What ASMS.ai is good for
Receiving verification codes without giving out your personal number. Sign up for a marketplace, a dating app or a newsletter with a second number, and keep your own off their database and away from spam.
A separate number for one part of your life, such as selling online, where you only need to receive confirmations. Travel, when your home SIM is not in your phone but a code is on its way. Developer testing, where you need a real number to check that your own app sends SMS.
In all of these, the number only has to receive. You request a code, it arrives on the page, you type it in, and you are done. Nothing needs to go back the other way.
What it is not good for
Anything two-way. You cannot text a friend, reply to a seller, or call a business from an ASMS.ai number. There is no voicemail and no calling at all.
If that is what you need, a calling and texting app is the right choice, and you should pick one of those instead. We would rather you use the right tool than buy a number that cannot do the job.
Websites like TextNow: a number you read in the browser
Everything on ASMS.ai happens in a web page. There is nothing to download, and it works the same on a phone, a tablet or a laptop.
For a free number, you open its page and watch the inbox. For a private number, you log in and see your messages on your order or rental page. Nobody else can read a private inbox.
Because there is no app, you check the page when you are expecting a text. For codes, that is usually all you need, since you are already at the screen asking for one.
Apps like TextNow free: what is free here
The free numbers on ASMS.ai cost nothing and need no account. They are shared, so the inbox is public: anyone who opens the same number can read the texts. Most are UK numbers, with Netherlands, Finland and a few others.
A free number is fine for a one-off code you use straight away. It is not a second number you can rely on, and it should never be used for banking, two-factor login or account recovery, because anyone could read the reset code.
Choosing the right kind of number
For one quick, low-stakes code, use a free number. For one code you want to keep private, use a per-code number on the /otp page, from $0.50; if no code arrives, the order is refunded automatically.
For a second number you will keep receiving texts on, rent a private non-VoIP number on the /numbers page, from $4.99, for 1 day up to 12 months depending on the country. You can cancel between 5 and 120 minutes after renting, before any SMS arrives, for a refund. For calls and two-way texting, use a calling app.