How to Receive OTP Online — FAQ

Sign up at NumberOTP, pick the platform you need (WhatsApp, Google, Telegram, etc.) and your preferred country, then get a temporary number instantly. Enter it in the app — the OTP SMS appears in your NumberOTP dashboard within seconds. Your personal number is never involved.

A temporary phone number (also called a disposable or virtual number) is a real phone number you can use to receive SMS and OTP codes without giving out your personal number. NumberOTP provides real non-VoIP numbers from 150+ countries that apps like WhatsApp, Google, and Telegram actually accept.

New accounts receive $0.10 in free credits on signup — enough for your first OTP number on most services. After that you top up and pay per activation, starting from a few cents. You only pay when you actually use a number.

Your temp number is ready in ~3 seconds. After you enter it in the app, the OTP SMS typically arrives within 10–30 seconds. Your dashboard updates in real time — no manual refreshing.

Over 800 platforms are supported — including WhatsApp, Telegram, Google, Apple, Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Uber, Discord, Amazon, PayPal, Netflix, and many more. See the full list on our Services page.

Yes. You can choose a phone number from 150+ countries — US, UK, India, Germany, France, Brazil, Canada, Australia, and many more. This is useful when an app requires a number from a specific country.

We maintain a 99% OTP delivery rate across all major platforms. Numbers are sourced from real carrier infrastructure, not VoIP pools that services typically block.

If no OTP arrives before the number expires, the full cost is automatically refunded to your balance — no support ticket required. You will see the refund appear in your transaction history immediately.

We continuously rotate our number pools and add fresh numbers daily, so blocking is rare. If a specific number is flagged by a service, simply order a new activation and a different number will be assigned.

Yes — like real carrier numbers, virtual numbers may be reassigned after a cooldown period. However, each activation is exclusive to you for its duration, and old messages are never accessible.

Within a single active session you can receive multiple messages. Once the session expires or you mark it as received, the number is released. Most use cases only need one OTP per activation.

US, UK, Russia, India, Germany, France, Brazil, and most of Europe have the highest number availability. Remote or sanctioned countries may have limited stock at times.

We accept credit/debit cards, and cryptocurrency via NowPayments. More methods are added regularly. Payments are processed securely and balance is added instantly on confirmation.

The minimum top-up is $1.00. There is no maximum. Balance never expires and carries over indefinitely.

Automatic refunds are issued for any number that expires without delivering an OTP. Manual balance refunds are handled on a case-by-case basis — contact support with your account email.

Yes. Prices differ by both country and service due to carrier costs. You can see the exact price before you confirm any activation — no hidden fees.

We collect only the minimum data needed to operate the service: your email address and transaction history. We do not sell personal data. All communication is encrypted over HTTPS/TLS.

No. The third-party service only sees the temporary phone number. Your real identity, email, and IP address are never shared with any platform you verify on.

OTP codes and full message text are stored temporarily in your dashboard for convenience during an active session. You can see your recent activations in your account history.

Receiving SMS via virtual numbers is legal in most jurisdictions. However, using temporary numbers to violate a platform's terms of service (e.g. bulk account creation for spam) is your responsibility. Please use NumberOTP ethically.

Yes. NumberOTP provides a full REST API for ordering numbers, checking activation status, and receiving OTP results via polling or webhook. Get started at numberotp.com/docs.

All API requests require a Bearer token in the Authorization header. Generate your API key from the Developer tab in your dashboard. Keys can be rotated at any time.

Number provisioning (POST /api/activations) typically responds in under 1 second. The returned phone number is immediately usable. OTP delivery is driven by the third-party carrier and usually arrives within 30 seconds.

Set a webhook URL in your developer dashboard. When an OTP is received for any of your active numbers, NumberOTP sends a POST request to your endpoint with the activation ID, phone number, OTP code, and full SMS text as a JSON payload.

Standard accounts can make up to 60 API requests per minute. If you need higher limits for bulk workflows, contact us to discuss an enterprise arrangement.

Your $0.10 signup credit is ideal for initial integration testing. For larger test volumes, top up a small amount — activations cost only a few cents each. A sandbox mode is on our roadmap.

Yes. You can fire concurrent POST /api/activations requests for different services or countries. Each activation is independent. For high-throughput needs, contact us for dedicated infrastructure.

We target and maintain 99.96% uptime across our API and dashboard, measured on a rolling 12-month basis. Status updates are communicated via our Discord server.