Create a Facebook account without a phone number

Yes. Facebook's sign-up form has one contact field, labeled "Mobile number or email," so an email address is enough to create an account. You fill in your name, birthday, gender, an email and a password, confirm the email, and the account works with no phone number attached.

We read the live sign-up form on November 1, 2026. Here is what it asks, what Meta says about checks that can come later, and how to secure the account without ever adding a number.

Can you create a Facebook account without a phone number?

You can. On Facebook's sign-up page, the contact field is labeled "Mobile number or email." It is one field, not two, so you choose which to give. If you type something that is neither, the form says: "Please enter a valid mobile number or email address."

If you leave the field empty, Facebook explains what it is for: "You'll use this when you log in and if you ever need to reset your password." That is the whole job of the contact at sign-up. An email address you control does it just as well as a phone.

What Facebook's sign-up form asks for

This is the full list of fields on the form we loaded, with Facebook's own wording where it adds something.

Field	What the form says	Phone needed?
First name and last name	"What's your first name?" and "What's your last name?"	No
Birthday	Pick a date, or enter your age; "Please be sure to use your real birthday" if it looks wrong	No
Gender	Female, Male or Custom, with a pronoun choice	No
Mobile number or email	"You may receive notifications from us"	No, an email works
Password	"At least six numbers, letters and punctuation marks (like ! and &)"	No

Under the contact field there is a link: "Learn why we ask for your contact information." It goes to a help article titled "How Facebook uses the email or mobile phone number on your profile."

The terms text at the bottom of the form has a line many people scroll past: "People who use our service may have uploaded your contact information to Facebook." In other words, if a friend synced their contacts, Facebook may already have your number or email from them. Leaving your number off your own account does not change that, but it does mean you are not confirming it.

How to make a Facebook account with an email

Go to facebook.com/r.php, or start sign-up in the Facebook app.
Enter your real first and last name. Meta's Terms of Service ask you to "provide for your account the same name that you use in everyday life."
Pick your real birthday. Meta says it requires everyone "to be at least 13 to use Instagram or Facebook," and its May 2026 post on age checks says accounts it believes are underage are deactivated until the owner proves their age.
Choose your gender. Custom is an option, and the form says you can change who sees it later.
Type your email address in the "Mobile number or email" field. Use an address you plan to keep, because it is your login and your password reset route.
Set a password of at least six characters mixing numbers, letters and punctuation, then submit the form.
Confirm the email. Open your inbox and use the code or link Facebook sends.
Set up two-factor and a passkey before you add friends. Both are covered below, and neither needs a phone.

If the form returns "We couldn't create your account," don't keep resubmitting with tweaked details. The terms ask you to "provide accurate information about yourself" and "create only one account (your own)," so made-up details are more likely to get the account restricted later than to help.

What can make Facebook ask for a number later

Meta does not publish a list of triggers. Its newsroom does describe the checks it uses, and none of them needs a phone.

Suspicious logins and recovery. Meta's post on account security design says it uses "a variety of signals and verification challenges to help detect suspicious activity." It adds: "These challenges may range from requesting a copy of a person's ID or confirming a code sent to a device that has previously logged into the account."

Accounts that look compromised. In its account recovery post, Meta says "we require the account holder to verify their identity before regaining access by uploading an official ID or an official certificate that includes their name." In March 2025 it said people in the UK, EU and South Korea would also get the option of a video selfie, which it describes as optional. Meta's page for hacked accounts is facebook.com/hacked.

Age. If Meta's systems think an account belongs to someone under 13, the account is deactivated and the owner has to go through age verification.

Losing your contact. This is the one that bites. Meta's 2022 figures say people are "two times more likely to recover their Facebook account if their contact points are up to date." The same post says that for compromised Facebook accounts, "one in four began with a person's contact point being taken over." Keep one contact current and well protected. That can be an email.

Why Facebook asks for your number

Facebook's own form gives the plain reasons: login, password resets, and notifications. Two other things are worth knowing before you decide.

First, the form's terms text says Meta's Privacy Policy "describes the ways we can use the information we collect when you create an account. For example, we use this information to provide, personalize and improve our products, including ads." The contact you sign up with is part of that information.

Second, phone numbers given for security have a history here. The US Federal Trade Commission's 2019 order against Facebook included: "Facebook is prohibited from using telephone numbers obtained to enable a security feature (e.g., two-factor authentication) for advertising." The order is a restriction on Meta, and it exists because the question came up.

How to keep a Facebook account secure without a phone

Add a passkey. Meta brought passkeys to Facebook on iOS and Android in June 2025 and to Messenger in September 2025. Meta calls them "an upgrade in security compared to traditional passwords and one-time SMS codes," and says the fingerprint, face scan or PIN behind them stays on your device. Our explainer on what a passkey is covers how they work.
Use an authenticator app for two-factor. It generates codes on your device, so nothing depends on a text message reaching you.
Run Security Checkup. Meta's April 2026 Meta Account announcement says Security Checkup now covers "protections like multi-factor authentication and login alerts" across Meta apps.
Protect the email itself. If the email is your only contact, it is the key to the account. Give it a strong password and its own two-factor.

If you already gave Facebook your number

Meta is moving shared settings into Meta Account, the successor to Accounts Center, over the next year. The announcement says your password, two-factor authentication and "the email address associated with your account" are managed there in one place, so that is where to review your contact info. Before removing a number, switch two-factor to a passkey or an authenticator app, and check that the email on the account works. If you use Messenger, our post on whether Facebook Messenger is encrypted covers the other half of the privacy picture.

Frequently asked questions

Can I make a Facebook account with only an email?

Yes. The sign-up form's contact field is "Mobile number or email," and an email fills it. You confirm the address after you sign up, and it becomes your login and password reset route.

Can I create a Facebook account without an email or a phone number?

No. The form needs one of the two, and Facebook says you will use it to log in and to reset your password. If you don't want to share your main address, make a separate inbox or an alias just for Facebook.

Why does Facebook keep asking me to add a phone number?

Facebook's form says the contact is for logging in, resetting your password and notifications, and a phone is one more way to reach you. Adding one is not required. For security, a passkey and an authenticator app do the job without a number.

How do I recover a Facebook account without a phone number?

Use the email on your account for a password reset. If the account looks compromised, Meta says it may ask for an official ID, a code sent to a device that has logged in before, or in the UK, EU and South Korea, an optional video selfie. Start at facebook.com/hacked.

Is it against Facebook's rules to sign up without a phone?

No. The form offers email as an option. What the terms require is your everyday name, accurate information about yourself, and only one personal account.

Start with an email that never asked for your number

Facebook is happy with an email, but many email providers ask for a phone before they give you one. We cover how Gmail and Outlook handle it, and our page on email without a phone number goes through the rest.

Secria Mail sign-up is a name, the address you want and a password, with no phone number and no card. A 12-word recovery phrase you save at sign-up is your way back in, so recovery never waits on a text. The free plan comes with 1 GB and 2 email aliases: give Facebook its own alias and your main address stays private. Your mailbox is protected with ML-KEM-1024 with X25519 post-quantum encryption on every plan, on by default.

If you want the email behind your Facebook account to be phone-free too, create a free Secria account in about a minute.