InstantSMS is a free, receive-only SMS service run by Santosh Regmi from Kathmandu, Nepal. It has been online since June 2026.
My name is Santosh Regmi and I am the founder and maintainer of InstantSMS. I am a working software developer based in Kathmandu, Nepal, and I build and maintain this site myself - the Laravel application, the telecom integrations, the Android app, and the articles in the guides and blog sections.
InstantSMS is a one-person project, not a company with a support department. That is worth saying plainly, because it shapes what this site can honestly promise. You can reach me directly at [email protected].
I got tired of handing my real mobile number to every app that demanded an SMS code before it would show me anything. Once a number is in a marketing database it does not come back out, and there is no undo.
The sites that already solved this were unpleasant to use: inboxes buried under redirect ads, numbers listed as available that had been dead for months, and no honest word about which apps actually reject these numbers. I wanted a version that loaded fast, told you the truth about what would fail, and did not require an account to read a code.
InstantSMS is receive-only. You can read incoming SMS on a temporary number, and that is all - you cannot send messages, make calls, or reserve a number for yourself. Browse the numbers or countries directory, open an inbox, and read codes as they arrive. No account, no app install, and no payment.
Numbers come from several upstream telecom sources behind one catalog, so the provider behind any given number is an implementation detail rather than something you have to shop around for. Availability rotates as numbers are released and replaced, and each inbox keeps a limited window of recent history rather than an archive.
There is also an Android app for people who would rather not keep a browser tab open, and a JSON API used mainly for automated testing of SMS sign-up flows.
Every public inbox on this site is shared. Anyone who opens the same URL sees the same messages, including yours. That single fact rules out a whole category of uses, and I would rather say so on the About page than let you find out the hard way.
Do not use InstantSMS for banking, cryptocurrency, government or tax services, healthcare, employment paperwork, or password resets on an account you care about. If losing access to the code would matter, you need a private line you control.
It is also fair to be blunt about compatibility: WhatsApp and Google reject shared and VoIP-classified numbers most of the time, and Discord, Instagram, and Telegram are inconsistent. The guides on this site explain why rather than claiming a number that will beat those checks.
The guides and blog posts here come from operating the service and reading the actual platform documentation, not from rewording whatever already ranks. When a post says an app blocks a certain kind of number, that is either something visible in the service's own help pages or something I have watched fail on these numbers.
Where I do not know something, the article says so. Where a post would only be useful if it recommended something I think is a bad idea - like using a public inbox for account recovery - I would rather publish the warning than the trick.
If something on this site is wrong, out of date, or a number is listed that no longer works, please tell me at [email protected] and I will fix it. I reply within 2 business days.
