Frequently Asked Questions
Detailed answers covering how the service works, pricing, supported services, countries, refunds, privacy, and developer integrations.
In short
VirtualSMS provides real physical SIM card numbers for SMS verification across 145+ countries and 2500+ services. Pricing starts at $0.05 per single-use verification and $2 for short-term rentals. Auto-refund if no SMS arrives in 20 minutes. Crypto-only payments (USDT TRC-20, BNB-USDT BEP-20). No KYC. SDKs for npm, PyPI, Packagist, RubyGems, NuGet, plus a Model Context Protocol server for AI agents. Operating since 2022, paid-only, no outside funding.
Getting started
What is VirtualSMS.io?
VirtualSMS.io is a service that provides virtual phone numbers from real physical SIM cards for receiving SMS verification codes. The platform helps users verify accounts on online services without exposing their personal phone number. Coverage spans 145+ countries and 2500+ services including Telegram, WhatsApp, Google, Instagram, Tinder, Binance, Coinbase, and many niche platforms.
How does VirtualSMS.io work?
We maintain a network of real physical SIM cards installed in cellular hardware connected to local carriers in their home country. When you request a number, the system reserves one of these SIMs for you. The platform sending the SMS routes the message through the global cellular network to the originating carrier, which terminates it on the SIM. The text is then displayed in your account dashboard within seconds.
How do I sign up?
Account creation needs only an email and a password. Visit the signup page, enter both, confirm your email, and you can buy your first verification within minutes. Balance is funded with cryptocurrency (USDT TRC-20 or BNB-USDT BEP-20). There is no KYC step and no government ID required.
How long does access to a number last?
Single-use activations have a 20-minute order window in which to receive the verification SMS. If no SMS arrives during the window, the activation auto-refunds and the number rotates back to inventory. Rentals can run from 4 hours to multiple weeks depending on availability and service-specific limits — useful when you need to receive multiple SMS over time.
What is the difference between an activation and a rental?
An activation is a single-use SMS verification — one inbound SMS, 20-minute window, lowest price tier. A rental reserves the same physical number for hours or days and accepts multiple inbound SMS during the rental window. Use activations for one-shot signups. Use rentals for ongoing 2FA, account recovery flows, or testing pipelines that fire multiple codes.
Pricing + payments
How much do verifications cost?
Pricing starts at $0.05 per single-use verification on services like Discord and Snapchat, up to roughly $1.50 for Telegram and WhatsApp on premium SIM ranges. Final price depends on the service, country, and current pool availability. Live prices on each service card reflect current pool state, not stale catalog snapshots. Rentals start at $2 and scale by duration and service.
What payment methods are accepted?
Cryptocurrency only: USDT (TRC-20) on Tron and BNB-USDT (BEP-20) on Binance Smart Chain via a secure payment processor. Crypto-only is a deliberate choice — it keeps the platform off the chargeback rail (which would otherwise force a free-tier-driven business model that hurts honest customers) and avoids requiring identity verification.
What is the minimum deposit?
Minimum deposit is $2, which covers a typical activation plus a small buffer. There is no maximum and no expiry on balance — funds you do not use stay in your account indefinitely. The most common deposit size on the platform is $5-$25 for casual use and $50+ for power users running multiple verifications a week.
Are there subscription fees or monthly minimums?
No. The product is purely pay-as-you-go. There are no monthly fees, no subscription tiers, no usage minimums, and no commitment to recurring spend. You buy verifications and rentals when you need them and the balance stays in your account otherwise.
Why is real-SIM pricing higher than VoIP-based competitors?
Operating real cellular SIM cards in 145+ countries costs roughly 5-10× more per number than pulling VoIP from upstream carriers. The economic trade-off shows up in success rates: real-SIM verifications complete around 95% of the time on strict platforms (WhatsApp, Tinder, banking, crypto), while VoIP-based services typically sit at 30-50%. If your use case tolerates failed verifications, VoIP is cheaper. If you need verifications to actually complete, real-SIM is the correct primitive.
Do you offer volume discounts?
API resellers running consistent monthly volume above $5K negotiate custom pricing case by case. For retail customers, the published per-verification price already reflects the operating cost; large discounts at retail volume are not generally available. Contact support via the Telegram bot if your volume is in the API band.
