Want to message someone who blocked you, prank a friend on WhatsApp, or set up another account for work? Of course you think you’ll need another phone number. However, there are easy ways to set up a WhatsApp account without using your phone number. In this guide, we will tell you the steps to chat on WhatsApp without revealing your identity.
Create a WhatsApp account without using your phone number
Let’s clear one thing – you cannot create a WhatsApp account without a phone number. But there’s a trick: Instead of using your phone number, you can use a third-party app to get a secondary number. That number can be used to create a WhatsApp account.
Note: Using a virtual phone number may violate WhatsApp’s Terms of Service. While it is unlikely that your account will be banned for it, proceed at your own discretion.
Step 1: Choose a third-party phone number app
When choosing a virtual phone number provider app, factors such as supported countries, pricing model, and available platforms must be considered. While there are numerous options available, some are limited to certain countries while others only offer paid models. Here are some options to consider, choose the app that best suits your needs.
Note: Android users can sideload free apps like TextNow from APKMirror and use them without any issues outside of supported countries.
There are various other virtual phone number providing apps and most of them offer the same experience except for prices and availability. Among all the available options, we prefer TextNow because it is free and can be sideloaded outside the countries where its app is available. You don’t need to install the app on a single phone. So one can use another Android phone or tablet to sideload the iPhone app and get the virtual number.
Step 2: Get another phone number
Let’s examine the process. For this guide, I will use TextNow as an example. The process is the same on most such apps.
- Download or sideload the Virtual Phone Number app from Play Store (Android) or App Store (iPhone).
- Open and sign up using your Google account or email ID.
- Select your desired country or input the area code to select a phone number from that region.
- Next, select a phone number.
- Continue to get the selected phone number.
After receiving the number, you can make or receive calls and send messages directly through the application. To find your new number, navigate to the hamburger menu or your profile settings.
Step 3: Set up WhatsApp with that number
After you have your secondary virtual number, follow these steps to set up WhatsApp:
- Open WhatsApp and use the new virtual number. Be sure to include the correct country code if the number is from another country.
- WhatsApp will send a verification code to that virtual number.
- You can check the verification message in the virtual phone number app. (eg, TextNow.)
- You have to wait till the WhatApp automatic verification completes and enter the verification code manually.
- After that, you can log into WhatsApp from another number.
If you get an error saying “This is not a valid number”, repeat the process and get a new virtual number from the same or another application.
If you do not use the number for a period of time, TextNow will revoke your access to the number. However, you will not lose access to your WhatsApp account unless someone takes that number and creates a new WhatsApp account with it.