Set a PIN with your phone company

When you sign in to your bank or your email, a code often comes to your phone by text message. You type the code in to show that the person signing in is you. The text message goes to your phone number, so the code goes to whichever phone carries your phone number.

Inside your phone is a SIM card. A SIM card is the small card that carries your phone number. A criminal can move your phone number to another phone the same way you do when you get a new phone. If a scammer talks your phone company into moving your phone number to a scammer's own phone, the scammer gets your sign-in codes from then on instead of you.

Before your phone company moves your phone number, the phone company asks for your account PIN; an account PIN is a short number you choose, like the PIN on your bank card. Some phone companies call that number a passcode. A scammer who asks your phone company to move your phone number is then asked for a number the scammer does not have. The three phone companies on this page, Verizon, AT&T and T-Mobile, also offer locks. A lock is a setting that blocks a change to your phone number until you turn the lock off yourself.

Before you start

• About fifteen minutes.
• The user name and password you use to sign in to your phone company's app or website.
• To be the account owner. At each of the three phone companies on this page, only the account owner can set the PIN. The account owner, also called the primary account holder, is the person whose name the account is in.
• The sheet of paper where your master password and your phone passcode are written. The master password is the one password that opens your password manager, the app that keeps your other passwords.

Set the PIN and turn on the locks

Choose your PIN before you start the steps. Do not choose your birthday, the last four digits of your Social Security number, or a run of digits such as 1234. The PIN is the number you give your phone company when you call the phone company. No phone company will call you to ask for your PIN. So a caller who asks you for your PIN is not your phone company.

Each phone company has its own steps. Find the heading below with your phone company's name and do only that part. Then do the short part under the heading For everyone.

Verizon

1. Set the Account PIN. On Verizon's website, sign in to My Verizon as the Account Owner. Find the Security page and open it. On the Security page, create your four-digit Account PIN or change the Account PIN you already have. Verizon cannot tell you a forgotten Account PIN. If you forget the Account PIN, you reset the Account PIN on this same Security page.
2. Turn on SIM Protection. SIM Protection is Verizon's lock that blocks SIM changes and device changes on your phone number until you turn SIM Protection off. A SIM change moves your phone number to a different SIM card, and a device change moves your phone number to a different phone or other device. Open the My Verizon app on your phone; My Verizon is Verizon's app for your account. Find the Me tab and tap it; a tab is one of the main sections of the app. Find Edit profile and settings and tap it. Scroll to Security; to scroll is to slide your finger up or down the screen to see more of the page. Find SIM Protection and tap it. Tap the switch next to each phone number; a switch is a small control that turns a setting on or off. Then find Confirm and tap it.
3. Turn on Number Lock. Number Lock is Verizon's lock that stops your phone number from being moved to another phone company until you unlock the phone number. Open the My Verizon app and go to Security the same way as in step 2. Find Number Lock and tap it. Turn on the switch for each phone number. Number Lock does not stop SIM changes, so turn on SIM Protection as well as Number Lock.

AT&T

AT&T's page for step 1 describes the AT&T app on an iPhone. If your phone is not an iPhone, the AT&T app shows the same names on an Android phone. Android is the phone software made by Google; most phones that are not iPhones run Android.

1. Set the account passcode. The account passcode is AT&T's name for the PIN. Open the AT&T app. Find the Home tab; a tab is one of the main sections of the app. On the Home tab, find the Account icon and tap it; an icon is a small picture you tap. Find Settings and tap it. If you also have AT&T internet service, find Wireless and tap it. Find Manage or remove account and tap it. Find Settings and tap it. Find Passcode and tap it. AT&T's page, as we read it, stops at Passcode, so we cannot say what the next screen shows.
2. Turn on Wireless Account Lock. Wireless Account Lock is AT&T's lock on the whole account. Use a device that is active on the account, which means a phone or other device that is in service on this AT&T account. On that device, open the AT&T app. Find the person icon and tap it. Scroll to Wireless account lock; to scroll is to slide your finger up or down the screen to see more of the page. Swipe to lock; to swipe is to slide your finger across the screen. The lock grays out certain transactions and account changes for every line. A line is one phone number on the account, and grayed out means a choice still shows on the screen but cannot be used. Whenever the lock is changed, AT&T emails the primary account holder and sends a text message to every line. If AT&T's email or text message arrives after you swipe to lock, the lock is on. Anyone with primary or secondary access to the account can turn the lock on or off. Secondary access means a person other than the primary account holder who has been given access to the account.

