LinkedIn accepts landlines and refuses VoIP, and says so in writing

The rule, quoted

• LinkedIn Help, on phone verification at sign-in

  “Cell and landline phones are supported. VoIP numbers aren't.”

  https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a1335415

Note the first half. LinkedIn accepts landlines, which several other services in this section refuse outright. The exclusion is specifically internet numbers. LinkedIn adds the practical requirement on the same subject: “You'll need a phone capable of receiving SMS (text) messages” (LinkedIn). What each service publishes about VoIP puts this rule next to the five others that exist, which contradict each other more than you would expect.

One reassurance worth having: “The phone number you enter to turn on two-factor authentication won't appear on your LinkedIn profile” (LinkedIn).

When LinkedIn asks

On unfamiliar devices, not on a schedule. “When LinkedIn does not recognize the device that you're attempting to sign in from, you'll be asked to enter your account password … and a numerical code (also called a PIN code) as the second layer of authentication” (LinkedIn). The number is also used “To help secure your account if we detect suspicious activity” and “To prevent abuse” (LinkedIn). No fixed re-verification interval is published.

LinkedIn's own preference is not SMS: it offers “Text (SMS) authentication” and “Authenticator app verification (like Microsoft Authenticator)”, and states that “LinkedIn recommends the authenticator app as the preferred two-factor authentication method” (LinkedIn).

The number is sticky once two-factor is on

• LinkedIn Help, on removing a number

  “You may not be able to remove a phone number if it's been used to establish two-factor authentication for your account.”

  https://www.linkedin.com/help/linkedin/answer/a525150

The fix LinkedIn gives is to “disable two-factor authentication before you can remove the phone number from your account”, and it adds a limit worth planning around: “Only one mobile phone number at a time can be used for sign-in problems” (LinkedIn). There is no backup number to fall back on.

Adding or changing the number

From LinkedIn's instructions (LinkedIn):

1. 01Click the Me icon at the top of your LinkedIn homepage.
2. 02Select Settings & Privacy.
3. 03Select Sign in & security on the left rail and click Phone numbers.
4. 04Add the number and click Send code, or click Remove to the right of an existing one.

Two-step verification itself is at Me → Settings & Privacy → Sign in & security → Two-factor authentication, then Turn on or Turn off (LinkedIn).

If the number is gone

If you are still signed in somewhere, LinkedIn's answer is simple: “Click the toggle button to turn off two-factor authentication” (LinkedIn). If you are not, it becomes an identity check — LinkedIn asks you to “submit a picture of a government issued identification document to ensure that only you regain access to your account”.

Company Pages don't have their own phone number

A LinkedIn Page is administered by individual members, not by a shared business login. Page admins are added from the super admin view under Settings → Manage admins → Add admin, and LinkedIn requires the person to be “a 1st-degree, 2nd-degree, or 3rd-degree connection”, to “follow the Page that you're adding them to”, and that “The member's account has not been flagged for any violations” (LinkedIn). There is no Page-level number to verify.

And LinkedIn's User Agreement is unambiguous about accounts: “you will only have one LinkedIn account, which must be in your real name”, and you agree to “not share or transfer your account or any part of it” (LinkedIn).

Where a Cleat line fits

In one specific, common situation: you are the account holder, your US mobile is gone, and you need a number LinkedIn will accept. People who left the US keep US accounts — payroll, banking, a Page they administer for a US company — and the number that anchored all of them lapsed with the SIM. A Cleat line is a real US mobile number, not VoIP, which is exactly the distinction LinkedIn's rule turns on. It is held by one identity-verified person — you — at $24.99 a month. Cleat for expats covers the wider version of this problem, and keeping a US number after you move covers the alternatives, including the free ones.

When Cleat is the wrong answer here

• A team sharing one LinkedIn login. LinkedIn's User Agreement forbids sharing or transferring an account. Add people as Page admins under their own profiles instead.
• A second profile. One account per person, in your real name. One verified person per Cleat line. Both rules point the same way.
• An authenticator app would do. LinkedIn says it prefers one, and it does not depend on a carrier or a country.
• You need to make calls. Receive-only. No outbound, no 911.

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