I'd like to create a Yahoo! account. The signup page won't let me proceed without entering a cell phone number, and it won't recognize my Google Voice number as a valid cell phone number. Is there a workaround to be able to create a Yahoo! account without having a cell phone that can receive SMS messages?

  • Guess not from testing so far. Which sucks for those of us without mobiles and don't want to hijack a friend's mobile either – Eight Days of Malaise Aug 27 '13 at 4:52
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    Yahoo! support told me it can't be done; I'm hoping to find a workaround. – Daniel Lawson Aug 27 '13 at 6:35
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    This is a new thing, right? Because I’m pretty sure last year it wasn’t mandatory. – Alex Aug 27 '13 at 6:59
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    I don't think using a friend's mobile number and changing a couple of the digits will work. I just tried setting up a new account and put in a random mobile number. After submitting the details to create the account the next page said an activation code had been sent to that mobile number. So I've just created an account for a random stranger - they've got the activation code and I've got the password. – Simon Tewsi Sep 2 '13 at 12:03
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    I'm not trying to break the rules, @user814064. I want to know if there's a legitimate way to create an account that doesn't involve a mobile phone. – Daniel Lawson Sep 4 '13 at 5:44

So it turns out that the answer was right under my nose and does not involve any deceit or hacking. Yahoo! provides an option for creating an account without a cellphone, but it isn't via the "Create Account" button.

On the sign-in page, there are a few options:

picture of sign-in page

If you click the "Facebook" or "Google" button, you can sign in to Yahoo! using a Facebook or Google account. Once you sign in that way, Yahoo! creates a Yahoo! account linked to your other account, and you do not need to enter a cell phone number to create a Yahoo! account this way.

So for someone who wants to create a Yahoo! account without a cell phone, the steps are

  1. Create a Google or Facebook account.

  2. Sign into Yahoo! using the Google or Facebook account.

  3. Use that sign-in to create the Yahoo! account you want.

To use this method, however, you give Yahoo the right to capture any & all information that is on your Facebook page. Be aware of this before making the connection to Facebook!

  • I'm not sure about this. Both FB and google require a phone as well, I suppose this works if you already created one but if you don't have either of those you'd still need a phone number. – csgeek Jan 2 '14 at 23:42
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    It is NOT possible to create a new Yahoo account by signing in with Google, at least in March 2014. I just tried it, and got to this brick wall: "The Google ID you entered is not associated with a Yahoo account. To continue, you now need to create a Yahoo account." -- and you're back at the page where you must enter a mobile phone number to create an account. – MM. Mar 10 '14 at 1:58
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    Looks like this feature is being removed as of March 2014. See: indianexpress.com/article/technology/technology-others/… – JGurtz Mar 17 '14 at 22:41
  • If you use a Google account, it still requires the mobile number. Best part, if you say "Call Me", it will also say "This is not a valid phone number." It says the same with my desk phone too! Come on Yahoo... no wonder everyone is leaving. – Joseph Lust May 16 '14 at 16:31

You can create (or, more specifically, I was just able to create) a Yahoo account without a mobile number by signing up with an existing email address. On the sign up page, click on "I'd rather use my own email address."

Now, of course, you need another email address that itself doesnt require a mobile number. There aren't many. On 7/29/2016 I created one successfully with gmx.com which does not require a mobile number.

(I suppose if you just want some email address, not specifically Yahoo, you could just create a gmx.com (or other) account and stop there.)

The from address from this Yahoo account created this way looks like this: 2jcmsbudasxshcg2f3vo**********7zopdpg3zm@yahoo.com

You can "neaten" up this address by creating an "extra address" : https://help.yahoo.com/kb/account/create-extra-email-address-sln3290.html

Briefly the steps are: Gear -> Settings -> Accounts -> click your account name -> Extra email address...Create address

None of these steps currently required me to provide a mobile number. However I suspect they're always trying to close such loopholes. This experience is from July 2016.

Note that the mobile number is an effective password recovery mechanism should you forget your password, or if it's hacked, and you don't have one using this method. However, your gmx.com email will serve for that purpose here too. You may need to log into your gmx.com account every few months to make sure it doesnt get deleted for inactivity.

  • gmx.com gives "Your registration could not be processed at the moment. Please try again later." at registration attempt. Apparently it is a common issue. – reducing activity May 18 '18 at 9:22

It's not possible to create a new Yahoo account without listing a cell phone number. You could make up a cell phone number but when you enter the number Yahoo is going to send a text message to that number so that you can verify that the number actually belongs to you. If you can't verify the number you can't activate the account. Other options would be asking a friend if you can use their cell phone number or buying a cheap prepaid cell phone. Remember if you use your friends number you still have to verify the cell number is correct and if you have an security issues like suspicious activity or forgetting your password Yahoo will send alerts to their cell phone.


Try using this free web service, Pinger Textfree Web. Among other things, this website

  • Lets you get a phone number for free
  • Anybody else can send text messages to this number that you can check from the web
  • Lets you send a text message from this web interface to other phones.

I have not checked if Yahoo can send text messages here, but I have tried with some real phones and they all succeeded.

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    A front page as a large flash animation? No, thanks. – Deer Hunter Sep 1 '13 at 8:48
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    Yahoo flags the Pinger number as not a valid phone. Nice try, but that does not work at Yahoo. Thanks – user46861 Sep 2 '13 at 12:56
