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Adding a number manually: confirmation by SMS

Normally a number is verified automatically: you enter it in the Sharing SMS app, the platform sends an SMS to it, and the app confirms the number without you typing anything. Sometimes that SMS does not arrive: the operator blocks messages from short numbers, the SIM card is in roaming, or the network mode is wrong. In that case the number can be confirmed manually, with a code from support and one SMS sent from another phone.

Before you start

  • If the app shows the TRY AGAIN button after the waiting timer runs out, tap it first: it repeats the automatic check. If the SMS still does not arrive, continue with the manual method below.
  • Check the basics on the phone with the number you are adding: data roaming is on if the SIM card is outside its home country, the network mode is 2G only or 4G/3G/2G (auto), and the SIM card has a signal. The full checklist is in the “Not Ready” guide.

What you need

  • A second phone with a working SIM card from the same country as the number you are adding. It will send one SMS to the new number.
  • The phone’s own SMS app on that second phone. Do not send the SMS from Google Messages: use the standard Messages app.
  • An open chat with support, in Telegram or on the site. Support and Contacts.

Step by step

  1. On the second phone, prepare an outgoing SMS to the number you are adding. Type exactly hello: in Latin letters, with the colon and without spaces. Do not send it yet: an SMS without the code will not confirm the number.
  2. In the Sharing SMS app, enter the number you want to add and request the code with the forward-arrow button. Do not close the adding screen.
  3. Write to support right away: say that you have requested the code and send the number you are adding.
  4. When support sends you the code, add it to the prepared SMS without spaces and send it to the number you are adding. The text must look like this: hello:123456
  5. Wait for the number to be added. It appears in the list of numbers in the app and in your Personal Account.

If the number is still not added

  • Check the SMS text: Latin letters, a colon, the code, no spaces and nothing else. Check that it was sent from a number of the same country and that it left the second phone.
  • Make sure the adding screen in the app stayed open while you sent the SMS. If it was closed, request the code again and tell support.
  • Send the log file to support and give both numbers: the one you are adding and the one you sent the SMS from. How to send the log file.