How to Create a Facebook Account Without a Phone Number

Yes, you can create a Facebook account without a phone number. Facebook’s sign-up form takes an email address instead, and you confirm the account with a link sent to that email. Facebook may still ask for a mobile number later, for a security check or for two-factor authentication.

This guide shows how to sign up with email, when Facebook asks for a number, and what to do when a confirmation code doesn’t arrive.

How to create a Facebook account without a phone number

Facebook’s help center lists the steps:

1. Go to facebook.com and click Create new account.
2. Enter your name, your email (instead of a mobile number), a password, your date of birth and gender.
3. Click Sign up.
4. Open the email from Facebook and “click or tap the link in the email you got when you created the account.”

Facebook says so directly: “If you don’t have a mobile phone number, you can create an account with your email instead. Make sure you are logged out of any existing accounts before trying to create an account.”

Confirm the email promptly. “You may not be able to use your account until you confirm your email or mobile number. If you do not confirm your account, it may be deleted after one year of inactivity.”

One account per person

Facebook’s terms are clear: “Create only one account (your own) and use it for personal purposes.” They also ask you to “Provide accurate information about yourself.” And extra profiles are gone: “You are no longer able to create additional Facebook profiles.”

So this guide is about keeping your personal number off your one account, not about making more accounts. If Facebook has disabled an account, its terms say you agree “not to create another account without our permission.”

When Facebook asks for a mobile number

Security checks are the usual reason for an unexpected request: “We ask you to do a security check if we think your account’s security might have been affected.” And if Facebook sees “unusual activity on your account, we might lock it for security.”

With text-message two-factor authentication, Facebook sends “a special 6-digit security code each time someone tries logging into your Facebook account from a mobile device or browser we don’t recognize.” That number can’t double as your recovery number: “you won’t be able to use the same mobile phone number that you use for two-factor authentication to help you reset your password.” Keep an email on the account for that.

Where you add a number also matters: “mobile phone numbers added to other places on Facebook and Meta Company Products (example: Marketplace, your Facebook profile) may be used for other purposes including suggesting friends or providing ads.”

Which number to use if Facebook asks

Start with email. Facebook itself says: “We recommend that you always add an email to your account to help you gain access to your account in case you ever lose access to your mobile phone.” For two-factor authentication, an authentication app avoids phone numbers altogether.

If you need a number and don’t want to use your own, use a real mobile number. A non-VoIP number from PVADeals comes from a carrier, so Facebook sees an ordinary phone number. See VoIP vs non-VoIP numbers.

1. Create a free PVADeals account and add credits: crypto from $3, or a card through Stripe from $5.
2. Choose Facebook and the country: the United States or the United Kingdom.
3. Pick a rental. A short-term number (20 minutes) is enough to confirm a number once. For a number you’ll keep, such as for two-factor authentication, pick a long-term rental (3, 7, 14 or 30 days) with auto-renew.
4. In Facebook, add the number: Settings & privacy > Settings > Accounts Center > Personal details > Contact info > Add new contact > Add mobile number.
5. Copy the confirmation code from your PVADeals dashboard, where it appears as soon as it arrives.
6. Used a short-term number? Make sure your email is confirmed, then delete the number in Contact info, so it doesn’t stay on your account after the rental.

If the Facebook confirmation code doesn’t arrive

• Check the number you entered. If it’s wrong, click Update contact info and add the right one.
• Click Send SMS Again.
• Confirm with email instead. Click Update contact info, enter your email and click Add, then confirm with the email code.
• Give it time. “Sometimes the confirmation codes may take longer to arrive. If you’ve requested several codes already, wait a day before trying again.”
• Told an account already exists with the number? Facebook says “you may need to wait a few days to try adding it to your account.”
• No SMS at all? If an eligible PVADeals number receives no SMS during the rental, its cost comes back to your balance automatically as store credit.

Keep your personal number off Facebook

Sign up with email, and if Facebook asks for a number, a real non-VoIP number keeps your own off the account. See Facebook’s prices below, or read our guides for Instagram, WhatsApp and TikTok.