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Five Nights of Freddy’s puts the player in a dangerous world where friends are few and far between, but one of the franchise’s oldest and most iconic characters acts as an ally to talk you through your five nights on the job.
The unnamed Fazbear employee that calls at the beginning of each night, affectionately dubbed “Phone Guy” by fans, appears primarily in the franchise’s first three games to give players a somewhat quirky in-universe tutorial and fill them in on what to expect of their employment experience at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.
Not only do Phone Guy’s calls offer important information about the game’s mechanics, but they also reveal crucial clues about how to deal with the animatronic’s erratic behavior. Phone Guy’s exact position in the company is unclear, but luckily for you, he’s willing to share the survival strategies he’s learned throughout his long career to help you make it through your first week unscathed.
Phone Guy is responsible for providing most of the exposition in the first three FNAF games as well, slowly revealing the story of each game over the course of several calls. However, Phone Guy’s messages are often misleading, and some likely contain red herrings that obscure the series’ timeline. As such, some players are suspicious of Phone Guy and question his true intentions, though it’s possible that he’s also simply misinformed himself.
While Phone Guy plays a crucial role in FNAF 1-3, he also makes several cameo appearances later on in the series, including FNAF 4 and Ultimate Custom Night. However, the voice of HandUnit takes over as the series’ main tutorial after this AI’s first appearance in FNAF Sister Location.
Bottom Line Upfront:
- FNAF 1: Phone Guy was the security guard in the FNAF 1 location before your first week on the job begins. He recorded several calls to help you get settled in, which play automatically at the beginning of each night.
- FNAF 2: Phone Guy’s exact position in the company is more ambiguous in FNAF 2, but he returns to inform players about the game’s mechanics, animatronics, and lore nonetheless.
- FNAF 3: FNAF 3 takes place 30 years after the events of FNAF 1, so Phone Guy’s calls are heard via old training tapes that were recovered by the Fazbear Frights crew and brought to their unopened horror attraction.
- FNAF 4: Phone Guy makes a cameo appearance as part of FNAF 4’s ambient soundscape.
- Ultimate Custom Night: Phone Guy is a selectable antagonist in UCN.
Description & Overview
Personality
Phone Guy is one of the only allies you’ll have during your night shifts at Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza, and the advice he offers at the beginning of each night is often essential to your survival.
However, fans were quick to note that something seemed a bit off about Phone Guy back when the first game was released. While he genuinely seems to want to help the player and celebrates their successes throughout the week, he makes no effort to hide his fondness for Fazbear Entertainment and its mascot characters despite the undeniable horrors he describes night after night.
Phone Guy’s voice makes him come across as somewhat awkward and anxious, and he often stutters, clears his throat, trails off mid-thought, and chuckles nervously throughout his recordings. His stammering seems to become more frequent and intense as he describes more stressful situations or lets something slip about the company that he may not have intended to reveal.
In his oldest set of calls, which appear as the old tape recordings in FNAF 3, Phone Guy’s voice is notably much calmer and steadier than it was in FNAF 1 and 2. He barely stutters at all in these tapes, which suggests that his anxiety got worse over the course of his career.
Considering the game’s setting and premise, however, Phone Guy’s demeanor is also surprisingly nonchalant at times. He makes a point to frequently reassure the player that they aren’t in any danger despite the very clear and constant danger they’re in, and he insists that any rumors about the terrible things happening in Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza are nothing more than local stories and superstitions.
Phone Guy often deflects blame on behalf of Fazbear Entertainment as well, though his exact motivation behind this is uncertain. However, it’s possible that Phone Guy suspects that his recordings may be heard by management and makes an effort to avoid portraying the company in a negative light.
This would explain why he frequently denies any danger or wrongdoing right after revealing a bit too much about the company’s horrific past. As such, Phone Guy may simply be trying to help the player as best, he can without saying something that would jeopardize either of their jobs, but his obvious dishonesty still makes him seem somewhat suspicious.
