Telegram Without a Phone Number: +888 Numbers and Other Options

You can’t use Telegram without a phone number, strictly speaking: every account is tied to one. But it doesn’t have to be your own SIM. Telegram’s anonymous +888 numbers, traded on Fragment, are one option, and a second mobile number is another.

This guide explains what +888 numbers are and how you log in with one, when a second number is the simpler choice, and how to keep your number hidden from everyone else on Telegram.

Can you use Telegram without a phone number?

Not without any number at all. Telegram’s Premium FAQ puts it plainly: “Telegram only requires a phone number to sign up and access all of its functionality.” The main FAQ adds that “Telegram accounts can only be connected to a mobile number,” so a landline won’t work, and that “each phone number is a separate account on Telegram.”

The number also identifies you afterwards. Telegram says “the phone number is the only way for us to identify a Telegram user at the moment.” That’s why the choice of number matters more on Telegram than on most apps.

What is an anonymous Telegram number?

Fragment, the marketplace where they’re traded, explains: “In late 2022, Telegram released a limited run of virtual phone numbers as collectibles on the TON blockchain. Telegram users can use these numbers to sign up without a SIM card and receive their login codes directly on Fragment, rather than via SMS.”

What you should know before you buy one:

• They start with +888 and belong to whichever crypto wallet holds them.
• They’re sold out. “All 136,566 numbers sold out in December 2022. Now, you can only buy from an existing owner.”
• They only work on Telegram. Fragment says “you cannot use them to call, send SMS or sign up to other services, unless such services choose to support them.”
• They’re paid in Grams, the currency Fragment uses, from a TON wallet app. On 27 October 2026 the cheapest +888 number on auction at Fragment had a minimum bid of about $1,900.

How to log in to Telegram with a +888 number

1. Set up a TON wallet and fund it. Write down its recovery words: Fragment warns that losing them means “the irreversible loss of your wallet, funds and collectibles.”
2. Connect the wallet to Fragment with the Connect TON button and buy a number from its owner, at auction or at a fixed price.
3. Sign up in the Telegram app with the +888 number, entered “in the relevant text field” like any other number.
4. Get the code on Fragment. When Telegram asks for it, open Fragment with the wallet that holds the number. The login code is shown there, not sent by SMS.
5. Already have an account? Change its number to the +888 number in Settings. The code again appears on Fragment.

The wallet is now the key to your account. Fragment “is not able to restore wallets as it never stores or comes into contact with private credentials,” so keep the recovery words safe and turn on Telegram’s two-step verification as well.

Buy a +888 number or use a second number?

If what you really want is to keep your personal number off Telegram, a second number does that for far less than a +888 number, and Telegram is fine with it: “You may create another Telegram account on the second number as well, for example, if you want to keep work and personal chats separated.”

A PVADeals number is a real non-VoIP number from a carrier, so Telegram sees an ordinary US or UK mobile line. Choose Telegram, pick the United States or the United Kingdom, and ask for the code by SMS: our numbers receive SMS only. The step-by-step guide, and how to keep the account when a rental ends, is in our article on a virtual number for Telegram.

Since the number is how Telegram identifies you, a long-term rental (3, 7, 14 or 30 days, renewable with auto-renew) is the safer choice if you want to keep receiving codes on it. Telegram’s prices are below.

Log in without an SMS code

Once your account exists, Telegram doesn’t have to text you every time:

• Passkeys. Telegram says “passkeys are an additional login method that can be used instead of SMS to instantly enter your account.” Set one up in Settings > Privacy and Security > Passkeys.
• Codes inside Telegram. If you’re logged in on another device, Telegram may send the login code there instead of by SMS.
• A login email. Telegram may ask you to verify an email address, which it then uses to send login codes.

None of these replaces the number. Even with a passkey, “you can still request an SMS code in order to log in,” so Telegram tells you to “always make sure your account uses an up-to-date phone number that is controlled by you.” Two-step verification adds a password on top, so a code alone isn’t enough to get in.

Keep your number hidden from other users

Whichever number you sign up with, you decide who sees it. By default, “your number is only visible to people who you’ve added to your address book as contacts.” To go further:

1. Open Settings > Privacy and Security > Phone Number.
2. Set who can see your phone number to Nobody.
3. Limit who can find you by your number to My Contacts, so strangers who save your number can’t match it to your profile.

One exception you can’t change: “people will always see your number if they know it already and saved it in their address book.”

To let people reach you without a number at all, set a username. Others can then message you through your t.me link, and if you reply, “neither party will see another’s phone number (unless this is permitted by your privacy settings).” The trade-off is that anyone can find a public username in search and write to you. If you’d rather not have one, Telegram can show a temporary QR code that adds you as a contact “without knowing your phone number.”

Use Telegram without your personal number

For most people, a second number is the practical answer: a real US or UK number for 20 minutes or longer, and if an eligible number receives no SMS during the rental, its cost comes back to your balance automatically as store credit. See our US phone numbers, read about VoIP vs non-VoIP numbers, or, if you’re after the blue checkmark instead, see how to get verified on Telegram.