Instagram requires either an email or phone for account creation, then asks for phone verification when accounts trigger anti-spam signals. A virtual number lets you complete verification without your personal mobile becoming part of Meta's profile graph.
Instagram accounts can be created with email-only, but Meta's risk engine triggers phone verification on a significant percentage of new accounts — especially those created on fresh IPs, with VPNs, on devices with no prior Meta activity, or that show signup patterns Meta associates with bots or business accounts. Once Instagram demands phone verification, you cannot complete account creation or recover the account without entering a working mobile number.
Anonymous Instagram accounts have many legitimate uses. Privacy-focused users keep one personal account and a separate "finsta" or alt account that doesn't link back to their real-world identity through Meta's people-you-may-know graph (which is largely powered by phone-number cross-referencing). Creators run anonymous niche-content accounts (book recommendations, food, travel photography) without exposing the operator's main identity. Researchers and journalists need accounts that can't be deanonymised by sources who happen to have their real number saved in their phone's contacts.
VirtualSMS provides real-SIM verification numbers that Instagram accepts. Sign up for Instagram with email, hit the phone-verification gate, paste a virtual number from your VirtualSMS dashboard, receive the SMS code in your inbox, enter it. Instagram marks the account as phone-verified and your personal mobile is never linked to the account in Meta's database. The anonymous account stays anonymous — no Suggested-Friends contamination, no "someone with your number is on Instagram" notifications to your real contacts.