AOL Mail Sign Up: How to Create an AOL Account

For AOL Mail sign up, go to aol.com, click Sign in, then Create an account, fill in the form and enter the code AOL sends you. You don’t always need a phone number for it. AOL’s help page says the code goes “to your phone or other email”.

One account covers everything: “You use the same AOL account everywhere across AOL”. This guide walks through each step, the recovery info AOL relies on later, and what to do if the code doesn’t arrive.

AOL Mail sign up, step by step

1. Go to aol.com and click Sign in in the upper right corner.
2. Click Create an account at the bottom of the screen.
3. Fill in the form. AOL asks for your first and last name, a new @aol.com email address, a password and your date of birth. “All fields are required.”
4. Enter the verification code. AOL’s instructions: “Enter the code we send to your phone or other email. This checks that it’s really you.”
5. Start using AOL Mail. As AOL puts it: “Create it once and you’re set.”

Most sign-up problems happen “at the username, password, or code step”. If your username is taken, AOL suggests your name “with a number or another word added”. If your password isn’t allowed, it has to meet AOL’s rules on length and characters.

Does AOL require a phone number?

Not always. AOL sends the sign-up code to a phone or another email address, and if one doesn’t arrive, its advice is to “go back and try your other option, if the screen offers one.”

AOL does want at least one way to reach you, though. It asks you to “Keep a valid mobile phone number or email address on your account in case you ever lose your password or run into a prompt to verify your account after signing in.” Its terms also say your account information must stay “current, complete, accurate and truthful.”

When AOL asks for a code later

After sign-up, AOL may ask for another code when you sign in. Its help center lists the reasons, including:

• “You’re using an unfamiliar browser or device”
• “You’re traveling away from your usual location”
• “You sign in while using a VPN or a proxy server”
• “There are many attempts to sign in with incorrect passwords”

The code goes to your recovery phone number or recovery email. AOL warns that if these are “wrong or out of reach, you might not be able to get back into your account.”

Using a temporary number for the AOL code

If AOL’s screen asks for a phone number and you’d rather not give your own, a real non-VoIP number can receive the text. It’s a real mobile number from a carrier, so AOL sees an ordinary mobile number.

1. Create a free PVADeals account and add credits: crypto from $3, or a card through Stripe from $5.
2. Choose AOL from the list of websites, in the United States or the United Kingdom. If it isn’t listed for your country, rent an All services number instead, which works on any website.
3. Pick a rental. A short-term number lasts 20 minutes. A long-term number lasts 3, 7, 14 or 30 days.
4. Enter the number on AOL’s verification screen and ask for a text message. PVADeals numbers receive SMS only.
5. Copy the code from your PVADeals dashboard, where it appears as soon as it arrives, and finish signing up.

If an eligible number receives no SMS during the rental, its cost comes back to your balance automatically as store credit.

Short-term or long-term?

A short-term number covers the sign-up code, and it costs the least. After 20 minutes it’s gone, and reuse afterwards is possible but not guaranteed. Since AOL sends later codes to your recovery phone or email, don’t leave a 20-minute number as your only recovery option.

Once you’re in, open the AOL Account Security page and add an email address you keep. AOL’s steps for replacing recovery info are simple: “First add a new email or phone number,” then remove the old one. If you want to keep the phone number, rent long-term and turn on auto-renew.

Turn on two-step verification

AOL’s security advice is to “Turn on two-step verification and get sent a security code when someone logs in from an unfamiliar device or location.” You can get the code by phone (“We’ll send you a text or call you with a new code”) or from an authenticator app such as Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator. The app option isn’t available for every account yet, and “you’ll need to have at least 2 recovery methods on your account” to see it.

An authenticator app doesn’t depend on a phone number, so it’s the better second step if you signed up with a temporary one.

If the AOL code doesn’t arrive

• Check what you typed. AOL says: “Check that you typed your phone number or email address correctly.”
• Wait a few minutes, check your spam folder if you chose email, then request a new code.
• Try your other option, if the screen offers one.
• Locked out after too many tries? AOL can lock sign-in for a while: “Wait a while, then try again. The wait time can vary.”
• No SMS on your PVADeals number? If an eligible number receives nothing, its cost comes back as store credit.

Other email sign-ups

Keep your AOL account active, too: AOL can delete an account if you haven’t signed in for 24 months. Signing up for another email service? See our guides to Yahoo Mail, Outlook and Gmail, or compare 10 providers for email without a phone number. For a number you can keep, see our US phone numbers and the prices below.