Phone Number Lookup API # Phone lookup API. Know before you connect. Check a phone number’s country, carrier and line type before sending a message. Use the returned signals to choose a contact channel or ask the customer to correct their number. [Start now](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Flookup%2Fphone) [Talk to sales](/demo?product=lookup) BIRD / LOOKUP Illustrative experience Phone signals Email signals An unknown result Lookup / Input PHONE NUMBER +1 555 000 0142 ⌕ ↗ Continue the appropriate destination checks. Destination evidence Country United States Line type Mobile Carrier Example Wireless Ownership Not established Illustrative response EMAIL ADDRESS alex@example.com Use address evidence, then apply your own policy. Result valid · example Confidence 94 / 100 · example Permission UNAVAILABLE EVIDENCE +1 555 000 0199 Do not turn a missing signal into a rejection. Unknown Unavailable Optional score Meaning Evidence is missing Example content and data. Explore the workflow below; nothing is sent or changed in a live account. Companies that trust Bird across their communications. - [Airwallex](/customers/airwallex) - Uber - [Zillow](/customers/zillow) - [Glovo](/customers/glovo) - PayPal - Adobe [Read Bird customer stories](/customers) BIRD LOOKUP Evidence with its limits. DOCUMENTED OPERATING BEHAVIOR ## An answer. A deliberate next step. The maintained Lookup guides distinguish the baseline, independently answered properties and one email verdict. An unavailable property can leave the baseline useful; a negative answered verdict can still be billed. [Read the maintained Lookup guide ↗](/docs/guides/lookup/overview) Sources checked 18 September 2026. Synthetic examples demonstrate interpretation, not measured accuracy, supplier coverage or a live customer result. Confirm current account access before launch. Lookup / phone evidence ## Read the answer before the action. Inspect a controlled number and its independent network signals. Change an observation to see how the next messaging decision changes. Example input +31612345678 31612345678 0031612345678 0612345678 Observed line type mobile fixed_line unknown Presence observation ok · reachable true ok · reachable false unavailable inconclusive Unrecognized future status Block missing Independent roaming observation ok · is_roaming false ok · is_roaming true unavailable ILLUSTRATIVE LOOKUP / L-316 Phone number Original network Vodafone Serving network KPN country_code NL line_type flags ported Carrier examples come from the maintained code sample. Country and network fields can be absent when unresolved; do not fill them from a display label. National-only input is rejected rather than assigned a guessed country. Prepare the international form before requesting a result. Independent property observations presence roaming Reachable false is a known negative answer. An unavailable property has no usable value. It remains an answered unit. Review timing or another appropriate route before sending. A fixed-line or unknown line type requires its own channel policy. Do not infer SMS support from a formatted number. The source reports a reachable mobile line. Confirm the recipient’s consent and your sending policy before a separate message request. No baseline or property result is established for this input. Select an international example to continue. A lookup does not establish identity, ownership, permission to contact or future delivery. Roaming is independent of reachability and cannot replace those checks. [Read the response contract ↗](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) Illustrative observations only. No number is queried and no message is sent. WHAT IT MEANS FOR YOUR CUSTOMER ## Better information. A better next decision. Catch a detail while it is still easy to correct. Use phone and email evidence to make the next customer step more informed, without treating an unknown answer as a failed person. 01 / Collect ### Start with the right destination. Help your application understand the number or address the customer has provided. 02 / Understand ### Read the useful signals. Use the returned classification and supported properties, including their status and confidence. 03 / Decide ### Make the next step clear. Ask for a correction, continue, or verify control according to the decision your product needs to make. FIND YOUR WAY IN ## Evidence has a scope. Phone intelligence ### Understand the number. Read serving/original network, country when resolved, coarse line type and six optional properties. Treat unknown signals separately from answered negatives. [Explore phone lookup ↗](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) Email address quality ### Catch the small mistake. Use validation evidence and typo suggestions in your email collection flow. Ownership and permission remain separate questions. [Explore Email validation ↗](/email-validation-api) ### The details behind your setup #### Base result Use the information returned for the destination. A number classification is not proof that the person owns it. #### Optional properties Read the status of each requested property before its value. Successful optional results can add charges. #### Unknown is a policy case An unavailable signal is not an invalid customer. Decide whether to continue, ask for a correction, or perform verification. READY WHEN YOU ARE ## Start with the detail you have. [Start now](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Flookup%2Fphone) [Talk to sales](/demo?product=lookup) 01 [Prepare phone Lookup ↗ Use lookup write scope, wallet funding and a controlled recipient.](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Flookup%2Fphone) 02 [Choose your evidence ↗ Request the properties needed for your decision.](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) 03 [Handle every result ↗ Preserve uncertainty and connect the appropriate next step.](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) BUILD WITH LOOKUP ## Put the evidence to useful work. Run a phone lookup on your server and check each property’s status before using its value. The guide covers credentials, region, paid queries and unavailable signals. Run the same phone lookup with the CLI or MCP and inspect each returned signal. Carrier and number information does not establish identity or possession. [CLI phone lookup reference](/docs/cli/reference/lookup-phone-number) [Connect an MCP client](/ai/mcp-client) [Open the implementation guide →](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) [object Object] THE COMPLETE BIRD PLATFORM Better inputs. Better next steps. Connect Lookup to signup, verification, and messaging. Each product handles a distinct job while your application keeps the customer journey together. LOOKUP The number, in context. Line type Mobile Ownership Not established 01 Lookup This step Inspect Alex’s submitted destination. Explore Verify VERIFY A verified beginning. Request vrf_example Code check Verified 02 Verify ↗ Verify control when your account flow requires it. Explore SMS Today · 9:41 Your account update is ready, Alex. View the details in your account. 