Get a LinkedIn SMS code on a temporary number

Looking for a temporary phone number to receive linkedin sms online? LinkedIn does not require one to create the account itself — email and a password are enough at sign-up. The prompt for a phone number usually shows up right after, on the settings screen under "Sign in & security," where LinkedIn offers to add one for account recovery or two-step verification. Some profiles also see the request the first time they send a run of connection requests or messages in a short window, since LinkedIn treats that pattern as worth a closer look. Either way, a temporary phone number here fills that field exactly like a personal one would, and the verification step itself never asks why you switched.

Once you type it into that field and ask for a code, LinkedIn's screen shows six boxes for digits and a countdown before you can request another SMS. Open the inbox on this page, copy the code from the newest message, and paste the digits in one at a time — LinkedIn checks the code the moment the last box fills, with no separate submit button on most account types. The whole exchange, from typing the digits to a confirmed profile, usually takes one screen and one page reload.

A US number and a Canadian one both carry the +1 code, so LinkedIn's country selector treats either the same way and adds no extra step for the origin. Pick the country tied to your own profile if that matters to you, or simply take whichever active one is free right now — LinkedIn does not check where you signed up from, only whether the field can receive a text.

A common reason people land here is opening a second LinkedIn presence for a side business or a client account, one that needs its own SMS step separate from whatever is already tied to a personal profile. LinkedIn does not limit how many separate accounts can exist, but each one still needs to clear a check with something LinkedIn has not already tied to another sign-up, so a fresh option from the list above is exactly what that second verification calls for.

Recruiters and sales teams sometimes hit the same prompt when a search sends enough connection requests in one sitting to trip LinkedIn's own abuse checks, and the service asks to confirm before letting the account keep sending. A temporary one clears that one-time SMS check the same way it clears sign-up, and the screen behaves the same regardless of why the prompt appeared.

None of that requires installing anything extra: the SMS lands in a browser tab, LinkedIn never learns which service supplied the digits, and once verification is done you can put a private one on file instead if you plan to keep using that profile long-term.

LinkedIn watches how often one field shows up across different profiles rather than checking a single history the way some apps do. If a shared phone number has recently added itself to several accounts in quick succession, the service can flag the next attempt on it and ask you to try again later or pick a different one. It is not that the field is broken — it is that the pattern of many profiles touching one field in a short window is exactly what LinkedIn's own anti-abuse checks look for, and this service reacts to volume, not to who has used it before.

Spend a minute or spend a dollar

Two honest paths from here. Get another active one from the country list above — one that has not just added itself to another profile usually clears the check on the first try, and fresh options come online through the day. Or skip the retry entirely: SV Number rents a private number that nobody else can use for about $1 for 20 minutes, refunded automatically if the code never arrives, so LinkedIn sees one clean request during that verification instead of a shared history.

LinkedIn's own help pages explain what the service does with a field for verification and two-step sign-in — worth a look at linkedin.com if an attempt keeps getting rejected and you want the exact wording from the source.

Add a field and LinkedIn keeps it under account settings, not on your public profile, though the service can text it again later — a new-device sign-in, a security alert, or a two-step code if you turned that setting on. A shared one is a weak fit for anything past the first SMS: this page shows every message sent to it, so a later code meant for your linkedin verification could sit next to messages meant for someone else who picked up the same option. Read the first code, finish sign-up, and treat it as spent right after.

If you plan to keep two-step verification switched on, or you want LinkedIn to be able to reach one that stays only yours, swap in a private number instead — SV Number gives you one nobody else touches, so a re-verification SMS six months from now still lands somewhere only you can read it. That trade — protect your privacy on an account you plan to keep, in exchange for a small fee once — is the whole difference between the free service above and the paid one.

A field added this way changes nothing about who can view your profile; personal privacy on that front lives separately inside LinkedIn's own settings and has no connection to this verification step at all. Concerns about who can see it are also unfounded — LinkedIn does not show it to other members by default, regardless of which service supplied the digits.