Receiving a verification code
This is what most people are here for: a service wants to prove the address exists, sends six digits or a link, and needs them back. Nothing else about the account matters yet.
The sequence that works
- Take the address before you start filling in the form. Not after — some forms time out, and re-opening this site mid-sign-up loses your place in theirs.
- Keep this tab open in the background. Messages appear on the page by themselves; there is nothing to refresh and no timer to watch.
- Paste the address, submit, switch back. On a healthy path the message is already there. Most of the waiting, when there is any, happens in the sender's queue rather than anywhere near us.
The code has not arrived. Which of the four is it?
They look identical from the sign-up form and have completely different fixes, so it is worth spending ten seconds identifying which one you have.
| Symptom | Cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| The form said “invalid email” straight away | the site refuses this domain | different domain — why, and what helps |
| Form accepted it, nothing ever comes | the domain accepts no mail | check the domain |
| Nothing for a few minutes, then it appears | greylisting or a sender queue | nothing — waiting was correct |
| Wrong mailbox is open | the address was edited after sending | type the exact address again to reopen it |
The last one catches more people than it should: editing the username after you have already given the address away opens a different mailbox. The code is sitting in the first one. Type the original address back and it is there.
Codes expire faster than you think
Many are valid for five or ten minutes. If you took a long time diagnosing something, the code may be genuinely dead by the time you paste it — and the error the site shows for an expired code is often the same one it shows for a wrong code, which sends people looking for the wrong problem. When in doubt, request a new one and use it immediately.
Links instead of codes
Some services send a link to click rather than digits to copy. Two things differ:
- Open it in the same browser you started the sign-up in. Many links carry a session and simply fail elsewhere.
- A link is single-use far more often than a code is. Clicking twice — or letting a preview scanner click it first — can consume it.
What this cannot help with
Codes sent by SMS. If a service insists on a phone number, no mail address of any kind changes that.