Service compatibility
Which services can I verify?
Over 2500+ services are supported, including major platforms (Telegram, WhatsApp, Google, Facebook, Instagram, Discord, TikTok, Snapchat, Twitter/X, LinkedIn), crypto exchanges (Binance, Coinbase, Kraken, KuCoin), finance (PayPal, Revolut, Cash App), shopping (Amazon, eBay, Uber, Lyft), entertainment (Netflix, Spotify, Steam, HBO Max), and many regional or niche services. The activations dashboard shows the full live catalog.
How reliable is verification on WhatsApp and Telegram?
Both platforms run aggressive anti-burner detection, so they are the strictest test of any verification service. On real-SIM routes through VirtualSMS, success rates sit around 95%+ on Telegram and 90%+ on WhatsApp depending on country. The most common cause of the remaining failures is country-mismatch (using a UK number with a US-IP signup) or platform-side rate-limiting on bursty traffic, not the underlying number quality.
Can I use VirtualSMS for Tinder, Bumble, and other dating apps?
Yes — dating apps are a common use case. Tinder is the strictest of the major dating platforms because it cross-checks the number against device fingerprints and IP geolocation. Use a real-SIM number from a country that matches your IP, and pair it with a clean device fingerprint or anti-detect setup if you operate at scale.
Will banking and crypto KYC accept these numbers?
Most banking and crypto-exchange flows accept the SMS for the verification step itself (the carrier-fingerprint check passes because the number is real cellular). The broader KYC question — whether the institution accepts you as a customer — depends on identity documents, address proof, and the institution's risk model, none of which the SMS service touches. The number gets you past the SMS gate; everything after that is between you and the institution.
What happens when a service is not in your catalog?
Reach out via the Telegram support bot or email support@virtualsms.io with the service name and a link. We add new services as customer volume justifies onboarding the routing logic. Many requests are added within a week. If the service uses a non-standard verification method (push notification instead of SMS, voice-only, in-app code), we will note that on the request response.
Can I receive long-form SMS or one-time-password codes from custom platforms?
Any platform that delivers a one-time code via standard SMS will work. The verification SMS is delivered as raw text into your dashboard, so the code-format does not matter — 4-digit, 6-digit, alphanumeric, or full-sentence-with-link all surface. The catalog 'service' is mostly a routing optimization to pick the country and SIM range that has the best historical success rate for that platform.
Country availability
Which countries do you support?
Coverage spans 145+ countries with deep inventory in Europe (United Kingdom, Germany, France, Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Poland, Czech Republic, Lithuania, Estonia, Romania, Bulgaria), North America (United States, Canada, Mexico), Asia (Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, Vietnam, Thailand, India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Hong Kong), and growing weight in Latin America, Africa, and the Middle East.
How do I pick the best country for a given service?
On the buy page, country options for the service you select are sorted by recent success rate. The top country is generally the safest choice. For platforms that cross-check IP and SIM region (Tinder, banking apps, regional content services), pair the SIM country with a residential proxy or VPN endpoint in the same country. For region-agnostic platforms (Telegram, Discord), the cheapest available country usually clears.
Why is country availability dynamic?
Inventory rotates continuously. New country routes get added when customer demand crosses the threshold that justifies operating physical SIMs in that region; existing routes get quarantined when delivery quality on a specific service-country combo drops, and reactivated once the underlying issue is resolved. The catalog reflects what is in stock right now, not a static published list.
Do you support phone numbers from the United States?
Yes — US numbers are available, but availability fluctuates because the US verification market has the highest demand and the strictest carrier policies. Premium-grade US SIM ranges cost more than equivalent European ranges, and certain services (banking, crypto) sometimes prefer non-US numbers for international users. Check current prices on the buy page.
Can I request a country that is not currently listed?
Yes. Contact support via the Telegram bot with the country name and the services you would use it for. We add new country routes when there is a clear customer demand signal — usually within a few weeks for tier-1 markets, longer for harder-to-source ranges. We are honest about countries where carrier or regulatory conditions make routes impractical.
Refunds + failures
What happens if no SMS arrives?
