How should I search for telephone numbers?¶

Search normalised domestic, international and application-specific forms, then establish the number's role in every result.

Account for storage differences¶

Test the trusted full value with country code, leading zero, plus sign, spaces, punctuation and digits-only formatting. Applications may store a country code separately or append a service suffix. Short trailing fragments can discover candidates but require comparison with the complete number to avoid false matches.

Distinguish contact from communication¶

A number may be a saved contact, caller, message participant, account or recovery field, or text merely discussed. Record direction, account/SIM, event time, source and record state. Internet-app calls may not appear in the ordinary call log, while recycled, shared or transferred numbers limit subscriber attribution over time.