps working as caller ID.
• The same audio path. Encrypted WebRTC, HD Opus audio, and the live quality indicators Kinvo shows on outbound calls.

What it costs

Three numbers matter, and none of them is hidden behind a plan.

• Incoming calls: $0.04 per minute. No connection fee. A 30-minute call from a client is $1.20.
• Missed or unanswered calls: free. If nobody picks up, nothing is charged.
• The number: a monthly fee, shown on the purchase screen before you confirm and taken from the same prepaid credits you use for calls. Credits never expire.

Outbound calls from the number are billed at the normal per-country rate, which you can check on the rates page before you dial. There is no subscription, no seat licence and no contract; if you release the number, the monthly fee stops.

Setting it up, step by step

1. Create an account at app.kinvophone.com. An email address is enough; there is no US address check and no phone-number verification to get in.
2. Add credits. Packs start at $5. The number's monthly fee and your incoming minutes both come out of this balance.
3. Buy a number. Open Virtual Numbers, pick a country, and choose from the list. The monthly fee is shown next to each number. Incoming calls are switched on by default.
4. Allow the microphone when the browser asks. You only need to do this once per browser.
5. Keep the dialer tab open. This is the part to remember. Pin the tab, or leave it open on a second screen. When someone calls, it rings, and you click Answer.

What happens when the tab is closed

This is the question everyone should ask before they buy, so here is the exact behaviour. A browser cannot receive a call while it is not running, and Kinvo does not pretend otherwise.

• If the Kinvo dialer is open in any browser on any device, the call rings there.
• If it is not open, the caller gets a busy tone, exactly as if the line were engaged.
• The call is written to your call history as a missed call, with the caller's number, and a missed-call email goes to the address on your account.
• Nothing is charged for a missed call.

In practice this suits people who work at a computer for most of the day (freelancers, remote workers, anyone dealing with a bank or an agency across a time zone) far better than it suits someone who wants a number that follows them into the supermarket. If you need the latter, a second SIM or an eSIM with a real voice plan is still the right tool.

How it compares

Read as a whole: if you are in the US and want texts and voicemail, Google Voice is still hard to beat and it is free. If you are anywhere else, or you want a UK, Canadian or Australian number, or you simply do not want to hand Google a US address you do not have, the browser number is the practical option. The two are not exclusive; plenty of people keep Google Voice for SMS and use Kinvo for everything else. The full breakdown is in Kinvo vs Google Voice, and the Skype angle in Kinvo as a Skype replacement.

Three people this is built for

The expat who left a number behind

You moved from Manchester to Dubai, or from Vancouver to Cairo, and your bank, your GP and your mother all still want a local number to call. A UK or Canadian Kinvo number gives them one. They pay a domestic rate; you answer from a laptop in another hemisphere.

The freelancer with clients in one country

A US number on the invoice and the website makes a client in Ohio more likely to call and less worried about the bill. The call rings in the same tab you use to call them, and their number is in your history for the callback.

The traveller off their home SIM

Roaming voice is expensive and a data-only travel eSIM has no number at all. A Kinvo number rings over whatever Wi-Fi or data you already have, at $0.04 a minute, and does not care which country you woke up in.

What it does not do

Be clear-eyed about these before you buy a number for a job it cannot do.

• No SMS. Text messages sent to a Kinvo number do not arrive, so it will not receive two-factor codes.
• No voicemail or transcripts. A missed call is an email and a history entry, not a recording.
• No forwarding to a mobile. The call rings a browser tab, not a handset.
• Four countries. US, UK, Canada and Australia. If you need a number elsewhere, you need a different provider.

Frequently asked questions

Can I receive calls on my phone's browser?

Yes. Open the Kinvo dialer in Chrome or Safari on your phone and keep it in the foreground. It rings the same way it does on a desktop. It will not ring while the browser is closed or the phone is locked with the tab in the background for a long time.

Does the caller pay anything extra?

No. They dial an ordinary US, UK, Canadian or Australian number and pay whatever their own carrier charges for that, which for a domestic caller is usually nothing.

Can I use the number for outbound calls too?

Yes. It becomes a caller-ID option in the dialer, so the person you call sees the number they can ring you back on.

Can I receive phone calls on my computer without a mobile?

Yes. This is the case a browser number is built for. Unlike Phone Link on Windows or continuity on a Mac, which only mirror a mobile you already own, a Kinvo number is its own number and rings the computer directly. A Windows PC, Mac, Chromebook or Linux machine with a microphone is enough.

Can I get a US number from outside the US?

Yes. Kinvo sells US, UK, Canadian and Australian numbers to accounts from any country and does not ask for a local address or an existing local phone number. The one thing to know before you buy: the number receives voice calls only, so it will not pass SMS verification codes. Our guide to getting a US number from outside the US compares the browser number with SIM, eSIM and Google Voice routes.

Is there a free option?

Google Voice is free but needs a US number and address to sign up; TextNow-style apps are free with ads but serve the US and Canada only. Kinvo costs $0.04 per minute for incoming calls plus a monthly fee for the number, in exchange for working from anywhere and charging nothing when you miss a call.

Can I turn incoming calls off during a meeting?

Yes. Each number has an incoming-calls switch on the Virtual Numbers page. Off means callers get a busy tone and you get the missed-call email, without the tab ringing.

Bottom line: If you spend your day at a computer and want a real phone number that people in the US, UK, Canada or Australia can call, without a SIM, an app or a US address, a browser number does the job for $0.04 a minute and nothing when you miss the call. If you need texts or a number that rings in your pocket, pair it with something else. Start on the receive-calls page.