If the SMS does not arrive within the 20-minute order window, the activation auto-refunds the full amount to your balance. No support ticket required. The refund is automatic because the system already knows the SMS did not deliver — there is no debate about whether it 'should have' worked.
What if the SMS arrives but the platform rejects the code?
Rare but it happens — usually a sign that the number ran into a carrier-fingerprint flag at the platform-side rather than at the carrier level. Contact support via the Telegram bot with the order ID; the route gets reviewed and the activation is credited manually if appropriate. Repeat occurrences on the same service-country combo trigger a route quarantine.
Can I cancel an order before the SMS arrives?
Yes. Cancellation refunds the full amount to your balance. Cancellation is the right action if you realize you picked the wrong country, if you no longer need the verification, or if the platform you are signing up to is rate-limiting requests. Cancelled orders do not count against your account in any way.
Do refunds go back to my crypto wallet or to platform credit?
Refunds always land as platform credit. The crypto-deposit step is one-way; refunds rebuilding the original transaction would require the payment processor to send funds back through the same crypto rail with all the friction that implies. Platform credit is instant and applies to any future order.
Privacy + KYC
Do I need to verify my identity to use VirtualSMS?
No. Account creation needs only an email and a password. Balance is funded with cryptocurrency. We do not request government ID, proof-of-address, or selfie verification at any point. The product does not need that data to function and our customer base actively values not having to surrender it to a verification-service vendor.
Is my personal information safe?
We collect only what is needed to operate the service: order metadata (which service, which country, which number), inbound SMS bodies during the active order window, and standard server logs. SMS bodies are retained briefly for delivery confirmation and dispute resolution, then purged. We do not sell or share customer data, and we do not run advertising-supported flows that monetize behavior.
What happens to the SMS content after I receive it?
Inbound SMS during the active order window is stored on the platform so you can view it in the dashboard. After the order window closes, message bodies are retained briefly for dispute resolution (typically 30 days) and then purged. The platform does not parse SMS for any analytical or commercial purpose.
Is VirtualSMS legal to use?
Yes — providing virtual numbers for SMS verification is a legitimate service. Customers are responsible for ensuring their use complies with the terms of service of the platforms they are verifying accounts on, and with applicable local law. We do not enable or facilitate illegal activity, and we cooperate with legitimate law-enforcement requests where required by jurisdiction.
Technical (API, MCP, webhooks)
Is there a REST API?
Yes. The full REST API is documented at virtualsms.io/docs with Bearer-token authentication. The API surface covers everything the dashboard exposes — service catalog, country pricing, order creation, status polling, cancellation, refund check, balance, and order history. Rate limits are 120 requests per minute by default; higher limits are available on request.
What SDKs are available?
Native SDKs are published on npm (virtualsms-sdk for JS/TS), PyPI (virtualsms for Python), Packagist (virtualsms/sdk for PHP), RubyGems (virtualsms-sdk for Ruby), and NuGet (VirtualSMS for .NET). Each SDK wraps the REST API with idiomatic types and helpers for the language. Source code lives at github.com/virtualsms-io.
What is the MCP server and how do I use it?
The Model Context Protocol (MCP) server lets AI agents drive the verification flow directly — Claude Desktop, Cursor, Claude Code, and any MCP-compatible client. Once configured with your Bearer token, an agent can list services, pick a country, place an order, poll for the SMS, extract the code, and submit it to whatever platform you are signing up to, all without a human-driven dashboard session. The repo and configuration guide live at github.com/virtualsms-io/mcp-server.
Are there webhooks for inbound SMS?
Webhooks are available on request for accounts running automated workflows. The webhook fires on SMS arrival with order metadata and the message body, signed with an HMAC for verification. Default flow is polling via the REST API, which is sufficient for most integrations; webhooks are recommended once you exceed roughly 100 orders per hour.
Can I run the API in a CI/CD pipeline?
Yes — a common use case. Bearer-token authentication works cleanly in CI environments, and the SDKs support typical CI patterns (environment-variable token injection, retry-on-rate-limit, structured error responses). Avoid embedding the Bearer token in the repository or in build logs; the standard CI-secret pattern is the recommended setup.
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