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My friend asked me to send her a picture. Later on she texted me that I didn't send it. So I replied:

I sent it from my dad's number.

So is the use of "number" natural" here or should be something like:

I sent it from my dad's phone.

P.S. I whatsapped it to my friend,so does "number" sound natural?

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  • Did you send it from your dad's Whatsapp account? Or from your account, using his phone?
    – Tin Wizard
    Mar 21, 2019 at 20:18

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I think either is completely natural, but you are right "I sent it from my dad's phone" might be a bit clearer, especially when you are using WhatsApp.

But it is really context dependent and a matter of naunce. There is nothing wrong per se with your sentence.

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    I'm not sure "phone" is actually clearer. There's still a pretty strong connection between phone and phone number - though that connection is probably weakening as time progresses - so they're at best the same. However, there are ways to send a message from your phone number using somebody else's device. Saying "I sent it from my dad's number" tells the other person that they need to be looking for a message from a phone number other than yours; that's either a different contact if they also have your dad's phone number stored or an unknown number.
    – Anthony Grist
    Mar 21, 2019 at 15:49
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    Agreed that both sound natural (British English here), I don't think I'd prefer one over the other.
    – Muzer
    Mar 21, 2019 at 16:19
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    Usually i would interchange either, but since whatsapp uses numbers for your account name "I sent it from my dad's number." is probably clearer than from my dads phone in this case.
    – J.Doe
    Mar 21, 2019 at 16:30
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    "From my dad's account" would be a bit more general, still accurate and understood, though perhaps less natural.
    – Gregor Thomas
    Mar 21, 2019 at 16:51
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    I think you could also say this (very informal/colloquial) sentence: “I sent it from my dad’s WhatsApp.”
    – Mixolydian
    Mar 21, 2019 at 21:05
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In most contexts these days, particularly when you're using WhatsApp instead of SMS messaging, people don't expect to see a number at all unless the sender is unknown.

I don't think that "number" is widely understood to be synonymous with "phone" or "account." Even though people will figure out what you mean, it would be less confusing to use whatever best describes what the recipient will see:

The message won't show up under my name, I sent it using my dad's [name/handle/ID/account].

"Number" is fine if a different number is what your friend will actually see when the message arrives on their phone.

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