How to Verify an Account Without Using Your Real Phone Number (with a GrapheneOS Trick!)

A bit of news and a recommendation for how to use online services that require a verification text...without using your phone number.

DISENGAGE is Famous! (OK, not really)

DeleteMe’s Incognito newsletter, which covers digital privacy and data protection tips, recently featured DISENGAGE in the article "23andMe Bankruptcy & Data Privacy." The article offers of great information and advice on how to protect yourself from the selling/sharing/leaking of your DNA info.

In more news, I was interviewed on the Critical Future Tech podcast, where we discussed online privacy, surveillance capitalism, and escaping Big Tech's grasp. You can listen or read the transcript here. We talked about how protecting your data isn't "hiding," why people with privilege should seek out alternative devices and apps, why Disengaging spans the political spectrum, and more.

How to Verify via Text Without Revealing Your Phone Number

I've managed to get a bunch of my friends and family onto Signal for communicating, but I have a few friends overseas who use only Whatsapp to talk with their U.S.-based buddies.

I had to decide: Download the Meta app, or never talk to these friends again? I decided to go with Whatsapp.

I'm already running Graphene OS, a privacy-focused Android OS, on a used Pixel, so I'm not super worried about tracking.

However, creating a WhatsApp account requires SMS verification using a valid phone number—an issue for anyone trying to protect their personal information online.

People used to bypass phone verification with Google Voice, but many platforms now block virtual or temporary numbers from services like that.

So I did some searching and found veritl.io, a site that offers temporary phone numbers for account verification. I chose "USA" for the country and "Whatsapp" for the app, and paid around $3.50 for a number that would last 15 minutes.

It worked perfectly for the verification, and I was able to open my account and get in touch with my friends.

Veritel.io charges more for verified numbers that are pretty much guaranteed to work, and less for numbers that may not be as reliable. However, if a number doesn't work, your payment is credited back so you can try another.

I was very impressed! I don't love spending money to open a simple social media account, but it was a much better option than sharing my phone number...which I'm sure is attached to my name and other identifying data.

As a side note, Whatsapp kept asking for access to my contacts and wouldn't let me just add the number of the person I wanted to talk to.

Then I discovered that Graphene OS includes a feature called Contacts Scope. This lets you control which contacts apps like WhatsApp can see—making it even better for digital privacy advocates. I was able to select the three friends without giving Whatsapp access to the entire list.

I'm sure it's near impossible to escape Meta's tracking and data collection altogether. But even small steps—like using GrapheneOS, bypassing SMS verification, and minimizing contact sharing—can throw a little sand in Big Tech's surveillance gears.

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The comments are open, so bark back if you’ve got thoughts. Fake names and masked emails are fine—its how we digital underdogs roll.