How teams share SMS verification codes

The job

Your company has accounts that send a sign-in code by text: an admin console, a supplier portal, a business bank account. The account allows one phone number. Several people need to sign in, and they work different hours.

Whatever holds that number decides three things: who can read the code without asking, what happens when that person leaves, and whether you can tell who used it.

Compare the options

Details for other products come from their own help pages as of November 2026.

One person's phone

This is where most company codes start. It costs nothing extra, and it works while that person is around. When they are asleep, on leave or gone, everyone waits, and the code travels through a chat message that stays in the thread.

A shared Google Voice number

Google Voice gives a person a number that works in the browser and on their phones. For businesses, Google Workspace lists Voice at $10, $20 and $30 per user a month, with ring groups on the $20 and $30 plans.

What Google's pages say matters for this job:

• Google's help says some websites, such as banks or subscription services, won't send text messages to Google Voice numbers, and suggests using a mobile carrier number instead.
• Google's Workspace admin help says Voice supports SMS only in the US.
• Google's ring group help describes letting several people answer calls to one number. It doesn't describe sharing that number's texts.

So a shared Voice number usually means one Voice account that several people sign in to, or one person who reads the code and passes it on.

A password manager

1Password and Bitwarden can both act as authenticators. They store the key an account gives you, usually as a QR code, and generate the time-based code from it. 1Password lets you share those logins through shared vaults. Bitwarden generates the codes on Premium and on paid organization plans.

If the account offers an authenticator app, this is often the best answer: no phone number involved, and access follows your vault permissions. A password manager can't receive a text, though, because it has no phone number. When the account only offers SMS, you need a number.

A forwarding or virtual number service

Many services sell a number that forwards its texts to an email address, a phone or an app. Before relying on one for company codes, check:

• The line type. Some services only text mobile numbers and turn away VoIP.
• Where the texts end up. A forward to one person's inbox is the personal phone problem again.
• Whose account owns the number, and what happens when that person leaves.
• Whether you can see who read each code.

Phonekit

Phonekit gives the account a company number with a shared inbox.

• Per-number access. Add the people who need each number. Owners and admins can always open it, and nobody else sees it unless you add them.
• Email forwarding. For each number, choose which teammates with access also get its texts by email.
• A record of reads. Codes are pulled out of each text, and each time a teammate opens a message or copies a code it's recorded, so you know who used which code.
• Numbers stay with the company. When someone leaves, remove them. The number, its history and everyone else's access stay put.
• Two line types. Standard numbers are US local VoIP. Mobile lines are real SIM lines on a mobile network, for services that only text mobile numbers. No number is accepted by every service.
• Retention. Texts are encrypted and kept 30 days from receipt by default.

Starter is $29 a month for up to 10 members, with 3 Standard numbers and 1 Mobile line. An extra Standard number is $5 a month and an extra Mobile line is $15. Phonekit is for your company's own accounts, not other people's.

Which to use

• The account offers an authenticator app: use it, and share it through your password manager.
• One person really is the only one who signs in: their phone is fine. Plan the handover before they leave.
• Several people need SMS codes for company accounts: use a number the company owns, with access you can change and a record of who read what. Check the account accepts the line type first.

Sources

As of November 2026:

• Google Voice Help, send and get text messages: some websites, such as banks or subscription services, won't send text messages to Google Voice numbers.
• Google Workspace Voice FAQ for administrators: Voice supports SMS messages only in the US.
• Google Workspace, set up ring groups: ring groups let people answer calls from the same Voice number; texts aren't covered.
• Google Voice for Workspace: Starter $10, Standard $20 and Premier $30 per user a month, with ring groups on Standard and Premier.
• 1Password, use 1Password as an authenticator: one-time passwords set up from a QR code, shared by moving logins to shared vaults.
• Bitwarden integrated authenticator: time-based one-time passwords, generated on Premium or a paid organization.
• Phonekit for teams, security and pricing.