Sophie
23 October 2026 · 11 min read
You've left home with a local SIM, a travel eSIM, or simply on roaming, and your texts to France are hit-or-miss: some arrive, others never do. In the vast majority of cases, the culprit is neither the network nor the carrier, but one single thing: the 0 you left in front of the number. From abroad, a French mobile is written +33 6 XX XX XX XX — never +33 06, never 06 on its own.
Updated 23 October 2026.
Should you write +33 or 06 to text France from abroad?
You need to write +33 followed by the number without its leading 0. A French mobile listed as 06 12 34 56 78 becomes +33 6 12 34 56 78; 07 81 22 33 44 becomes +33 7 81 22 33 44. The +33 is France's country code, and it replaces the initial 0, which is nothing more than a national prefix.
This is the point almost everyone gets wrong: the French 0 isn't part of the number. Under the numbering plan managed by Arcep, ten-digit numbers begin with a 0 whose only purpose is to signal "national call". The moment you leave the country, that role is taken over by the international dialling code. Keeping both produces an eleven-digit number that matches no existing line.
| What you wrote down | What to send from abroad | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 06 12 34 56 78 | +33 6 12 34 56 78 | Delivered |
| +33 06 12 34 56 78 | — | Rejected or dropped |
| 0033 6 12 34 56 78 | Works on some networks only | Unpredictable |
| 06 12 34 56 78 (no country code) | — | Depends on the SIM in use |
Why do some of my texts still go through without the +33?
Because everything depends on the SIM doing the sending, not on the country you happen to be in.
- You're roaming with your French SIM (Orange, SFR, Bouygues Telecom, Free Mobile or an MVNO): your line stays attached to your French carrier. The visited network passes the message to your message centre (SMSC) in France, which reads
06as a national number. A text written06…therefore goes out normally. That's why millions of travellers have never had a problem — and are very surprised the day they switch SIMs. - You've put in a local SIM or eSIM (Movistar in Spain, Telcel in Mexico, Vodafone in Italy, a travel eSIM…): your SMSC is now a foreign one. To it,
06…isn't a French number but a local number in its own numbering plan — or nothing at all. The message is rejected, or sent to a stranger. We covered this in detail in our article on French texts lost with a local SIM.
This is the number one cause of "my texts won't send any more" while travelling. And it's also why the good habit, the one that works everywhere, is to save all your contacts in international format, once and for all, before you even leave. A paper travel address book is still handy, incidentally, for copying out the five genuinely critical numbers (family, bank, insurer) before you start editing your phone's contacts.
How do you write other French numbers from abroad?
The "+33 and drop the 0" rule applies to every ten-digit number, but the outcome varies depending on the type of line.
| Number type | National example | International format | Texting possible? |
|---|---|---|---|
| Mobile | 06 / 07 | +33 6… / +33 7… | Yes |
| Geographic landline | 01 to 05 | +33 1… to +33 5… | No (see below) |
| Non-geographic / broadband box | 09 | +33 9… | Not in practice |
| Short code (3xxx, 4 digits) | 3244, 555 | No equivalent | No |
| 08 special-rate number | 0 800, 0 892 | +33 8… | No, and often blocked |
Two practical consequences:
- Texts to a French landline work no better from abroad than they do from France. The problem isn't distance but the absence of any destination for a short message on a fixed line — we explained this in our article on texts sent to a landline number.
- Your carrier's short codes become unreachable. Free's 555, Bouygues Telecom's 3244, the texts for checking your usage or topping up: these numbers only exist from within the national network. From abroad, and even more so with a local SIM, they lead nowhere. If you need to contact your carrier, use the long international number published on its official website, and write it down before you leave.
Should you write +33, 0033 or 00 33?
The + is the universal form, and it's the one to use. The 00 is the international exit prefix in force in Europe and much of the world, but it isn't universal: the United States and Canada use 011, Japan has prefixes that vary by carrier, and some countries have their own rules.
The + sign solves the problem: your phone automatically converts it into the correct exit prefix for whichever network it's connected to. A contact saved as +33 6… works from Dakar to Tokyo with no edits. A contact saved as 0033 6… will work in Spain and fail in New York.
Key takeaway: an address book entirely in
+33is an address book that works everywhere. It's the one piece of travel prep that costs nothing and heads off half the problems.
On iPhone, you get the + by long-pressing the 0 key on the phone keypad. On Android it's generally the same gesture, or the +*# key depending on the keyboard.
How can you convert your whole address book in one go?
There's no "convert everything" button in Contacts on iPhone or in Google Contacts. But two approaches cut down the drudgery.
Method 1 — let the phone do the work (the simplest). Keep your French SIM active on roaming: the French network will carry on interpreting the 06 numbers. You then only convert the numbers you actually use, as the need arises.