Backstory
Despite being one of the very first characters introduced to the Five Nights at Freddy’s franchise, not much is known about who Phone Guy really is. We never learn his name, and his exact role in the company is unclear.
We do know that Phone Guy’s favorite character is Foxy the Pirate, which he makes a point of mentioning several times. While this fact could potentially connect him to a number of other important characters in the franchise, including one or several of the Aftons, these connections are mostly speculative since so little is actually known about Phone Guy himself.
On the surface, Phone Guy seems to be an employee at each of the locations he calls. However, he makes several outlying comments about the staff that could imply that he is not an average employee after all.
Based on the contents of his calls, Phone Guy seems to have filled a variety of positions for Fazbear Entertainment over the course of his long career, some of which may have even been managerial or administrative. He trained new employees, made announcements for various locations on behalf of management and corporate, and ultimately took the night watch as a security guard for the FNAF 1 location.
Phone Guy’s history with the company explains his deep, comprehensive knowledge of animatronics and their “quirky” nighttime behavior. Still, it’s unclear why he doesn’t simply tell the player to pack their bags and run for the hills the second they set foot in the office.
It’s also unclear why Phone Guy himself stayed with the company as long as he did. Being a life-long Fazbear fan doesn’t quite seem like enough motivation to work in such blatantly hazardous and horrific conditions.
It’s not out of the question to suspect that Phone Guy knew something about the fates of the Missing Children based on his word choice in certain calls, especially considering that he was working for Fazbear Entertainment before, during, and after the Missing Children’s Incident.
As such, some fans have questioned whether or not Phone Guy is truly an ally to the player or if he has suspicious intentions of his own that are never revealed.
Mechanics
Phone Guy’s calls get shorter and shorter each night of FNAF 1-3, offering less tutorial and more exposition as the week goes on. Unfortunately, the animatronics will begin to move earlier each night as well. You’ll have to check the cameras while listening to Phone Guy’s messages if you don’t want the animatronics to sneak up on you before he’s done talking.
Phone Guy’s calls provide a ton of FNAF’s most important exposition and lore, a lot of which is absolutely essential to piecing together a timeline of the series. However, if you prefer to keep the office quiet to focus on fending off murderous animatronics, Phone Guy’s calls can be muted at any time. Phone Guy will only call you during your first attempt of each night, so you won’t have to worry about him blowing up your phone if you have to replay a night several times before beating it.
Appearances & Key Quotes
FNAF 1
“Hello? Hello, hello?”
“Welcome to Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza: a magical place for kids and grownups alive, where fantasy and fun come to life.’”
“They used to be able to walk around during the day, too. But then there was the Bite of ’87… Yeah… i-it’s amazing that the human body can live without the frontal lobe, you know?”
“Hey, you’re doing great! Most people don’t last this long! I mean, you know, they usually move on to other things by now. Uh, I’m not implying that they died, th-that’s—that’s not what I meant.”
“Uh, hey, listen, I-I may not be around to send you a message tomorrow… i-it’s been a bad night here… for me… Um, I-I’m kinda glad that I recorded my messages for you [clears throat] uh when I did. Uh, hey, do me a favor, uh—maybe sometime, uh, you could check inside those suits? I-in the back room? Uh, I’m gonna try to hold out until someone checks. Maybe it won’t be so bad.”
FNAF 2
Just like the calls from the first game, Phone Guy’s calls in FNAF 2 are also recorded messages that were taped before your first week on the job.
According to the end-of-week paychecks, FNAF 2 takes place in November. Phone Guy’s calls, on the other hand, welcome us to our “new summer job.” As such, his calls must have been recorded at least several months before the events of the game actually take place.
The FNAF 2 location was notably closed down the week that Phone Guy’s calls were recorded as a result of the Missing Children’s Incident. While the location must have later reopened sometime in October or November so we could work our shifts, it closed again at the end of our first week after just a few short weeks in operation.
