How are agencies handling Instagram phone verification at scale in 2026?

Hey everyone,

I’ve been trying to understand how agencies or growth teams handle creating and managing multiple Instagram accounts nowadays.

A few years ago it was possible to create accounts with just email, but now phone verification seems mandatory and accounts get flagged pretty quickly.

I tested a few SMS activation services (like 5SIM, SMS-Activate, Grizzly, etc.), and while some of them work occasionally, they don’t seem reliable for long-term use. Accounts either get flagged or restricted after some time.

So I’m curious:

  • Are agencies still using temporary SMS services, or is that outdated now?
  • Are dedicated numbers actually more stable, or still risky?
  • Do most teams just rely on real SIM cards now?
  • Is account warming + behavior more important than the number itself?

Not looking for anything shady, just trying to understand how this is handled at scale in a realistic way.

Would appreciate insights from anyone who has experience with this.

Thanks

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