Can't add phone number to account. Already in use..?

LOL. I have never linked my phone number to my account and i only have one. yet its telling me my phone number is already linked? guess i wont be playing OW2 until next year with how support is

Have we gotten any answers as to what the problem is i am getting the exact same error but i have never had a blizzard account before.

exact same issue and this will be my only account for battle net… keep doing this kind of good issue for u to lose the player

Same issue here… can’t get through the verification code being sent through my phone number SMS :confused: I don’t receive any code in my phone and it’s required to play the game… Isn’t there any workaround for this that anyone knows of?

1 Like

OMG… I contacted the support and I’m definitely NOT confident after reading what happened to you.

Blizzard made beta test session for releasing a buggier game than it was in the beta environment… WTF is wrong with them ?

Same issue,

have authenticator and everything, now they ask for my phone number (that is already in use while it isn’t) So I can’t play. sigh

What a piss poor plan of a system. I literally got a new number to use to get around this stupid problem, added it, put in the sms code, waited in the que to enter the game then was given a message saying I need to add sms security, only one option to continue.
This sent me back to linking a phone number to the account so I entered my number only to be told That the BRAND NEW NUMBER That I just linked to this account was in use for a different account. Someone needs to be held accountable, there were enough voices before launch warning that this idea was going to crash and burn, no excuse.

3 Likes

Similar issue, except ive linked my phone for warzone, but now my activision account is mysteriously saying i never linked a phone number so i cant fix it by removing that accout and when i try to recover it using the phone number my number is now linked to some random yahoo email. Blizzard please explain this.

I’ve never entered my phone number to any account, but I can’t get in without this. Please do fix this!

1 Like

I was having this same issue, so I used my phone number to log into the account it was supposedly linked to.
Just use your number as the log in, fudge the pword and reset with an SMS code and go from there.
Now to try and get on the OW2 servers :confused:

2 Likes

same issue here tryed the link from the qr code tryed the to add it directly on the website i dont own any activision games it just says phone number already in use and when i put the code on the website says the same thing

im tempted to do the same but am worried said person with that account that i would be resetting would then lose their account.

Same issue here. How is this still a problem 2 years later??

Was having the same issue. I thought there was no way my phone number as I’ve had the same phone number for 20 years. The thing is, the phone number was tied to a different email that I was using back in college.

Try recovering your password on battle.net and choosing the phone number verification option. Then reset your password, and log in under your phone number. Once in, disconnect your phone number and log out. Then log into your new account tied to current email address (recover password here if necessary), and tie your phone number to your current battle.net account. Worked for me.

1 Like

I was having the same issue. I thought there was no way my phone number could be tied to another account as I’ve had the same phone number for 20 years. The thing is, I created an account 10+ years ago tied to my college email long forgotten.

Figured this out by doing the whole forgot my password on battle.net and chose the phone number verification option. They sent a SMS text to reset my PW for that account and logged. Once in, disconnect your phone number from it (this is where I saw it was connected to an old college email and made me way less mad at blizzard) and log out. Then log into your new account tied to current email address, and tie your phone number to your current battle.net account. Worked for me.

1 Like

TL;DR - Please remove SMS requirement for removing/unlinking phone numbers for Battle.net accounts.

Similar issue here. I linked a phone number to my account over a decade ago (OG WoW). I still have access to the email address, but changed phone numbers back in 2017. The only way to remove a phone number is via an SMS message to the number you’re trying to remove? This wasn’t very well thought through by Activision/Blizzard.

I understand using an SMS to verify adding a phone number to prove it is yours, but there are quite a few reasons for phone number removal that involve a lack of access to a specific phone number. Furthermore, all of these old and inaccessible phone numbers remaining connected to accounts that cannot access them is only exacerbating the problem for current owners/users of said phone number.

Telecom companies usually will hold a phone number in reserve for a given period of time after account termination/change in case you change your mind, legal reasons, etc. That period could be a few months, a year, or more. After that timeframe, the number is put back into the “available” pool for re-issuance, as there are a finite number of phone numbers. I currently have a number assigned to my account that hasn’t been mine for years. If the new owner of that phone number tried to add it to their account, they would receive the “already in use” error mentioned above. That’s seriously not cool, especially since it is legitimately theirs, and changing to yet another new phone number is a not only a pain, but in many cases costs money to do so, and there’s no guarantee the new phone number (that used to belong to someone else) isn’t linked to a forgotten Battle.net account.

Please Blizzard, remove the SMS requirement for phone number removal. It can’t possibly hurt, and may even help by reducing helpdesk work hours (i.e. save you time and money), and will also prevent customer frustration. I will save the “prepaid” phone debate for another day.

3 Likes

All - as of a few hours ago they announced a change. People who have OW1 purchases should be good as of the 7th, or so.

Any Overwatch player with a connected Battle.net account, which includes all players who have played since June 9, 2021, will not have to provide a phone number to play. We are working to make this change and expect it to go live on Friday, October 7. We will update players once it is in effect.

Anyway… I found out my phone number is somehow linked to a dummy account which is own by a chinese guy. God know how he did it.

1 Like

just so you know, the Account Details can’t be modified because it only allows phone number verification by SMS, sometimes however we are unable to use that number for verification, if verification could be provided by any other means like my email for instance, or allowing me to answer my security questions, then we wouldn’t need to reach customer support for this, again it only lists phone number SMS verification. there is no other option.

To be honest the whole “can’t play without a phone number is dum I get the whole “sms” thing but i payed for the game and have spent money on it and now I can’t play because of a phone number service using VOIP I’m sorry but that’s just dum

2 Likes