Who runs Numbox and what it does

Numbox publishes a small pool of shared phone numbers for the United States and Canada and shows the incoming SMS for each one in a browser inbox. You open a number, use it wherever a service asks for a phone number, and read the verification code the moment it lands. There is nothing to install and nothing to register — the number and the inbox are the whole product.

Right now the pool holds 5 active numbers in the United States and 5 active numbers in Canada. We add and rotate numbers as carriers make them available, which is why the list on each country page changes through the day.

Every number on Numbox is a shared number: more than one person can use the same number and read the same inbox. That is what keeps the service running without a subscription — carrying a number reserved for one visitor only would cost money someone has to pay. A shared number suits a one-time SMS code well; it is a poor fit for anything you plan to keep.

Some apps ask for a phone number that has not verified an account on them before. On a shared number that check can fail even though the number itself works, because someone used it for the same app earlier. That is a property of how the app screens numbers, not a fault in the inbox.

The numbers on Numbox stay free because they are shared. If a service keeps rejecting a shared number, or you need a number nobody else can read, sms-verification-number.com rents a private number: a private number costs about $1 for 20 minutes and refunds automatically if the code never arrives. We link to it from the country and service pages where it is the practical next step, not because the shared numbers are broken.

Numbox is not a bank verification tool, not an account-recovery number, and not a place to receive anything you would mind a stranger reading. It does not send or forward SMS, and it does not keep a number reserved for you between visits. Treat every number as a one-time inbox, not a phone number assigned to you personally.

Questions about a number, a missing SMS, or this site — write to [email protected]. For the practical side of receiving a code, see the FAQs; for the rules that apply to using a shared number, see the terms of service.