# Verification by phone number
**URL:** https://meta.discourse.org/t/verification-by-phone-number/232302
**Category:** Support
**Created:** [July 8, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/verification-by-phone-number/232302 "2022-07-08T13:09:23Z")
**Posts on this page:** 4
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Juraj\_Štefánik](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Juraj_%C5%A0tef%C3%A1nik)
#### Post date: [July 8, 2022, 1:09pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/verification-by-phone-number/232302/1 "2022-07-08T13:09:23Z")
Hello, Is it possible to add a phone number option to user verification?
Thank you
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### Author:  [@Decorbuz](https://meta.discourse.org/u/Decorbuz)
#### Post date: [July 10, 2022, 3:44am UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/verification-by-phone-number/232302/2 "2022-07-10T03:44:45Z")
No, that isn’t possible.
> [@Phone required for registration?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/phone-required-for-registration/194472/2):
>
> Many years ago, there was a long discussion about allowing such a feature. It didn’t go anywhere, but it’s definitely worth reading if you’re interested.
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### Author:  [@SaraDev](https://meta.discourse.org/u/SaraDev)
#### Post date: [July 14, 2022, 9:48pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/verification-by-phone-number/232302/3 "2022-07-14T21:48:46Z")
User verification by phone number is not recommended.
> [@How to allow login of user through mobile number?](https://meta.discourse.org/t/how-to-allow-login-of-user-through-mobile-number/21966/22):
>
> The issue is:
>
> > How do we treat a phone number like an email address?
>
> Let’s go all the way here. Full conversion. Zero email. Only the mobile number for a user. To what extent can you treat a mobile number like an email address? To what extent can you replace an email address with a mobile number?
>
> - Identity? Every mobile number is unique, so that sort of works. You can change mobile numbers about as easily as you can change email addresses, or you can stick with them for long periods of time.
> - Notifications? Unlike email, It’s not free to send a SMS to a phone number. Say someone forgets their password or needs a reply notification. We have to send SMS because that’s literally all we have. Well SMS messages cost, like, _real money_. Sending email is as free as it gets… but SMS ain’t free. How would the average Discourse open source install deal with this?
>
> That’s the way to think about this. There are some massive obstacles.
If you’re looking for a way to discourage spammers from signing up for you site, Discourse already has a lot of protections in place to make things annoying for malicious users.
> [@Sms verification](https://meta.discourse.org/t/sms-verification/135060/8):
>
> For example, you can restrict permissions on new users so they can’t post links or images until they’ve used the site for a little while. You also have the option to configure [Akismet](https://meta.discourse.org/t/discourse-akismet-anti-spam/109337) for your forum, which will scan all new posts and user bios for spam, and automatically flag possible spam posts for review.
>
> There’s also a third-party plugin that integrates with [Stop Forum Spam](https://www.stopforumspam.com/)
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### Author:  [@system](https://meta.discourse.org/u/system)
#### Post date: [August 13, 2022, 9:49pm UTC](https://meta.discourse.org/t/verification-by-phone-number/232302/4 "2022-08-13T21:49:24Z")
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