As the tittle sais, i was trying to create an instagram account and it is not possible without a phone number. Same with discord. Obviously i dont want to provide mine. Any working solutions to bypass this? not looking for alternative private service, i already use them.
just dont use those services? even if you find a way to bypass this, you wont get anything out of it, they will still collect all of your data such as your location, device information etc.
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This is the way. I got my phone set up in eSIM and just pop SIMs like Pez
How does that help? Anonymous SIMs haven’t been a thing for years.
Anonymous Sims still exist in abundance. Cash for SIM cards is a big thing everywhere I’ve been.
But the IMSI doesn’t change so it’s not really anonymous if your phone is tied to identity. Just depends on your threat model
First - the thing that is persistent with a phone is IMEI, IMSI is the one in the simcard. Second - “cash for sims” is not legal in many places, like where I live. There are places that sell illegal anonymous ones (not like you can get in trouble for that tho), but idk how reliable these actually are, and I still haven’t learned to find these places consistently.
I can go to Target right now and pay in cash for a mint SIM. Where are you?
Target is USA though. A ton of countries have such policy.
In countries other than in the US, this is a major problem (I am aware of this, having spent some time in Asia)
In Germany and Spain and I suspect in the whole eu you have to show your id when you buy a sim and they register it to you.
Indeed. It is only really in the US where this is possible.
Not everyone is trying to run from total government surveillance. Sometimes, having an extra phone number, like having a pseudonym, is enough for them.
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If in the US, Prepaid sim with fake info. Mint’s trial sim gives you 7 days iirc for 2$ Edit: thought it was obvious but just to be clear, setup another form of 2fa after, like totp
Have you tried Firefox Relay? They have a paid tier that gives you a phone number and unlimited email masks. Yes, you have to provide a number, and yes you have to pay, but you wouldn’t be giving Meta or Discord your contact info.
Is it out for everyone? Last time I checked it said coming soon and I ended up getting anonaddy instead.
Yes, it is.
Edit: downvoted because I was able to sign up for a service recently?
Probably down voted for saying its available for everyone when it is currently regional.
Not here it seems. Still shows join waiting list.
A UK VPN gives me a wait list, but switching to US gives me a signup.
I’m not OP but thanks for the recommendation. I’ll be looking into this
There are several masking services available, at different price ranges and with different feature sets. Relay is a good one, there’s also MySudo (I remember it being advertised for a while back when it was iOS only), Ironvest etc.
If you’re looking at services that only give you one temporary phone number, you might want to consider a budget phone provider too. FreedomPop is “free” if you buy their SIM card, ignore their upgrade offers, and adhere to their rules.
Google Voice or Firefox Relay if sign up is insisting.
Also, after you create a Discord account, you can remove the number visiting account details.
Oh but do they keep it backed up? Guess you’ll never know!
But does it matter when it’s from G Voice or FF Relay? You can just delete the numbers from your account and get a new one.
Ah, I see what you’re saying, and that’s a good point
Unless you in an area that requires an ID to purchase prepaid SIM cards you could go that route. The issue would be when you need to log back into an account, it gets flagged, and you need to reuse that number for verification purposes.
This is why it’s critical to set up two-factor on the account once you register. Pass keys, fido2 keys, etc.
This is so you can authenticate the account without the phone number. Just remember all of these systems are designed to the people can change their phone numbers, or when they lose their phones, etc you just have to provide enough factors so that they’re confident it’s actually you logging in.
I tried making an IG account a couple years ago, and they wanted me to send them a selfie with me holding up my ID. FOH with that shit lol.
Lmao for ig wow
Had the same thing, really crazy
My experience with the app Burner was pretty good because the app can accept texts from new numbers, unlike a lot of free online phone apps. It’s not free, however.
This has been the case for Google Voice. I transferred my old number to it and even stuff I had it for verification no longer works because services see it as a landline for some dumb reason.
*note, this isn’t for all online services. Some still recognize it and accept it for verification. But a good handful don’t.