While it hasn’t been confirmed, many fans speculate that this second closing was a result of the Bite of ’87 that Phone Guy mentioned in FNAF 1. If that’s the case, then it’s also possible that the victim of the Bite of ’87 was FNAF 2’s first player character, Jeremy Fitzgerald. This would explain why he is replaced by Fritz Smith for the game’s custom night.
Notable Quotes
“You’re only the second guard to work at that location. Uh, the first guy finished his week but complained about… conditions. Uh, we switched him over to the day shift, so, hey, lucky you, right?”
“Uh, check the lights, put on the Freddy head if you need to, uh, keep the music box wound up—piece of cake.”
“We’re going to try to contact the original restaurant owner. Uh, I think the name of the place was… ‘Fredbear’s Family Diner,’ or something like that. It’s been closed for years, though—I doubt we’ll be able to track anybody down.”
“What on earth are you doing there—didn’t you get the memo? Uh, the place is closed down, a-at least for a while. Someone used one of the suits. We had a spare in the back—a-a yellow one. Someone used it… now none of them are acting right.”
“When the place eventually opens again, I’ll probably take the night shift myself. Okay, goodnight, and good luck.”
FNAF 3
Unlike the first two games in the series, FNAF 3 starts with the player character’s second shift rather than their first. However, this first shift was apparently uneventful as the Fazbear Frights attraction was still under construction when the game begins. As such, it’s possible that the cameras and maintenance panels had not been installed by the guard’s first night shift.
Rather than being greeted by Phone Guy, Fazbear Frights’ similarly unnamed “Phone Dude” takes over as the player’s primary tutorial for the game’s first two nights. Phone Dude also presumably helped the crew retrieve both the Springtrap animatronic and Phone Guy’s old employee training tapes, which he brings to the attraction on Night 2.
Phone Dude thought the Fazbear Frights attraction would feel more authentic if they played the tapes over the loudspeakers—which would have probably been a great idea if the Fazbear Frights attraction hadn’t burned down before opening day.
While Phone Dude handles most of the game’s more mechanical tutorials and some of its present-day exposition, Phone Guy’s old training tapes reveal critical parts of the franchise’s lore, as well as some clues about how to deal with Springtrap.
Notable Quotes
“Welcome to your new career as a performer/entertainer for Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza. Uh, these tapes will provide you with much-needed information on how to handle/climb into/climb out of mascot costumes. Right now, we have two specially designed suits that double as both animatronics and suits! So, please pay close attention while learning how to operate these suits as accidents/injury/death/irreparable and grotesque maiming can occur.”
“Remember to smile—you are the face of Freddy Fazbear’s Pizza.”
“Uh, there’s been a slight change of company policy concerning use of the suits. Um, don’t. After learning of an unfortunate incident at the sister location involving multiple and simultaneous spring lock failures, the company has deemed the suits temporarily unfit for employees.”
“Management has also been made aware that the Spring Bonnie animatronic has been noticeably moved. We would like to remind employees that this costume is not safe to wear under any circumstances.”
Other Appearances & Cameos
FNAF 4
Phone Guy doesn’t call the player in FNAF 4, but his Night 1 phone call from FNAF 1 can be heard pitched down and reversed as part of the game’s ambient soundscape.
Ultimate Custom Night
Phone Guy makes an appearance in Ultimate Custom Night as one of the game’s 50 selectable antagonists. His long calls disrupt sound-sensitive animatronics, including Music Man and Lefty. However, Phone Guy doesn’t have his own jumpscare and cannot kill you himself.
Unfortunately, Phone Guy’s mute button is extremely small and appears at random locations on the screen. You’ll have to pay close attention if you want to mute him before he makes too much noise.
