Our ears are suffering this Wednesday, as music streaming service Spotify suffers «ongoing issues» that are making features unavailable for some people.

At around 6 a.m. PT, a massive spike in reports appeared on DownDetector, with well over 45,000 people affected in the US at the time of writing (Downdetector is owned by the same parent company as CNET, Ziff Davis). Spotify has also acknowledged the problem, posting on its status account: «We’re aware of some issues right now and are checking them out!»

A spokesperson for Spotify pointed back to the post on X when approached for further comment on the situation.

Different people are reporting different problems with Spotify. The most common complaint seems to be that the search tool isn’t working. I’ve been listening to Spotify for the last few hours without any issues via the mobile app, but I haven’t been able to get the web player to load.

Over on X, people have been quick to post memes about the outage.

Spotify will likely put a fix in place quickly following today’s issues, but if the outage has caused you to second guess your loyalty, do take a look at our guide to the best music streaming services. 

Google is in the process of consolidating the many international domains names that lead to google.com, eliminating sites such as google.co.jp and google.ru for Japan and Russia because the company says it no longer needs so-called «country code top-level domain» names to provide local search results.

On the search giant’s products blog, the company said: «Over the years, our ability to provide a local experience has improved. In 2017, we began providing the same experience with local results for everyone using Search, whether they were using google.com or their country’s ccTLD.»

It went on to add: «Because of this improvement, country-level domains are no longer necessary. So we’ll begin redirecting traffic from these ccTLDs to google.com to streamline people’s experience on Search. This change will be rolled out gradually over the coming months, and you may be prompted to re-enter some of your Search preferences in the process.»

Google said the change will happen over the next few months and that no matter what people see in the address bar, Google’s search function will work the same. «Nor will it change how we handle obligations under national laws,» the company added in the blog post.

Google’s search business has been under scrutiny — last year, the company’s search business was declared a monopoly by a US federal judge and the Department of Justice recommended the company sell its Chrome business. Google also may be facing a $6.6 billion antitrust suit over search advertising in the UK. 

If you’re an international traveler visiting the US, or you’re traveling out of the US and back in, it might be time to consider getting a «burner phone,» a device that doesn’t include all your personal correspondence.

That’s due to increasing reports that agents of US Customs and Border Patrol are scanning mobile devices and, according to some accounts, turning people away or confiscating phones based on free-speech opinions they discover. In one case, a French scientist entering the US for a conference was reportedly detained and denied entry after messages critical of the Trump administration were found on his phone. It’s unclear how widespread these phone searches are or if people are being stopped for other reasons.

Even if you’re not traveling, a burner phone can be quite handy, such as cutting down on unsolicited calls or even to avoid distractions. Busy comedian Conan O’Brien recently praised his burner as a way to not get bogged down in instant messages and notifications.

Although carriers have offered prepaid phones since the ’90s, the term burner phones or «burners» essentially became popular in the 2000s due to its use in the celebrated HBO series The Wire, in which characters used burner phones to avoid getting caught by the police. Although often portrayed as such, burners are not only meant to be used by criminals. With privacy concerns rising, you might consider using a burner phone yourself.

So, what exactly is a burner phone, and how does it work? Below, we explain everything you need to know about burners and how to get one.

What is a burner phone?

Simply put, a burner phone is a cheap prepaid phone with no commitments. It comes with a set number of prepaid call minutes, text messages, or data and is designed to be disposed of after use.

Burners are contract-free, and you can grab them off the counter. They’re called burner phones because you can «burn» them, i.e., trash them after use, and the phone cannot be traced back to you, which makes them appealing to criminals. Burner phones are typically used when you need a phone quickly, without intentions of long-term usage. 

Burners are different from getting a regular, contract-bound cellphone plans that require a lot of your information to be on file.

Why should you use a burner phone?

Burner phones are an easy way to avoid pesky cellphone contracts or spam you may be getting on your primary phone number. Burners are not linked to your identity, so you can avoid getting tracked down or contacted if that’s what you need.

However, you don’t have to dispose of it after use — you can just add more minutes and continue using it. Burner phones can still function as regular phones, minus the hassle of getting a phone with a contract.

You can also get a burner phone as a secondary phone for a specific purpose, like having a spare phone number for two-factor authentication texts, for business purposes or to avoid roaming charges while traveling. You can get a burner phone for any privacy reasons you may have.

Read more: The Data Privacy Tips Digital Security Experts Wish You Knew

Burner phones, prepaid phones, smartphones and burner SIMs: What’s the difference? 

Burner phones are typically cheap feature phones and usually don’t come with the bells and whistles of a smartphone. Since these are designed to be cheap and disposable, you only get the essentials and very simple designs. The flip phone is a common sight in the burner phone market.

All burner phones are prepaid phones, but not all prepaid phones are burners. What sets a burner apart is that you will not have to give away any personal information to get one, and it won’t be traceable back to you. Also, it will be cheap enough to be trashed after use.

Read more: Best Prepaid Phone of 2025

Prepaid smartphones are generally low-end models to begin with, and burners are the cheapest prepaid phones you can get. However, you can use any unlocked smartphone with prepaid SIM cards if you want to, essentially making it a prepaid phone.

If you want to get a burner, you don’t necessarily have to buy a new phone. You can get a burner SIM and use it with an existing phone as well. Burner SIMs are prepaid SIMs you can get without a contract or giving away personal information.

Where can you buy a burner phone?

Burner phones are available at all the major retail outlets. You can pick them up from Walmart, Target, Best Buy and other big retailers. They’re also often available at convenience stores like 7-Eleven and Rite Aid, local supermarkets, gas stations, and retail phone outlets like Cricket, Metro and others.

You can get a burner phone with cash; a typical burner should cost between $10 and $50. It may cost more if you get more minutes and data with the phone. If you’re getting a burner phone specifically to avoid having the phone traced back to you, it makes sense to pay with cash instead of a credit card.

If you just want a prepaid secondary phone, you can pay for one with a credit card. Credit cards will leave a paper trail that leads back to you, but that shouldn’t be an issue unless you really don’t want the burner phone linked back to you.

There are also many apps that let you get secondary phone numbers, including Google Fi and the Burner app. However, these cannot quite be called burners in the ideal sense, since these providers will typically have at least some of your personal information.

If you’re just looking to get a solid prepaid phone without anonymity, you can check out our full guide for the best prepaid phone plans available currently. We also have a guide for the best cheap phone plans you can get.