You need your own number for a form, a delivery, an EFT reference or a RICA check — and you cannot remember it. It happens to everyone, particularly on a second SIM or a data SIM you never call from.
MTN South Africa does not publish a USSD code for checking your own number on its official USSD codes page, although plenty of websites list one anyway. These are the methods that do work, every one of them free or already on your phone.
Method 1: Send a Please Call Me to another phone (fastest)
This is the quickest reliable trick, it is free, and it works on any MTN prepaid line.
- On the MTN phone, dial *121*[the other person's number]# and press call. MTN calls this service "Callback".
- The other phone receives a text message containing your number.
- Read it off their screen.
You can send one to any South African number — a friend, your partner, your own second phone. Full detail in our guide to sending a Please Call Me on MTN.
Method 2: Call or WhatsApp someone
Obvious, but genuinely the most reliable: ring any phone that shows caller ID and read your number off their screen. If the other phone is on silent, one ring is enough — the missed call log keeps the number.
Method 3: The MTN App
- Install the MTN App from the Play Store or App Store.
- Sign in, or register using the SIM you want to identify — on mobile data, MTN can usually detect the line automatically.
- Your number appears on the account or profile screen.
This is also where MTN wants you doing balance checks and recharges, and it saves you memorising codes.
Method 4: Your phone's own settings
Your handset often already knows the number, because the network wrote it to the SIM.
| Device | Where to look |
|---|---|
| iPhone | Settings › General › About › scroll to Network or the SIM entry |
| Samsung | Settings › About phone › Status information › SIM card status |
| Most other Android | Settings › About phone › SIM status, or Settings › SIM cards |
One caveat: this field is written to the SIM rather than fetched live, so on a very old or transferred SIM it can be blank or wrong. If it looks wrong, use method 1.
Method 5: MTN customer care
- 135 — free from an MTN line
- 083 135 — from any other network (standard rates)
You will need your RICA details to verify the line before they will confirm the number.
Codes MTN does publish, and that do work
These are confirmed on MTN's own USSD codes page:
| What you want | Code |
|---|---|
| Please Call Me / Callback | *121*[number]# |
| Check your balance | *136# |
| Detailed balance enquiry | *136*1# |
| Me2U — send airtime, data or SMS | *136*3# |
| Me4U — recharge another MTN number with a voucher | *141*[voucher]*[number]# |
| Customer care | 135 (or 083 135 from another network) |
Me2U is still live and still called Me2U, listed on MTN's own USSD codes page — worth saying, because a number of older guides claim it was renamed.
A note on *#06#
You will see *#06# recommended for this. It does not give you your phone number. It gives you the IMEI, which identifies the handset, not the SIM — it returns the same result whichever SIM is in the phone. Useful for insurance claims and reporting a stolen phone; useless for finding your number.
The ICCID — the ~19-digit SIM serial usually starting with 89 — is also not your phone number. It is printed on the plastic SIM card and appears in your phone's SIM status screen.
RICA: worth knowing in 2026
South Africa tightened RICA enforcement from 1 July 2026, with penalties of up to R5 million or 10 years' imprisonment for non-compliance, following a Department of Justice review in March 2026 into SIM-registration weaknesses linked to organised crime. If a SIM is not properly RICA'd in your name, customer care will not discuss it with you — so keep your registration current, particularly on second and data SIMs.