How to get verified when you don’t have your phone

Imagine your phone has been stolen or hacked and you need to verify your identity to change bank account passwords. But then you discover that the only way to do this is with a code sent to….you guessed it – the phone you no longer have control of.

Or say you are at work registering to buy tickets for Talyor Swift’s new tour and the clock is ticking. But there is a problem – you don’t have cell signal, and you need a One-Time-Pincode (OTP) sent to you by SMS to verify that you aren’t a ticket-hogging bot.

We can tell you how to avoid getting into this situation (which we will later on), but that won’t help you right now. You want to know how to bypass the verification process or receive an OTP verification some other way.

We’re here to help!  

It can sometimes seem like a hassle but remember that organizations introduce two-factor authentication to protect you!

With the increased sophistication of hackers and criminals, a simple username and password isn’t enough to keep accounts secure. Two-factor authentication (2FA) becomes an important tool for stopping the majority of fraud attempts.

The problem is when the verification process is too inflexible. There are several very common scenarios where a person is unable to authenticate a transaction or log into their account.

There is no single answer to this question as two-step verification can be implemented in all sorts of ways. However, we can provide a checklist that you can use to hopefully find a solution for your specific scenario.

When you set up your account or signed up for a service you may have been asked to provide a backup phone number or an email address that could be used to verify yourself. Look for a link or prompt that offers an alternate channel for verification when you can’t receive an SMS for whatever reason.

Even when you don’t have your phone, there may be another device that you have used to access your account previously that has cached your login credentials and is therefore deemed safe by the organization. Maybe a tablet, your work computer, or even an old phone could be used (you wouldn’t have mobile signal without a SIM card but could connect to the internet).

Some organizations provide a set of codes that can each be used once in place of a dynamically generated OTP message. Hopefully you saved these somewhere safe when you first set up your account, but if you didn’t you may be able to log into your account on another device and retrieve them. Be careful to keep these safe as hackers would love to get their hands on them.

This may only be an option when you have replaced your phone, or if you have another device, but if your service has a mobile app, you may be able to use in-app notifications or push notifications to get verified.

If you have set up an authenticator app (like Google Authenticator, Authy, or Microsoft Authenticator) on another device, you can generate the OTP directly from the app.

Some websites and apps support verification by scanning a QR code. If you have another device with a screen, like a computer or iPad, you can use it to display a QR code from a website or app, then use your phone camera to scan the code.

For retail and banking businesses who are motivated to provide the best possible customer experience, you can usually call a helpdesk number and speak to a human who can authenticate you manually and help you to achieve what you need to do. Calling a business may be intimidating to younger generations, but a friendly support agent would be best placed to solve your problem.

We have seen some businesses automate the verification process and enable customers to interact with a chatbot to authenticate themselves by uploading photos of their ID. One of our customers, the ride hailing mobility app Bolt, uses similar technology to authenticate new drivers. Check out their story here.

In some cases, you can access limited services without going through the full verification process. For example, some banks allow you to check account balances and make payments into an account by providing your login details but not going through the full verification process. To withdraw or transfer funds you would need to be fully verified.

There can be all sorts of reasons for not receiving codes. It could be a temporary network glitch that will rectify itself in a few minutes, or a setting on your phone that needs to be changed. Here are some options that you can check.

This may seem obvious, but best to check. You could have made a simple typo or the service may require the number to be entered in a particular format. For example, some international services may require the country’s dialing code and no leading zero in the number i.e. +44 (0)78555 555 555

Always a favorite with IT support, a simple restart can resolve temporary glitches. Alternatively, turning Airplane mode on for a few seconds can reset your network connection.

You may need to change your phone settings if you have any SMS filters or spam blockers enabled. Sometimes a phone operating system update can introduce new settings or reset existing ones.

If you have enabled email verification in addition to SMS then the email may have ended up in your junk folder. To avoid this happening in the future, mark the verification code sender as trusted to ensure codes go straight to your inbox.

If none of these options work, you should contact your provider. They will know about any network outages or issues with your account that require action from their side.

Unfortunately, for large platforms like Google, Microsoft and others who have millions of customers, the verification process is managed by AI as it is not feasible to support it with human staff. As a result, it can sometimes appear rather inflexible.

Take a look at this genuine exchange from the Google support page (we’ve changed names and removed some irrelevant detail)

You can sense the frustration that this user is feeling, and they are not alone with internet message boards and support forums full of people in a similar predicament. However, the news isn’t always good.

If you didn’t take the suggested precautions, you may have to accept that your account is lost, or you won’t be able to get those concert tickets that you had your heart set on.

When you get your new phone, you will probably be motivated to explore the options you have to avoid getting into the situation again. If your provider doesn’t support any of these, you may be tempted to switch to one that does.

There are lots of ways that you can avoid getting into the situation where you are unable to complete a verification process because you can’t access a phone.

Not all websites and apps will support these approaches, but if you live somewhere with patchy network coverage or you travel a lot then you should be aware of the available options.

If the service offers this option, then you should add another phone number that you can receive OTPs on. This could be a mobile device belonging to a family member, or a landline that you can use to receive verification codes by voice.

Many more services now offer the option to send verification codes by email, or messaging apps like WhatsApp, Viber, and Messenger. Take advantage of this flexibility and add your favorite channel that can be accessed by the internet for when you don’t have network signal.

Businesses will often offer incentives to customers to opt in to receiving messages by their app. This is because it is cheaper for them, and that includes OTPs and other verification messages. This is another good option to get verified when you have an internet connection but no cell signal.

Hardware authentication devices usually come as key fobs or USB sticks that users can plug into their computer or mobile device, and they either generate OTP codes or directly confirm the person’s identity. They’re very secure but the drawback is that they are small and can be easily misplaced. We would recommend that they are used as a backup verification method along with a flexible omnichannel OTP solution.

If a service supports it, you can use an authenticator app like Google Authenticator or Microsoft Authenticator on your device, which you can use generate the OTP directly on your phone.

It may seem like a solution from the 2000’s but many services enable users to access a set of one-off OTP codes that can be downloaded when they are logged into their account. These can be saved in a secure location on your phone and/or PC and used in emergencies.

There are some third-party services that offer SMS forwarding to alternate numbers, but we wouldn’t recommend this due to privacy and reliability concerns. It is far better to use the options provided by your own device manufacturer or phone provider. For example, Apple’s iPhone has a feature where any SMS, MMS or RCS messages that you receive can also appear on your Mac, iPad and Apple Vision Pro.