What happens when a temporary phone number expires?

What happens to a VerifyWith number when it ends

We don’t publish how soon a number is given to someone else, so treat the end time as the last moment it is yours.

Why a number in someone else’s hands is a risk to your account

An app doesn’t know that a number has changed hands. If your account still lists it, the app keeps treating a text to that number as a text to you: a sign-in code, a security alert, a password reset. The next holder receives them without trying to.

Kevin Lee and Arvind Narayanan at Princeton studied this with numbers that US mobile carriers recycle. Of the recycled numbers they obtained, they found 19 that were still receiving security- or privacy-sensitive calls and texts meant for someone else, and they describe how a new owner could use such texts to reset the previous owner’s passwords. Their study is about carriers, not rental services, but the mechanism is the same for any number that is given to a new person, ours included. That is why the steps below matter.

What to change on an account before you let a number go

Do this for every account the number is on, while the number can still receive the codes some of these changes ask for.

1. List the accounts that use the number

   Go through the texts on the number’s page: each code usually names the app that sent it, and each of those apps may still have the number on file.

2. Add a sign-in method that doesn’t depend on the number

   An authenticator app or a passkey first, if the app offers one. Check that the recovery email is an address you still read.

3. Replace or remove the number everywhere it appears

   Look under the account’s phone number, its recovery phone and its two-step verification settings. Many apps keep these in separate places, and changing one leaves the others.

4. Save the backup codes

   If the app offers one-time recovery codes, save them somewhere other than this account.

5. Sign out and sign back in

   Do it on a device the app doesn’t know, if you can. If it still asks for a code at the old number, the change didn’t take.

If an app won’t let you remove the number, or the number is the account itself, don’t let it go: keep it for as long as you keep the account.

Keeping the number instead

You can extend a number at any time before it ends, by a day, a week, a month or a year, and a renewal keeps the price you first paid. Auto-renew is optional and off unless you turn it on. For an account you’ll sign in to for the long run, 1 year costs $34.99. Which length to rent goes through the choice.

Keep it when the app texts a code each time you sign in on a new device, when the app offers no other second step, or when you can’t get into the account’s settings to change the number. Let it go once the checklist above is done.

How other number services handle the end of a number

Every service that hands out numbers takes them back at some point. What their own pages say:

• Google Voice may reclaim a number that isn’t used for calls or texts for 3 months. After the reclaim date you have 45 days to get it back.
• TextNow says its free version recycles a number after a period of inactivity, with “no hard-and-fast rule” on how long. A new number that isn’t used to call or text can expire within its first 24 hours.
• 2Number (BP Mobile) locks a number for two days after a subscription lapses; after that it expires permanently and can’t be restored.

The rule for your accounts is the same whichever one you use: a number you might lose shouldn’t be the only way into anything you want to keep.

Questions people ask

Can someone else get my temporary number later?

Yes. Once a rented number ends it can be given to someone else, and any code an app sends to it after that goes to them. Change the number on your accounts first, or keep the number.

How long after it ends is a number given to someone else?

We don’t publish a figure and it can happen at any time after the end. Plan as if the number stops being yours the moment it ends.

Do I lose my texts when the number expires?

Not straight away. Texts a VerifyWith number received stay in your account for 7 days after it ends, then they are deleted. New texts sent after the end time are not received.

If my number expires, can I get the same one back?

Don’t count on it. Once it has ended it can be given to someone else. If you will need the number again, extend it before it ends.

Will I be told before my number ends?

Yes. We email you before a number ends, so there is time to extend it or move your accounts. You can also turn on auto-renew so it renews instead of ending.