03 SMS ↗ Send an application update after the customer chooses the channel. BUILD YOUR BIRD SETUP A useful next connection. Email validation ↗ Improve collected email See the email-specific validation workflow. Check control Use a code when you need a verification result. Choose the next message Connect destination evidence to your SMS application. Audiences & contacts ↗ Keep a better contact record Store corrected details and membership deliberately. Pair destination evidence from Lookup with an ownership check from Verify. Then use the same communications partner for the first welcome and later account updates. Plan your complete Bird setup ↗ [/verification-api](/verification-api) [/products/sms](/products/sms) [/email-validation-api](/email-validation-api) [/email-audiences](/email-audiences) [Plan your complete Bird setup ↗](/demo?product=lookup) LEARN / BUILD / OPERATE ## Go further with Lookup. [FIELD GUIDE Evidence has a scope. A practical path through setup, implementation, and the choices that matter. Read the field guide →](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) [Explore all resources Quickstarts, implementation guides, comparisons and migration.](/lookup/resources) [01 Look up a phone number Request the properties your decision needs. ↗](/docs/guides/lookup/phone-numbers) [02 Look up an email address Read result and confidence together. ↗](/docs/guides/lookup/email-addresses) [03 Choose phone or email Match the operation to your next decision. ↗](/lookup) [04 Prepare your first lookup Check credentials, wallet and recovery. ↗](/products/lookup/getting-started) [05 Lookup questions 41 direct answers about signals, limits and billing. ↗](/products/lookup/faqs) [06 Estimate Lookup costs Count baseline and answered-property units. ↗](/products/lookup/pricing) [Choose phone or email ↗](/lookup) [Use phone and email signals ↗](/guides/use-phone-and-email-signals) Follow concrete recipient decisions, handle unavailable evidence and keep possession and permission separate. LOOKUP / PRICING ## Choose the evidence. Know the scope. Every answered phone lookup has a baseline charge. Each requested optional property adds a charge only with status ok. Budget email verdicts and downstream verification separately. [Start now](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Flookup%2Fphone) [Talk to sales](/demo?product=lookup) [See Lookup pricing ↗](/products/lookup/pricing) YOUR LOOKUP SETUP Base + properties Request the evidence your application needs. Your request Phone and email checks serve different decisions. Optional evidence Review property availability and successful-result charges. The next step Budget verification and downstream messaging separately. ## Lookup, answered. ### What does a phone number lookup answer? The base lookup answers the number's country, the network serving it today, the network that issued its range, whether it has ever moved network, and a coarse line type. It always runs, and if it cannot be answered the whole request fails rather than returning a half-empty answer. ### How should I write the number? Country calling code first, then the national number. The leading plus is optional and 00 works in its place, so +31612345678, 31612345678 and 0031612345678 are all the same number. ### Why was my number rejected? A number written for dialling inside one country, with no country code, returns E22000 rather than being guessed at. Prefixing a country code onto 0612345678 would name a real number somewhere else and bill you for looking that one up instead. ### Which line types can it return? mobile, fixed_line, voip, toll_free, premium_rate, satellite, pager, payphone, m2m, service, other, or unknown. unknown means the carrier platform holds no classification for the range, and other means it holds one with no equivalent here. Request the classification property for the allocated service at finer precision. ### How do I tell whether a number has been ported? network_info is the network serving the number today and original_network_info is the network that issued its range. The two differ once a number has been ported, and flags contains ported in that case. Request the porting property when you also need the date and the full record. ### Why is country_code missing from my answer? Because the number belongs to no single country, as a non-geographic range does. Fields with no value are omitted rather than returned as null, so every field present in the answer was resolved. ### Does a lookup call or message the number? No. A lookup never contacts the number itself. It reads carrier and number-intelligence data, and the presence and roaming properties query the network the number is registered on, so nothing rings and nothing arrives on the handset. ### Does Lookup prove who owns a number? No. Lookup provides information about a destination. Verification is a separate step for confirming that someone can receive and return a code. ### Should I reject an unknown result? Unknown is different from invalid. Some result blocks may be unavailable. Your application should make a deliberate decision using the evidence it has. ### Can I treat an unavailable property as false? No. Read its status and preserve uncertainty. A missing result can reflect unavailable evidence rather than a negative answer. ### Is Lookup the same as Verify? Lookup provides information about a destination. Verify checks control by delivering and checking a code. Use the capability that matches the decision. ### How do I get started or speak to sales? Start with a Bird account and follow the setup path on this page. Our sales team can help with migration, volume, or a wider product mix. Start now or talk to sales. YOUR NEXT CONNECTION ## Make the next decision a little clearer. [Start now](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Flookup%2Fphone) [Talk to sales](/demo?product=lookup) [Explore the whole Bird platform ↗](/products) ## Related resources - [Phone number lookup: check a number before you send](/learn/lookup/phone-number-lookup-check-a-number-before-you-send) (video) [Get an implementation brief](/learn/workspace?topic=lookup)