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EncodingDifficulty: Easy

Phone keypad cipher (multi-tap)

Write like on an old button phone: press the key's number as many times as the letter's place on the key. C is 222.

Try it

27 characters

Result · Phone keypad cipher (multi-tap)

7777 33 222 777 33 8 0 6 33 7777 7777 2 4 33 0 333 666 777 0 8 44 33 0 222 555 88 22

How it works

  1. 1Picture an old phone keypad: key 2 has ABC, 3 has DEF, 4 has GHI … 7 has PQRS and 9 has WXYZ.
  2. 2Write the key's digit as many times as the letter's position: A is 2, B is 22, C is 222.
  3. 3Put a space between letters, otherwise two letters on the same key run together.
  4. 4Words need their own gap: zero (as on real phones) or one (a variant some scout groups use).
  5. 5To decode, count how many times a digit repeats and pick that letter on the key.

Example

HELLO WORLD

44 33 555 555 666 0 9 666 777 555 3

Did you know

The letters on phone keys are described by the international recommendation ITU-T E.161, in force since 1988. It builds on American phones from the 1930s, where letters were used to write telephone exchange names. Q and Z only got a fixed place in the 1990s, when text messaging needed them. The first SMS was sent in December 1992 by Neil Papworth. Typing by repeated presses is called multi-tap; it was later overtaken by predictive T9, which is a different code.

Try to decode

This message is encrypted with Phone keypad cipher (multi-tap) using the default settings:

44 33 555 555 666 0 333 777 444 33 66 3

Hint

Groups are separated by spaces. Key 2 has ABC, key 3 has DEF. A zero marks the gap between words.

Show solution

HELLO FRIEND

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