Verify SMS Overview
SMS is the most popular channel for phone number verification and two-factor authentication (2FA). That's because most people can receive text messages and onboarding is seamless. Plus, SMS 2FA works: Google found that SMS 2FA helped block "100% of automated bots, 96% of bulk phishing attacks, and 76% of targeted attacks."
1// Download the helper library from https://www.twilio.com/docs/node/install2const twilio = require("twilio"); // Or, for ESM: import twilio from "twilio";34// Find your Account SID and Auth Token at twilio.com/console5// and set the environment variables. See http://twil.io/secure6const accountSid = process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID;7const authToken = process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN;8const client = twilio(accountSid, authToken);910async function createVerification() {11const verification = await client.verify.v212.services("VAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa")13.verifications.create({14channel: "sms",15to: "+15017122661",16});1718console.log(verification.sid);19}2021createVerification();
Response
1{2"sid": "VEaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",3"service_sid": "VAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",4"account_sid": "ACaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa",5"to": "+15017122661",6"channel": "sms",7"status": "pending",8"valid": false,9"date_created": "2015-07-30T20:00:00Z",10"date_updated": "2015-07-30T20:00:00Z",11"lookup": {},12"amount": null,13"payee": null,14"send_code_attempts": [15{16"time": "2015-07-30T20:00:00Z",17"channel": "SMS",18"attempt_sid": "VLaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"19}20],21"sna": null,22"url": "https://verify.twilio.com/v2/Services/VAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa/Verifications/VEaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa"23}
After starting a Verification with SMS, you'll want to validate if the code a user provided was correct with the Verification Check API.
Before sending a recipient an OTP message via Verify, you must obtain opt-in consent from the recipient. You must keep a record of this consent and be able to provide it to Twilio on request. For example, you could add a notice in your app's sign-up or 2FA flow that indicates to the user that they are requesting an OTP message to be sent to their provided number and then record a timestamp of when the user completed the flow.
Verify SMS follows the Twilio Messaging Policy, please see the policy for more detailed information on consent and opt-in rules.
- SMS Verification: What It Is & How It Works
- 5 reasons SMS 2FA isn't going away
- What is SMS pumping?
- Verify Fraud Guard: A feature that prevents SMS related fraud on Verify by automatically blocking the prefix of the destination of the suspected fraud.