Proton Mail wants a phone number, and it does not take no for an answer. No code, no charge: nothing is billed for a number that stays silent. So borrow one — choose a market in SMS For U, give the number to Proton Mail, and the Proton Mail code arrives in your account by itself, seconds after Proton Mail sends it. 1,400 services sit in the same catalogue, with numbers from markets across Europe, the Americas, Asia and Africa.
How you get your code
- Look Proton Mail up in the SMS For U catalogue.
- Take a country from the ones the app is offering for Proton Mail today.
- Confirm the order; the Proton Mail number is live from that second.
- Type it in at the human-verification step during sign-up on Proton Mail and ask to be sent the code.
- The code turns up in your SMS For U account unprompted — copy it into Proton Mail and you are through.
Why a phone number is asked for
Proton Mail uses the phone number as a second factor and as the recovery path for the whole account, mail included. Proton Mail asks for it on the sign-up form, before the account exists at all. The number goes in at: the human-verification step during sign-up. Proton Mail normally asks for the number once and does not come back to it afterwards.
What the code looks like
Proton Mail sends a 6-digit code by SMS. The message from Proton Mail arrives in your account unaided — no refreshing, no forwarding, and no second device involved in reading the Proton Mail code. Proton Mail expires its codes quickly — type it in while it is fresh. One number can usually serve more than one Proton Mail account, although Proton Mail may limit that.
What can go wrong
Proton Mail accepts numbers from many countries but not from all of them. Which countries work for Proton Mail changes over time, because Proton Mail adjusts its checks and because the available ranges of numbers change. That is the honest state of it — we can hand you a number, we cannot make Proton Mail take it. We do not claim Proton Mail will take any given number, and we print no percentage, since a number like that would be stale within hours of being written.
Countries we serve
Numbers for Proton Mail come from the 50 markets listed below, and the same list stands behind every other service in the catalogue. Read it as where we work, not as a statement that each of them is free for Proton Mail at this moment — ranges of numbers are used up and refilled through the day. Which of them you can really pick for Proton Mail is on the screen in the app where you choose one, and that screen is the only current answer.
- Germany
- Austria
- Switzerland
- United Kingdom
- France
- Spain
- Italy
- Netherlands
- Belgium
- Poland
- Portugal
- Sweden
- Norway
- Denmark
- Finland
- Ireland
- Czechia
- Slovakia
- Hungary
- Romania
- Bulgaria
- Croatia
- Slovenia
- Greece
- Estonia
- Latvia
- Lithuania
- Luxembourg
- Cyprus
- Malta
- Iceland
- USA
- Canada
- Brazil
- Mexico
- Argentina
- Colombia
- India
- Indonesia
- Philippines
- Vietnam
- Thailand
- Singapore
- Hong Kong
- Japan
- Australia
- South Africa
- Nigeria
- Turkey
- Ukraine
Common questions
How do I get a Proton Mail verification code without my own SIM card?
Open SMS For U, search for Proton Mail and pick a country. You get a real phone number, you enter it at Proton Mail (the human-verification step during sign-up), and the code Proton Mail sends appears in your SMS For U account by itself. No SIM card is involved, and the Proton Mail number is not yours to keep.
How fast does the Proton Mail code arrive?
The Proton Mail code appears in your account within seconds of Proton Mail sending it. How long Proton Mail itself takes is up to Proton Mail and to the country the number comes from, which is why nothing here is worded as a promise.
What happens if no Proton Mail code arrives?
You do not pay for a Proton Mail number that brought no code. Cancel the order in the app and the payment is refunded as soon as the cancellation is confirmed. That is the whole rule, and it is why a failed Proton Mail attempt costs nothing: no code, no charge.
Which countries can I use for Proton Mail?
Proton Mail numbers come from the 50 markets listed on this page. Which of them can be picked for Proton Mail at this moment is on the country screen in the app: that list moves through the day, and a page in a search index cannot keep up with it.
Can I use the same number for Proton Mail again later?
A used Proton Mail number is not reserved for you indefinitely. Proton Mail normally does not come back to it after sign-up, but if you need lasting access to the Proton Mail account, use a number of your own.