Top up someone else's phone — all you need is their number
A parent who has run out mid-week, a teenager on a prepaid line, a partner working away. You pay; the credit is applied by their own operator to their own balance. There is nothing for them to accept, install or send back to you.
What you need from them, and what you must never ask for
The list on the left is the whole list. Anything on the right is a sign that whatever is being asked for is not a top-up.
That holds whether their phone is in the next street or another country — the number with its country code is still the entire requirement. If it is abroad, paying in your currency for credit priced in theirs and delivery landing on their clock rather than yours are both worth reading first: sending airtime abroad covers them.
All it takes
- Their mobile number, written in full with its country code. The network is worked out from the number, so you do not need to know who they are with.
- An amount, chosen from the values that operator sells for that number.
- Your own card or wallet, and your own email for the receipt.
Never ask them for
- Their SIM PIN or PUK. A top-up is applied by the operator to the account behind the number; the SIM is never unlocked to load it.
- The password to their operator account, or a code texted to their phone. Nothing here signs in as them.
- Money up front, or a top-up sent first to release something. If a stranger is the one asking, read where recharge scams actually reach you.
What the person on the other end sees
The most common worry about topping up for somebody else is what it puts them through. The answer is almost nothing.
Nothing to accept
No app, no account, no code to read back over the phone. Their operator applies the credit to the balance they already use, and they carry on as normal.
Whether they are told
Where the destination network sends its own SMS receipt, they see that on the phone. It comes from the operator, not from us — so it confirms the balance, not who paid for it.
No data needed at their end
The credit is applied on the operator's side, so their handset does not need Wi-Fi or mobile data for it to arrive. A phone that is out of credit is exactly the case this has to work for.
Your own confirmation is separate and always arrives: a payment receipt by email, with the destination operator's reference code for the load. If you want them to know it was you, tell them — nothing on our side attaches your name or a message to the credit.
Sending one as a present
Credit is an unglamorous gift that gets used the same day, which is rather the point for a phone that has gone quiet. It behaves differently from a gift card, though, and the differences are worth knowing before the occasion rather than after.
Send credit now- Nothing is posted and there is no delivery date to miss — most loads are credited 5 to 60 seconds after payment clears.
- There is no gift card, voucher code or printable certificate. What you buy is credit applied straight to their number.
- Nothing can be scheduled for a future date. An order is sent when you place it, so send it on the day — and nothing renews behind you afterwards, as the no-subscription page sets out.
- The amount comes from the operator's own values, priced in their local currency; your card is charged in yours.
- If the operator refuses the load, the full amount — service fee included — comes back to your card automatically.
Keeping more than one number loaded
Once you are the person who tops up for the household, the second and third time matter more than the first.
What a free account changes
- A saved contact book, so a number you have used before is picked rather than retyped.
- Full transaction history — useful when two people ask whether the phone was already topped up this month.
- One-tap repeats of a top-up you have sent before, at the same amount.
- Registering costs nothing and needs no card until you actually send something.
Who these numbers usually belong to
A parent who would rather not put a card online. A teenager on a prepaid line with a monthly ceiling. A relative in another country. A spare handset that only gets used on trips.
Every one of them is topped up the same way, from the same list. What none of them is, is automatic: each load is a decision you make, on the day you make it.
If the numbers are work handsets rather than family, the paperwork side is set out on top-up for business.
If your operator sells a family pack
Several networks bundle a household onto one plan — a family pack, a shared plan, whatever that operator calls it. It is their product, sold on their terms, and it changes what a top-up from here needs to do.
What the pack is
One plan covering several connections in the same household, usually with an allowance the members share and a single renewal date. It is set up and managed on the primary line, in the operator's own app or website, by whoever owns that line.
Which numbers are in it, what the pack costs and when it renews are all the operator's decisions. We do not sell plans and cannot add a member, remove one or change a renewal date. How a shared allowance behaves once it is running is set out on mobile data bundles.
What a top-up here does
It puts credit — or one of the operator's own packs, where that operator sells them — on the single number you enter. Enter the primary line and whatever sharing the operator already runs on it carries on exactly as before.
The catalogue you choose from is that number's own. If the network offers its family pack as something you can buy against the primary line, it appears there beside airtime and data; if it does not, the pack has to be arranged with the operator directly.
There is no basket and no multi-number checkout here: one order goes to one number. For a household of three that is three orders, each with its own amount and its own receipt — which is often what people want anyway, because a teenager's line and a grandparent's line rarely need the same thing. A free account keeps the numbers in a contact book so the second and third orders are a couple of taps, and the business page lists the batch and scheduling limits in full.
Make sure it is their number
A number you typed yourself gets checked twice. A number somebody sent you in a message usually does not — and that is where credit goes to a stranger.
The full pre-payment checklist — prepaid versus contract lines, greyed-out operators, what happens if you have already paid — is on the mobile top-up page.
- Read it back to them digit by digit rather than trusting a copy-paste. A number lifted out of a chat can arrive with a stray space or a trailing character.
- Use their country code, not yours. A local-format number that starts with a 0 usually drops that 0 once the code is in front of it.
- Once the operator has applied credit it cannot be recalled. Contact support within 24 hours if the number was wrong — recovery is best-effort and depends on that operator's reversal policy.
Topping up for someone else
Payment, refunds and account questions live in the help centre.
Open the help centreDoes the other person have to know about it?
No. Nothing is required of them and nothing has to be approved at their end. Their operator may send its own SMS confirming the new balance, which is the one thing outside our control.
Will they know the top-up came from me?
Not automatically. We do not attach your name, a note or a message to the credit, and any SMS they get is the operator's own. If it matters that they know, tell them yourself.
Can I schedule one for a birthday or a specific date?
No. There is no scheduling and no standing order here — an order is sent the moment you place it. For an occasion, send it on the day; it usually lands within a minute.
Their phone is in another country. Does that change anything?
Only the country you choose at checkout, which is the one their number belongs to. The currency and timing details are covered on sending airtime abroad.
Can I buy them a data bundle instead of airtime?
Where their operator sells one, yes — the catalogue for that number is what you choose from. Picking a sensible size is covered on mobile data bundles.
Someone I do not know asked me to top up their number. Should I?
No. Credit on a prepaid number cannot be recalled once the operator has applied it, which is exactly why it is asked for. The pattern is set out in where recharge scams actually reach you.
Where to go next
This page is about whose phone it is. The neighbours cover what you send and where it goes.
First time sending one? The six-step walkthrough runs from account to confirmed delivery, and buying online covers what a real checkout asks for.
Their phone, your card, one minute
Enter the number, pick an amount, pay. They do not need to be told, be online, or do anything at all.