I am having trouble adding a cell phone number to my Canvas profile

[PatrickT44]

Hello,

I am a university student and we use Canvas quite a bit. We migrated to the platform and I want to ensure I have a profile that's rounded out.

I tried adding a cell phone to my Canvas profile. Since my number is a Verizon number, it insists in adding an email address, but I really just wanted to add it for the benefit of other members of my school being able to see it. I cannot receive text message verifications.

I wonder if this is due to my Verizon profile usually having at least received emails turned off to prevent spam? I also am usually not asked for the email of an SMS as the system has some way to just send a confirmation text directly to my number.

I did see a message on Canvas for SMS: "SMS is only used for Multi-Factor Authentication (if enabled for your account)." So, I don't see any way to add a phone number for a more general purpose in my profile.

Thank you for any guidance!

Best,

Patrick

[Chris_Hofer · Accepted solution]

@PatrickT44 ...

I don't believe that adding a cell phone number to your profile (following the steps in either of these Guides) actually displays your cell phone number on your profile for others to see.  It used to be that you could add your cell phone number to receive notifications of Canvas course activities/events (such as when grades were posted or when a new announcement was posted) via text messages, but that's not really possible any more.  All notifications are not received via e-mail or push notification through the official Canvas mobile apps (Canvas Student and Canvas Teacher).

• How do I add a text (SMS) contact method in Canvas as a student?
• How do I add a text (SMS) contact method in Canvas as an instructor?

If you really wanted to put your cell phone on your Canvas profile, you could do that here:

• How do I edit my profile in my user account as a student?
• How do I edit my profile in my user account as an instructor?

By the way...when you put in your Verizon number and it get converted to an e-mail address...that's just the way it works...because if you weren't working on any of yoru coursework, you could potentially send a message via your e-mail account (using Outlook, Yahoo, Gmail, etc.) to someone's cell phone provided you knew their phone number.  I assume that's what is happening here in Canvas...is that any SMS messages are being sent via e-mail, and that is why it puts your cell phone e-mail address in that field...so that you can get those notifications via text message.  Here's an example for Verizon customers:

Send text messages using email on a PC | About Verizon

Hope this helps!  Sing out if you have any other questions.