Cannot update or change my phone number of my Microsoft account

Question

Cannot update or change my phone number of my Microsoft account

Lynne Berkstresser 0

I understand that I must add an additional phone number to my account before removing the old one, but there is no place to do this on my account profile.

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2 answers

Your answer

Answer 1

For personal Microsoft accounts, Microsoft now says you can no longer add a phone number as a new security method. This method is being phased out. See official document here.

https://support.microsoft.com/accounts-billing/manage/microsoft-to-stop-sending-sms-codes-for-personal-accounts

Are you hoping to update the contact method to receive the 2FA verification?

If so, you go to https://account.live.com > Security > Manage how I sign in. And you will need to use email, the authentication app, or passkey.

If you need to verify your Bing Reward, The supported alternative to entering a phone number is QR-code verification through the Bing mobile app. Microsoft officially identifies this as an alternative to SMS, and users have successfully redeemed rewards with it when SMS verification failed. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/accounts-billing/rewards/use-qr-code-verification-to-redeem-microsoft-rewards

EmilyS726 271.9K Reputation points Independent Advisor

2026-10-11T02:10:05.76+00:00

Anything else you need help with?

Answer 2

For personal Microsoft accounts, adding a new phone number as a security verification method may no longer be available. That is why the option does not appear on the account profile.

Use one of these supported paths instead:

Go to the Microsoft account Security tab at https://account.microsoft.com/security.
Select Manage how I sign in.
Select Add a new way to sign in or verify.
If phone number is not offered, use one of the available methods instead:
- recovery email address
- Microsoft Authenticator
- passkey

If the goal is to change the phone number used as a sign-in alias on the Microsoft account:

Go to Manage how you sign in to Microsoft.
Under Account alias, find the current phone number.
Select Remove next to the old phone number.
Select Add phone number to add a different one, if that option is available for the account.

If the number is already attached to another Microsoft account:

If the number belongs to another Microsoft account owned by the same person, remove it from that account first, then add it to the target account.
If Transfer is shown, use that option and follow the prompts.
If Transfer is not shown, the number was recently used on another account. In that case, select Change number and use a different number, or try again after 30 days.

If the old phone number is currently listed under security info, it can be removed from Security settings by selecting Remove. Microsoft may require adding new security information before the old method can be removed.