Reproducing +245 verification problems without a phone in Bissau

Customers in Guinea-Bissau say the code never comes. How do we reproduce that?

Support tickets from a small market are hard to act on. A user in Bissau reports a missing code, the engineers are in Lisbon or Dakar, and no one can see what the sign-up screen actually does with a +245 number. Guessing from logs rarely settles it.

A one-time +245 number from the OTP Gateway lets the team walk the same path a local customer takes: enter the number, trigger the SMS, and watch whether the code lands. Because each number covers one verification, you can repeat the test after every fix without reusing stale data. The approach also suits support and operations teams that want evidence before closing a ticket.

Which services currently route codes to +245 numbers?

Guinea-Bissau has more than 900 services in the live snapshot. Among the well-known ones are WhatsApp, Facebook, imo, Telegram, Instagram, TikTok, Google (Gmail & YouTube), Microsoft & Outlook, Signal, Viber, LinkedIn and Uber.

Read those names as a snapshot of the Bissau route, not a fixed catalogue. Capacity on smaller routes shifts more noticeably during the day, which is exactly why availability comes from the API at request time. If a combination is missing, nearby routes such as Senegal or Cabo Verde may help with tests that are not tied to the +245 prefix.

What does the Guinea-Bissau OTP API sequence look like?

Authenticate against https://otproute.com/api/v1 with a Bearer key prefixed or_live_, created in the Developer console. The country id is gw.

• Look up ids with GET /api/v1/services and GET /api/v1/countries.
• Read the current price and availability from GET /api/v1/prices?country=gw&service=<id>.
• Place the order using POST /api/v1/activations with {"service": "imo", "country": "gw"} and record the activation id.
• Submit the +245 number in your own app.
• Pick up the +245 code from the activation.sms_received event, or fall back to polling GET /api/v1/activations/{id}.
• Call POST /api/v1/activations/{id}/cancel if the scenario stops early.

Each webhook request includes X-OTPRoute-Signature in the form t=<unix>,v1=<hex>: compute HMAC-SHA256 of <t>.<raw body> with your endpoint secret, reject mismatches and old timestamps, and key processing on the activation id so a retry does nothing twice. See the integration guide for a fuller walkthrough. An account can register up to 5 webhook endpoints and send 300 requests per minute.

Our support lead needs one code today. Is there a no-code path?

The dashboard handles single checks. Choose Guinea-Bissau, select the service, confirm the price, and order. The number appears on screen; paste it into the app, and the incoming code shows up on the same activation page. Nothing has to be installed, and cancelling an unused activation refunds it immediately.

What is particular about phone numbers and SMS language in Guinea-Bissau?

Always store +245 numbers in E.164 format. Users type them in many ways, with spaces, dots or a stray leading zero, so normalise input by removing punctuation and validating length with a maintained phone-number library instead of a rule you wrote once and forgot.

Portuguese is the official language, and Guinea-Bissau Creole (Kriol) is widely spoken day to day. Verification messages from international services usually arrive in Portuguese or English, depending on the sender. If your product serves Portuguese-speaking users across several countries, +245 is a useful case for confirming that templates written for Portugal or Brazil still read naturally and that your parser extracts the digits regardless of wording.

Guinea-Bissau is an ECOWAS member and shares the West African CFA franc with its neighbours, so fintech and marketplace teams often test it alongside the wider region.

Nothing arrived on the +245 number. What now?

Give the activation the whole 20 minutes before reacting. If the code still has not come, the activation expires, you receive activation.expired, and the charge is reversed to the wallet; you only pay if the code arrives.

Next steps that tend to work:

1. Check whether the service accepts virtual numbers for that flow; some do not.
2. Retry later, when route capacity has changed.
3. Try another service route that reaches the same screen.
4. Space out attempts instead of firing new orders in a loop.

Can we keep a +245 line long term, and how do payments work?

There is no self-serve dedicated number in Guinea-Bissau. Long-term lines are offered only in the United States and Canada, from $1.95/month, through Dedicated Virtual Numbers. If a +245 line matters to your operation, write to [email protected]; the team can look into it, but local rules decide and nothing is promised.

Everything else is pay as you go from one prepaid USD wallet, with no monthly fee or plan. Fund it by card or with USDT or USDC stablecoins and you get a PDF invoice by email for each top-up. Ask for sandbox mode on a development account to run the full flow with simulated numbers and codes first. Orders remain subject to OTP Route's Acceptable Use Policy and to the terms of each service.

Frequently asked questions

Can I receive Guinea-Bissau SMS OTP codes through an API?

Yes. Create an activation with country gw, then read the code via webhook or by polling the activation endpoint.

How do I test my app's +245 sign-up without travelling to Bissau?

Order a +245 number for testing from the OTP Gateway, enter it in your app and watch for the code in the dashboard.

What does a Guinea-Bissau verification number cost?

From $0.20 per code; the API and dashboard show the exact price for each service before you order.

What happens if the code does not arrive within the window?

The activation expires after 20 minutes and the full amount returns to your wallet without any request from you.

In which language do verification texts usually arrive in Guinea-Bissau?

Mostly Portuguese or English, depending on the service sending the message.

Is a permanent Guinea-Bissau number available?

Not as a self-serve product. Dedicated lines are limited to the US and Canada; you can email support to ask about +245.

Which routes can I use if Guinea-Bissau has no stock for my service?

Check again later or try a neighbouring West African country such as Senegal, if your test does not depend on the +245 prefix.

Service names are trademarks of their respective owners. OTP Route is not affiliated with them. Use numbers lawfully, follow each service's terms and our Acceptable Use Policy.