How to get a virtual number for FREE
## Why?
It is very useful for signing up for different accounts. You can use it to make multiple accounts on a platform where phone verification is required or to re-use trials. You can also use it to sign up for services that are not available in your country. It also provides some layer of privacy.
Compared to other free services
There are many other free ways to get a temporary virtual phone number but the main difference in the way I’m showing you today is that, it is not actually temporary and you can use it as long as you want. This is basically a trial version of a service. When you use random temporary numbers you found on the internet there is a good chance that it is already blocked by the service that you are trying to use it with, this is not the case with our method. Also when you use free services you run the risk of your account being stolen as those numbers are publicly accessible people who know you have that number associated with that account can get your account details. Again, this is not the case with our method, that said if you have the option to hide your phone number on the service you sign-up for using this method it is highly recommended that you do so.
How to get your free virtual number
Method 1 - For non-US numbers
You can get US-based phone numbers as well with this method but if you only want US-based numbers there is an easier way for that which is explained in method 2.
First, you need to sign-up to twilio.com, click here for the sign-up page.
Verify your mail.
Verify your phone. You can use the same number for multiple accounts you can even use the virtual number that you created on another account.
Go to Twilio console.
Click the red button that says “Get a Trial Number”.
When you get a pop-up click “Search for a different number”.
You can search and filter for a number you want from there. You can choose its postcode and country. Make sure it has SMS functionality. Some countries require validation info like Germany requires a german ID and some countries are more pricy than others.
Click on the Buy button for the number you want.
On the pop-up just go next and create an address when prompted. You can use a fake address generator easily with this.
And now you have your number!
You can access the received SMSes from Manage Numbers> Active Numbers> Messages Log> and select “Incoming” from the dropdown menu.
When you sign-up to Twilio you get 15$ free credit after that if you don’t pay them, the number gets auto released which means it can be bought by other people, but, you can just create another account and re-buy the same number if you wish
Method 2 - For US numbers
This is so easy compared to the other one.
Go to textnow.com
Click on sign up for free
Create an account
Enter the area code you want when prompted. (A list for it can be found here)
And you have your number!