T-Mobile

These steps are for a T-Mobile account that sends you a bill. For a prepaid account, one you pay for ahead of time, T-Mobile gives different steps on its website.

1. Set the Account PIN. Only the primary account holder can change the Account PIN. Use the phone that carries your T-Mobile phone number. Your phone must be on T-Mobile's network for this step, which means using the phone signal that comes from T-Mobile and not a Wi-Fi connection. Before you start, turn Wi-Fi off on your phone. Do not do this step while roaming; roaming means your phone is using another company's signal. Open the T-Life app; T-Life is T-Mobile's app for your account. Find the Account tab and tap it; a tab is one of the main sections of the app. Find the gear icon at the top right and tap it; an icon is a small picture you tap, and this one is shaped like a gear. Find Security and tap it. Find T-Mobile ID and tap it. If the app asks you to sign in, sign in. Find Account PIN/Passcode and tap it. Type a PIN of six to fifteen digits. The digits must not be in order, such as 3456789. The digits must not repeat, such as 444444 or 121212. The PIN must not be the start or the end of your phone number, a phone number on the account, your billing account number, your Social Security number or your date of birth. Type the same PIN a second time. Find Save and tap it. If the app shows an error, check that Wi-Fi is off. Turn off any VPN or iCloud Private Relay you use. A VPN is an app that sends your internet traffic through another computer, and iCloud Private Relay is Apple's version of that. Then try again.
2. Turn on SIM Protection. SIM Protection is T-Mobile's lock that stops your phone number from being moved to another phone or device. SIM Protection is free. Open the T-Life app. Find the Manage tab and tap it. Find the gear icon and tap it. Find Security and tap it. Find SIM Protection and tap it. Turn on the switch for the whole account or the switch for each line. A switch is a small control that turns a setting on or off. A line is one phone number on the account. Find Save Changes and tap it. Then find Continue and tap it. Only the primary account holder can turn SIM Protection off.
3. Add Port Out Protection to each line. Port Out Protection is T-Mobile's lock that stops your phone number from being moved to another phone company until the primary account holder turns Port Out Protection off. Port Out Protection is free. Open the T-Life app. Find the Manage tab and tap it. In the My account section, find See Plans and tap it. In the plan section, find Manage add-ons and tap it; an add-on is an extra that is added to your plan. The line named at the top of the screen is the line you are changing. To change a different line, choose that line instead. Scroll down to Port Out Protection; to scroll is to slide your finger up or down the screen to see more of the page. Tick the box next to Port Out Protection. Find Continue and tap it. Read the order. Then find Agree & Submit and tap it. Do these taps again for each line on the account.

For everyone

One check you can do when your part is done: call your phone company at the phone number printed on your bill and ask whether your account has a PIN and whether the locks are on.

What this does not do

• No PIN and no lock stops a scammer who talks you into reading a sign-in code aloud or into turning a lock off yourself.
• The locks are on your account with your phone company only. This page does not change the passcode that unlocks your phone or the passwords for your Apple Account or your Google Account.
• Each phone company's lock blocks you as well as a scammer. Before you switch to a new phone or move your phone number to another phone company, you will need to turn the lock off first.
• Prepaid and business accounts may not offer every setting named on this page. A prepaid account is one you pay for ahead of time instead of getting a bill after.

If your screen looks different

On T-Mobile's website, SIM Protection is also reached by signing in, choosing your name at the top right, then Profile, then Security, then SIM Protection. On Verizon's website, SIM Protection is also reached by opening Account, then Account settings, then Security settings, then Edit in the SIM Protection section. If you cannot find a setting, search the app for PIN, Security or SIM. Or call your phone company at the phone number printed on your bill and ask for an account PIN and SIM protection. If your phone company is not one of these three, call that company and ask for an account PIN and SIM protection.

Sources

• Verizon: Verizon mobile Account PIN FAQs, read on 18 October 2026.
• Verizon: My Verizon app - Enable / Disable SIM Protection and Number Lock, read on 18 October 2026.
• Verizon: My Verizon Website - Enable / Disable SIM Protection and Number Lock, read on 18 October 2026.
• AT&T: AT&T App - iOS - Changing your account's passcode and Caller ID, read on 18 October 2026.
• AT&T: Learn About AT&T Wireless Account Lock, read on 18 October 2026.
• T-Mobile: Protect your T-Mobile account from fraud, read on 21 October 2026.