Some services recognize VOIP numbers and intentionally reject them because they see mobile numbers as a more limited resource for abuse prevention purposes, or more valuable personal data for tying to an identity and selling what they know about you to advertisers.
https://kycnot.me/search?q=sms&type=
Here is a list of services that accept crypto payments to give you sms receive access to a phone number. This way you can sms verify your account, with a throw away number.
Once you create the account setup passkeys or use a fido2 key as your two factor verification. That way you can validate access’s to the account in the future without sms.
Give your phone number to these shady crypto bros instead! 🙃
The whole point is you’re not giving your information to anybody. You don’t give any information to the temporary number people.
Pay cash at walmart for a burner phone.
As I understand you receive the message on a website this way
Yeh I was being facetious. They are transparent about which service requires what, and what they are capable of (not all accept codes). And you pay in crypto (they only support established ones), which is by definition anonymous.
Been using jmp.chat. I didn’t have to give any personal info. It uses XMMP/Jabber to handle text/calls instead of wrapping your existing number. Their in-house client is pretty nice as it integrates with the dialer.
They straight up tell you its not private. That’s not what I use it for. I use it to make my online activity less linkable when companies try to KYC me by requiring a TN.
The phone network itself does not encrypt metadata or content. Therefore, if your concern is a state-level actor, exploit of a service provider, or rogue employee, you should consider all the metadata and content of your phone calls and text and picture messages to be not private.
You can create an instagram account with Tor for example, but it’s extremely difficult. First try creating and Facebook account with their onion address. If not possible, try with the clearnet one. Then login to insta with that FB account. Your account might get restricted and you have to wait for a few months to lift it. You can also appeal to them.
The acc is more likely to be flagged the more ‘generic’ your fingerprint is. Accounts made using Mullvad Browser (Torbrowser without Tor network) on VPN was insta-flagged and disabled. When I did it from the official ‘lite’ app using a burner android phone, it went fine for weeks.
I have one that was created with the way I posted. It’s still running.
Really? Mine was banned within 15 min or so. I wasn’t very lucky.
Damn, is it really like that now? I created my accounts for IG, Google, Discord, years ago and without a number. I refuse to provide it when they ask now and never had an issue.
Discord can outright block you from using it if it decides to ask to connect a phone number post-registration.
No they don’t. Lol. I’ve been using my discord for years without a number.
I didn’t say they always do it. I said they can, and they do sometimes. Happened to a close friend of mine after she logged in via Ripcord, though it may be unrelated.
Has more to do with using a third-party client then, which they don’t like
We can only speculate. Many have used those without issues for years.
And many didn’t, including myself. Never did anything that violates their terms before, but one day after I started trying out alternative clients, access to my account got terminated.
That was two years ago though, I’ve heard they’re a bit less strict now.
Third party client. That’s why. It’s to combat spam and bots.
Lately IG won’t even let me log in wihout confirming my phone number so I’ve just stopped using it.
Same here, even worst if they detect you are using a VPN, they tag the account directly. This is the main issue in all services nowadays
Yep it is very aggressive nowadays, simple services asking for sensitive information.
You want privacy and also use instagram and discord? Not even considering to switch? I guess you are mentally impaired in some way
I get sexually exited when the corporations steal and gather my personal information. Is like an orgasm…
Ok…
Just yesterday wanted to create a new Gitlab.com account to add an issue to a project, the stupid thing not only required an email and a phone number, the bastards wanted a credit card
Just closed the site and went away instead. How is this considered okay to open a damn free account?
Yeah is insane lately
Credit card sounds real shitty but they probably require a phone number to make sure people don’t just create more accounts for free CI minutes.
Most countries will have what are known as TV numbers, you see them on US shows as 555 numbers. Unless you need a valid number for MFA you can enter tv numbers in those fields and the form doesn’t throw a hissy fit about it.
Unfortunately most (bigger) services that require a phone number will almost certainly want to validate the phone number so you will need to receive a text or phone call.
2nd line perhaps?
