MarioSMS

How to Create a Second Telegram Account Without a SIM Card

Updated · MarioSMS team

Telegram is unusually friendly to multiple accounts: the official apps let you keep several logged in and switch between them with a tap. The only obstacle is that each account needs its own phone number at sign-up. If you want a separate account for channel administration, a public-facing identity, or simply to keep work chats away from family chats, a rented virtual number gets you there without a second SIM.

A nice property of Telegram specifically: after sign-up, your number is never shown to other users unless you choose to share it, and login on new devices happens via in-app confirmation codes, not SMS. So the rented number’s job is genuinely one-time.

Step by step

  1. Rent a number for Telegram. In the MarioSMS app, pick Telegram as the service and any country with live stock. You’ll see the exact price before paying.
  2. Add the account in Telegram. In the app: Settings → Add Account. Enter the rented number with its country code.
  3. Receive the code. Telegram sends an SMS to the rented number; the code shows up in your MarioSMS dashboard within seconds to a minute.
  4. Enter the code and finish. Pick a name for the new account, and you’re done. Both accounts now live side by side in the app.

If the code never arrives, you pay nothing: the activation auto-cancels and refunds to your balance.

Lock the account down immediately

Do this right after sign-up, because it removes any future dependence on the number:

  • Set a 2FA password: Settings → Privacy and Security → Two-Step Verification. With a password set, logging in on new devices needs the password plus the in-app code, so the phone number alone can’t take the account over.
  • Add a recovery email in the same menu.
  • Hide your number: Settings → Privacy and Security → Phone Number → Nobody.

Practical notes

  • Country choice matters less for Telegram than for most services. Telegram doesn’t gate features by number origin. Pick whatever is cheapest in stock. Browse countries here.
  • Keep the session alive. Like WhatsApp, Telegram sessions persist on the device; you’d only need a number again if you log out everywhere and lose 2FA access.
  • Bots and channels: a second account is the clean way to own community bots and channels without exposing your personal identity in the “creator” role.

Second accounts for work, channels, or privacy are precisely the intended use. Circumventing a lawful ban or impersonating someone else is not; see the acceptable use policy.