Can You Join Plenty of Fish Without a Phone Number?

Probably not. Guides to Plenty of Fish sign-up say it asks for a mobile number and sends an SMS code to it, so you need a number that can receive a text before the account exists. We found no no-phone sign-up path, and the workarounds we found come from a company that sells virtual numbers.

Guides say every account is registered with a phone number. During sign-up you enter the code it texts you. One guide to POF registration problems lists "a valid mobile number is not entered when you are asked to enter an SMS code" as a reason sign-up fails, which fits the same picture.

Use a number you own and plan to keep. The account is tied to it.

POF's Terms of Use list who can join: you must be at least 18, have no other account and not have been removed before. They say nothing about a phone number, and POF's help pages weren't readable for us. So the phone requirement rests on third-party guides, which describe it as the normal way to verify an account. Check the Help Center in the app or on the website before you decide.

The reasons third-party guides give are that the number confirms a real person is behind each account, helps cut fake profiles and spam, and gives you a way to recover the account later. That is their explanation, not something POF's Terms of Use state.

A guide published by a company that sells virtual phone numbers lists four options: a virtual number, a friend's or family member's number, a temporary number, and an online SMS service. Read it as marketing. Even that page admits the limits:

• Some providers may not send codes to VoIP numbers.
• A borrowed number is tied to your account for recovery, so the owner has to agree to it.
• Temporary and SMS-service numbers can expire, get recycled or get blocked, which can lock you out later.

If keeping your main number private is the goal, a second SIM or a number you control long term is safer than a disposable one.

Work through these in order:

1. Check that you typed the number in full, with the right country code.
2. Make sure the number is a mobile that can receive a text, not a landline.
3. Request the code again.
4. Try another number you own if the first one keeps failing.
5. Contact POF through its online Help Center. The support form is the route.

The phone number is only one gate. You must be at least 18, have no other account, and not have been removed from POF before without written permission. You also need a valid email address. One guide notes POF can reject an email it considers invalid even when it looks right, so try a different one.

You also need clear photos of your own face and a short profile summary. One guide says blank or one-word summaries can block registration. For the photo rules in detail, see the articles on whether POF requires a photo, face verification and how many photos you can add.

Before you start, collect four things. You need a mobile number that can receive a text, a recent photo that shows your face clearly, and ten quiet minutes. Add a few honest details about your life to write down.

None of that is hard. The men who struggle usually arrive at the photo step with nothing usable on their phone. If that is you, ask a friend to take a few pictures in daylight before you sign up.

Nothing in the list above says you need a particular income, job or looks. The requirements are about age, eligibility, a number and a photo.

That is worth saying because a man can talk himself out of signing up over things the app never asks about. At sign-up nobody judges you. After it, the women decide, one swipe at a time, whether to like you back.

Meeting the rules gets you an account. It does not get you dates.

Be selective in Meet Me from the start. a dating coach found that an app which watches a man say yes to nearly everyone concludes he has no standards and shows him fewer of the women he wants. Swipe right on women you would genuinely ask out.

When one likes you back, write that day. Pick one real detail from her page, say something about it, and end with a question she can answer in a line. After a few warm exchanges, suggest a specific drink on a specific evening.