Can't Add Phone Number

Question

I'm unsure if I'm the only one but I can't add my phone number AT ALL. I go to edit account information and there is nothing that says "Add Phone Number". Its just Add Email. I've logged in on my computer and it says the same thing.

I'm not completely sure what to do from here.

Answer 1

For personal Microsoft accounts, Microsoft now says you can no longer add a phone number as a new security method. Their current support article states: “For increased security, you can no longer add a phone number” when adding a new way to verify sign-in.

https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/account-billing/microsoft-account-security-info-verification-codes-bf2505ca-cae5-c5b4-77d1-69d3343a5452

That said, Microsoft still supports receiving security codes by text in general for accounts that already have phone verification set up, and their support pages still describe SMS verification and genuine Microsoft verification texts.

Answer 2

This is a widely reported problem at the moment where the option to add a phone number to the Microsoft account is missing, this is a server side issue Microsoft needs to fix on their side, the best option is to open the Feedback Hub app in Windows and report this to their developers there, then when they resolve the server side issue, you should then be able to add the phone number to your account.

Answer 3

The Microsoft account page only shows Add phone number when the account type and page support phone aliases. If only Add email appears, use the dedicated “how you sign in” page, which exposes both options:

1. Go to the Manage how you sign in to Microsoft / Edit account info page: https://account.live.com/names/manage and sign in.
2. On that page, choose Add phone number (or Add email if that is all that appears) and follow the prompts to add and verify the number.
3. If the goal is to change an existing phone number, first Add phone number, verify it, then optionally select Make primary and remove the old one.

Notes from the documentation:

• Phone numbers and email addresses on a Microsoft account are called aliases and all share the same account, password, and settings.
• VOIP numbers cannot be added as a way to sign in or receive verification codes.
• An organization may restrict adding its email addresses, but this does not usually affect personal mobile numbers.
• Only one mobile number can be used as a sign-in alias at a time.

If the Add phone number option still does not appear even on https://account.live.com/names/manage, use the guided support tool or contact support from the Microsoft account help pages to review the account configuration.

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References:

• How to add an email address or phone number to your Microsoft account
• Change the email address or phone number for your Microsoft account
• Change your phone number or email address in Microsoft Teams Free
• Adding your phone number to a Microsoft account in Microsoft Teams Free