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

Signal registers an account against a phone number, but since 2024 it lets you hide that number completely and talk to people by username instead. That makes a rented number a reasonable way to register. The number receives one code, and nobody you talk to has to see it. What matters is what happens when the number goes to its next holder, and Signal has a setting built for exactly that.

The setting is registration lock. With it on, anyone who tries to register your number on a new phone must enter your Signal PIN. Set it before the rented number returns to the pool, and the account stays yours.

Registration lock, and why to set it first

Signal asks for a PIN during setup. Under Settings, Account, turn on Registration Lock. From then on, registering the same number on another device requires that PIN. Without the PIN, the lock holds until the account has been inactive for seven days, and at that point the old account's data is lost rather than handed over.

Keep using Signal regularly and the lock never lapses. Store the PIN in a password manager, since Signal also asks for it now and then to help you remember it.

Hiding the number

Under Settings, Privacy, Phone Number, set who can see your number to Nobody and who can find you by number to Nobody. Then create a username, which is what you share. People who start a chat through the username never see the number, so the rented number that registered the account is invisible to your contacts.

Signal sends the registration code by SMS, or by voice call if you ask. Choose SMS for a rented number. Signal may show a captcha during registration from some networks, which is a normal step. If the code does not arrive, the activation refunds and you can try a number from another country.

Who registers Signal this way

Journalists and researchers who want an account that is not tied to their personal line. Organisers who run a group and share only a username. People who want a second Signal identity kept apart from family chats. Signal is built for this kind of separation, and a number that nobody knows adds to it. Compare Telegram, which also lets you hide the number. Linked devices, such as Signal Desktop, keep working off the phone that holds the account.

Signal's terms forbid spam and abuse, and our acceptable use policy forbids the same. Registration lock protects an honest account. It does nothing for accounts used to send bulk messages, which Signal bans.