Method 2 — targeted conversion before departure (the safest). Identify your twenty essential contacts and rewrite them in +33. On Android:
- Open Contacts (Google Contacts).
- Select the contact → Edit.
- Replace
06with+336(no space; the phone will format it afterwards). - Save.
On iPhone: Phone → Contacts → the contact → Edit → the number → replace the 0 with +33 → Done.
For very large address books, exporting to CSV from Google Contacts, running a find-and-replace pass in a spreadsheet, then re-importing does work — but back up first, because a botched re-import creates duplicates on a massive scale. On that note, a practical guide to using a smartphone while travelling often saves time for anyone who'd rather not fumble through the menus.
Is +33 enough to make sure the text arrives?
No. The right format eliminates the most common cause, but three other conditions have to be met.
- The SIM you're using must allow international sending. Many travel eSIMs are sold as "data-only" plans: they give you internet, but no text messaging service at all. In that case, no format will save your message.
- Your line must not be barred for international use. Some lines — capped plans, exhausted prepaid cards and corporate lines in particular — have international calling and texting disabled by default. That's one of the scenarios we described in our article on texts you receive but can't send from abroad.
- The message centre number must match the SIM that's inserted. It's rare but real: on older phones or after a SIM swap, the stored SMSC number can remain that of the previous carrier. The result: systematic failure.
To check everything before departure, recent phones show the details under Settings → Apps → Messages (Android) or Settings → Apps → Messages (iOS 18 and later). A short USB-C travel cable and a compact power bank make these checks a lot more comfortable in an airport, where nobody enjoys fiddling with settings on 11% battery.
What if I'd rather not depend on my SIM at all?
That's a perfectly reasonable option, especially outside the European Union where outgoing texts are still billed per message according to zone. Three routes exist side by side:
- Texting from a web interface. You enter the recipient in international format and the message goes out over the carrier network, without involving your SIM at all. That's exactly what our free text messaging page is for; the formatting rules and the zone breakdown are set out in our FAQ and on the pricing page.
- RCS. It replaces SMS in Google Messages and on iPhone since iOS 18, runs over mobile data or Wi-Fi, and costs nothing beyond the data used. The catch is that your contact also has to be on RCS: we compared the two in our article RCS versus SMS.
- Internet messaging apps (WhatsApp, Signal, Telegram), which require the same app on both ends — and, once again, a number saved in international format, since that's how these apps identify an account.
If you're counting on hotel Wi-Fi to carry everything, first read what texting over Wi-Fi abroad actually allows: Wi-Fi doesn't replace the mobile network for a genuine SMS, unless Wi-Fi calling (VoWiFi) is switched on and permitted outside France.
How much does a text to France cost from abroad?
It comes down to a single factor: the zone you're in, not the one you're texting.
- From the European Union, Iceland, Norway and Liechtenstein: the European roaming regulation imposes the "roam like at home" principle. Your texts to France are deducted from your French plan as though they were sent from mainland France, within the fair-use limits set out in your contract. The current framework is explained on the European Commission website.
- Outside that zone: each carrier applies its own per-message rate, often in zone tiers (Switzerland and the United Kingdom, North America, North Africa, rest of the world). Receiving messages, on the other hand, remains free everywhere. We set out the typical figures and the pitfalls in our guide to texting and data outside the European Union.
Two habits will spare you nasty surprises: actually reading the welcome text your carrier sends when you land (it states the applicable rates), and checking your add-ons in your online account before you leave rather than after you get back. For longer trips, a universal travel plug adapter and a foldable phone stand are among the accessories you always end up buying locally at twice the price.
Frequently asked questions
Does +33 really replace the 0 in the number?
Yes, completely. +33 and the leading 0 serve the same purpose and are never combined. 06 12 34 56 78 is written +33 6 12 34 56 78, with nine digits after the country code.
Does my contact in France have to do anything on their end?
No. They receive your message as normal, and replying costs them no more than a domestic text if your number is French. If, however, they reply to a foreign number showing on their screen, they pay for an international text: see our article on who pays when you reply to a text from abroad.
Can I reach 3244, 555 or 1023 from abroad?
No. Carrier short codes are only reachable from within the national network. Before you leave, make a note of your customer service team's long international number, published on your carrier's official website.
Why does my text say "sent" when nobody received it?
Because "sent" only means your carrier has accepted the message, not that it has been delivered. That's the point we develop in our article on SMS delivery receipts abroad.
Should I include spaces or dashes in the number?
No, and it makes no difference either way: spaces, dots and dashes are ignored when sending. All that matters is the +, the country code and the digits of the number without its leading 0.
