

In recent years we have seen numerous large-scale data breaches, with one of the most notable coming from an email provider, in which the details of at least 500 million Yahoo! accounts were stolen including, you guessed it, people’s phone numbers.Įven if you aren’t concerned about a data breach, it’s always good to have the option to set up email without a phone number, especially if it is a second or even third email account. On the other hand, attaching them to online accounts can mean intrusive data-gathering, a significant digital footprint, and opening oneself up to the threat of data breaches. On the one hand, this means that they can be used to protect accounts and verify users. Phone numbers are unique and as such, can be used as personal identifiers. While this might be down to benevolent motives, which we’ll get to soon, there are plenty of reasons that a person might want to create an email without a phone number-namely, personal data concerns. Email is a staple of both business and personal communication, but an increasing number of providers require the use of a phone number to create an account.
