Can you create a US Apple ID without a phone number?

General Computing
1

I don’t like creating meaningless topics, but I want your help.

I’m trying to create a US Apple ID and I don’t live in the US, which means I don’t have a US number.
I want it to be a US one because I want to have access to services not available in my country.

I was able to create one successfully with a randomly generated US number but when I tried to login I got stuck (turns out they use that number for 2FA :smile: )

Do you guys have done anything like that?

1 Like
2

I had to do this (2/3 years ago) for an Apple server, and I found success rate is a bit hit/miss. I tend to use temp phone number services. From memory, the last one I used (that worked) was with:

Just remember, privacy does not exist with this kind of (free) service. Everyone can read messages from this number. DO NOT create accounts that links to personally identifiable information. Just a tip, save that phone numbers URL. It’s very annoying trying to find that exact site and then the number (when it’s no long listed, but still active).

3

The problem is if I create an account with those temporary phone numbers, I’ll have a hard time when login into my account and passing 2FA.

4

Just a thought, you may be able to change the 2fa options and maybe remove the phone number after making the account, some services do let you do that.

5

The only other 2fa option available is a physical 2FA like yubikee.
If I don’t have the money to get a U.S number abroad, I don’t have the money to buy a 2fa key :smile:

6

I’m not sure what is available in your region, but there are services like voip.ms which offer numbers for ~0.85 USD/mo. These are not temporary / throwaway numbers for account creation, its just a normal voip service, so the number you pay for is yours and only yours for as long as you pay for it.

7

Is there a voip number service where you only pay a one time fee and keep the number forever as long as you’re using it?

8

Afaik no, there isn’t a service where you do 1 time fee and it stays with you forever, but services like my Sufi allows you to have a US number for a month at 1$ from what I know.

9

I think two reasons you don’t see one time payments for phone numbers is that:

  1. it encourages ‘hoarding’ of a limited resource
  2. theremay be an ongoing cost to the carrier (I think) per #, so charging you a one time payment would have to be a pretty high one time payment if they have to cover ongoing costs for decades or the length of your lifetime.

The only option I am aware of is to use Google voice in a specific way. I believe if you port in a number to Google voice, you get that number for the life of your Google account (with a one time payment of $20). I’ve never actually done this, but I read it was possible. However you need to be aware that Google could change their terms whenever they want or terminate your account and there is pretty much no recourse.

10

I’m now considering buying mint mobile sim cards from Amazon, using a shipping forwarding company (myus.com in my case) and ship them to my country.

After that can create a mint mobile account on their website and buy some roaming package.

Is it doable?

11

You can make it with a US address, and a ZIP code. You can also add a US landline number.

However, the number that you give for 2FA can be your current number. You don’t need a US number for this. Just this much will give you access to the US App Store. You don’t need to buy any additional numbers.

Hope this helps. :slight_smile:

1 Like
12

Really?

Can you create a US apple account with a non US number?

How do you do that while creating the account?