Trivia & Other Notable Facts
- FNAF’s creator and developer, Scott Cawthon, provides the voice for Phone Guy. He also voices Phone Dude in FNAF 3. By FNAF Sister Location, several voice actors were hired to portray the franchise’s ever-growing cast of characters. Andy Field is now the voice of FNAF’s current primary tutorial voice, the AI HandUnit.
- On Night 5 of FNAF 1, the garbled audio that hijacks Phone Guy’s call can be reversed and repitched to reveal a passage from Autobiography of a Yogi by Paramahansa Yogananda. The excerpt notably remarks on laboratory experiments and the joy of scientific creation, and the following sections describe ideas about living metal. As such, the passage seems to be connected to several of the most important aspects of FNAF lore. However, it’s unclear whether or not this audio is related to Phone Guy’s fate on Night 4 or if it is spoken by one of the pizzeria’s possessed animatronics.
- Since Phone Guy doesn’t have a canon appearance in the FNAF games, a lot of fan artists depict him as a security guard with a red rotary phone for a head. In Ultimate Custom Night, Phone Guy’s selection screen icon depicts him as a purple rotary phone receiver.
FAQs
Question: Is Phone Guy alive?
Answer: Unfortunately, no. Based on Phone Guy’s Night 4 phone call in FNAF 1, it seems he met the same gruesome fate that he described to us during our first night on the job. Presumably, this would place his death in or around 1993 on the FNAF timeline. However, Phone Guy appears again in FNAF 2 since the game is a prequel that takes place before he took the security job at the FNAF 1 location. Phone Guy is also able to appear in FNAF 3 because the training calls that appear in this game had been recorded on tapes decades earlier.
Some fans have speculated that Phone Guy was able to escape the animatronics that broke into his office, the jumpscare of which can be heard in his final call. According to this theory, Phone Guy would have somehow managed to make it to the FNAF 1 location’s safe room before being killed, giving him the chance to survive past the events of the first game. However, according to the FNAF 3 tapes, all of the safe rooms had been sealed off long before the FNAF 1 location was opened. As such, it would be impossible for Phone Guy to enter the safe room even if he did survive the initial attack.
Question: Is Phone Guy the Purple Guy?
Answer: No, Phone Guy and Purple Guy are not the same character. The Purple Guy that appears in FNAF 1-4 was confirmed to be William Afton, the serial killer responsible for the Missing Children’s Incident. While the theory that Phone Guy was secretly the killer all along had some merit to it, especially early on in the franchise, it seems impossible for them to be the same character since their respective deaths cannot occur at the same point in the timeline.
Notably, Phone Guy was one of a handful of characters that were given April Fool’s descriptions in Ultimate Custom Night that referenced several theories that were disproven by developer Scott Cawthon. In Phone Guy’s spoof description, it’s stated that he can’t call you while Springtrap is in the vents since he can’t be in two places at the same time. As such, it seems that Cawthon’s April Fool’s joke all but confirms that Phone Guy is not the Purple Guy.
Question: Was Phone Guy stuffed into an animatronic suit?
Answer: It’s unclear what ultimately became of Phone Guy after his death in FNAF 1, but some fans have speculated that he was stuffed into one of the animatronic suits in the back. Not only is Phone Guy the one who tells us that the animatronics are in the habit of stuffing security guards into suits in the first place, but he also directly asks the player to check the suits in the back just before his death in Night 4’s call.
Since we’re unable to leave the office and check in the back room ourselves, we can’t confirm exactly what became of Phone Guy. Still, I’d be surprised to find out that he suffered any other fate.
FNAF Phone Guy: Conclusion
Despite the fact that so little is truly known about Phone Guy, he remains one of FNAF’s most iconic characters. Not only is he the first character to greet us as we begin our journey into the world of Five Nights at Freddy’s, but he’s also one of the few allies we have to help us survive the games’ long nights.
While his obscure backstory and misleading calls often leave us with more questions about the franchise’s lore than answers, Phone Guy will always have a very special place in the hearts of FNAF fans.