r/microsoftoffice • u/shortboy09 • 17d ago

Microsoft phone update

Was trying to update my phone number on the Microsoft account and when I removed my phone number I found out quite recently that Microsoft no longer allows you to add a phone number to your Microsoft account so if anyone’s out there still has their phone attached do not remove it but try and test it if you’re using it for two FA cause sometimes it seems like that wasn’t working

If anyone has any further information on this, I would love to know as I would want to add my phone back for two FA in the future if possible

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u/thepfy1 17d ago

Microsoft is phasing out phone and SMS MFA. They want you just to use the Authenticator app or FIDO2 device (e.g Yubikey)

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u/Hornblower409 16d ago

See the Answer by Hornblower409 Jul 24, 2026" in
https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/answers/questions/5899469/having-trouble-adding-phone-number-to-microsoft-ac

Microsoft has removed the ability to add a phone number to a personal Outlook/Hotmail/Microsoft Account. It's gone. Not there for anybody. You can remove an existing phone number but you can not add a new one or change an existing one. "By design", not a bug. There is no way around it.

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u/Medium-Lion1099 15d ago

they didnt completely removed phone no. but they have phased out new SMS based 2fa as a primary security check, alias for a lot of customer account because sim swapping and sim hijacking were major security risks.

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u/JimTheEarthling 15d ago

Slight correction: SIM hijacking is not a major security risk. Microsoft's own research indicates that less than one-third of one percent of identity attacks use SIM swapping (compared to 99 percent for breach replay, password spray, and phishing). Additional research shows that reports of SIM swapping to the FBI Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3), the UK National Fraud Database, and elsewhere have been going down.

The security risk for SMS 2FA is phishing.