Pof SMS VERIFICATION Receive the Pof code on a rented number.

Plenty of Fish, usually shortened to POF, signs you up with an email and can ask for a phone number to confirm the account, especially before you start messaging. The number stays private on the account. Dating sites are one of the places people most often want a line that is not their personal one, and a rented number covers the code without giving POF your everyday number.

The number on the account is one exposure. The larger one is handing your number to a match too early. Keep conversations in the POF app until you have met, and your personal number goes only to people you have decided to give it to.

When POF asks for a phone

POF uses phone verification to cut down on fake profiles. It can come up at sign-up, before sending messages, or after activity that looks automated, such as messaging many people quickly. The code arrives by SMS and has to be entered in the app. Codes expire after a short time, so request the code only when the rented number is already showing in your dashboard.

Free SMS site numbers are often refused or never receive the code, since they have confirmed many dating profiles before. The numbers here are real mobile ranges. Pick the country you live in, because POF shows you people nearby and a mismatch looks odd. Many users choose a UK number.

Keeping the account after the number is gone

Sign-in on POF runs on the email and password, so keep both current. If POF asks to verify the phone again later, rent a number again at that moment, or change the phone on the account to one you keep. Update the email first if you change it, because POF sends password resets there.

Turn off any setting that shares your number with matches or connects contacts, and use the in-app messages. If you move to calls, apps that hide your number are safer than giving it out.

What POF's rules allow

POF requires members to be adults representing themselves, with their own photos, and it removes fake, duplicate and scam profiles. A new number does not make a second profile acceptable, and POF identifies repeat accounts through devices and photos as well. Our acceptable use policy agrees. Report profiles that ask you for codes sent to your phone, since that is a common scam on dating sites.

One genuine profile on a private number is the use that fits. The same approach works on Bumble and Hinge.