Quick answer: To receive faxes online, sign up for an online fax service, choose your own fax number (any area code you like), and start receiving — no machine, ink or paper. You can pick faxes up whichever way suits you: in the Municorn Fax app on your phone, in your email inbox, or from any web browser. With Municorn Fax you can send and receive unlimited faxes on every plan.
Online faxing makes it possible to receive faxes anytime, anywhere — all without the need for a fax machine, a dedicated phone line, or the expensive ink and paper that comes with it. This guide shows you exactly how to get your own fax number and receive faxes in a way that suits you, on any phone or computer.
Get a Fax Number and Receive Faxes Online
When you sign up to an online fax service, you can usually choose your own fax number as part of your plan. Any incoming or outgoing faxes go through this number, and nobody else can use it. Once you’ve signed up and picked your number, you can start receiving faxes electronically — no fax machine needed.
There are a few big differences between having an online fax number and having a phone number or a traditional fax machine number — and they show the real benefits of receiving faxes online.
The Benefits of Receiving Faxes Online With a Fax Number
When most people imagine having a fax number, they picture buying a clunky fax machine and hooking it up to an expensive fax line — or signing a 12 to 24-month deal with a mobile carrier, the way you might to get a good deal on a cell phone.
But getting a fax number is much easier than that, and there are several things that make it better and more convenient than a fax machine or a cell phone number. So what are the benefits of choosing to send and receive faxes online?
- Use any device. The best online fax services are multi-platform, letting you log in to your account from any device — an app, the web, or even email faxing. So an online fax number isn’t like a phone number that only works from a single device.
- Choose any area code. With Municorn Fax, you can choose a fax number for any area code in the USA. It doesn’t matter where you are — if you want to appear local to a specific place, or make it cheaper for people there to fax you, just pick a number from that area code. Great for small or local businesses.
- No long-term commitment needed. If you want a permanent fax number, a long-term subscription saves you money — but there are also great deals on monthly or even weekly plans you can cancel anytime, so a temporary number is easy too.
- Use it from anywhere. We all know how much it costs to receive an international phone call, and most online fax services charge extra for international faxes too. Some — like Municorn Fax — don’t charge any extra for international faxing, so you’re free to send or receive faxes from anywhere.
- Automatic cloud storage. Link your online fax inbox to Google Drive or iCloud, and incoming faxes save themselves where you want them — far more convenient than a traditional fax machine.
- Backup. Unlike a fax machine, if you lose access to your mobile device or computer, a fax app can recover all your faxes — just get in touch with the support team.
How to Receive Faxes Online: Every Method Explained
There are three easy ways to get started, depending on how you’d prefer to send and receive faxes.
1. Receive Faxes in an App on Your Phone
If you’d prefer to use your phone for faxing, download a fax app. Fax apps turn your phone into a fax machine, letting you send faxes from your phone as well as receive them. We’ll use Municorn Fax as our example — the highest-rated faxing app on the Apple App Store (4.8★).
Once you download the app, send a test fax to check it works, then sign up to a flexible subscription — weekly, monthly or annual, cancel anytime. You’ll then create your own fax number, choosing any area code in the USA or Canada.
Once set up, your fax number appears at the top of your inbox, ready to share with contacts. It’s yours for as long as you’re subscribed. Municorn Fax uses secure end-to-end encryption and is HIPAA compliant, so it’s as safe and reliable as any expensive fax machine for protecting sensitive information, including medical records.
That’s it — with just a phone and an internet connection, you’ve got a secure fax machine wherever you are. To recap:
- Download a fax app
- Choose your plan
- Create your fax number
- Share it with your contacts and start receiving faxes
Bonus tip: you can also use Municorn Fax on Mac computers, since the Apple app is designed for Mac, iPhone and iPad.
2. Receive Faxes Over Email
Some people love doing everything through their email account, keeping all their important communications in one place — and with an email-to-fax service, your faxes can land there too. Services like EveryFax give you a fax number that’s linked to your email, and route every incoming fax straight to your inbox as a PDF. You can reply and send from the same place, by putting the recipient’s fax number in the “To” box followed by your provider’s domain. It’s a tidy way to file faxes and emails together and keep track of everything in one thread.
For the full walkthrough — getting a number, setting up delivery, keeping it out of spam and staying HIPAA compliant — see our complete guide to receiving faxes by email.
3. Receive Faxes on the Web
If you’d rather use a website than an app, most leading online fax services let you sign in and access your faxes from any browser — no download required. Services such as Municorn, EveryFax, eFax and HelloFax all offer this from their websites.
You’ll need a subscription with the service, then just head to your provider’s site and sign in. With EveryFax, for example, click “sign in” at the top, enter your credentials, and you’ll see every fax you’ve received. They’re accessible from any device you sign in on — handy if you’d rather work on a computer than a phone, since a desktop is generally better for editing documents before faxing them.
Send and Receive Unlimited Faxes Online
Receiving faxes is easier than ever thanks to online faxing. You can choose a fax number from any area code, keep a totally flexible subscription, and carry more faxes in your pocket than an entire filing cabinet could hold — with no paper involved.
Still, not every online fax service is the same — some offer worse value than others. Genius Fax, a popular Android fax app, charges an extra fee to receive faxes to your own number. Other services like eFax cap how many pages you can receive each month unless you pay more, which can lead to a surprise bill in a busy month.
That’s why we think Municorn Fax is the best value. You pay less, still get top customer support and security, and you can send and receive an unlimited number of faxes, from anywhere in the world, on any device — even on the lowest-cost plan. That makes it the best way to receive faxes online.
