Sophie
17 ottobre 2026 · 12 min di lettura
Your cousin in Morocco scribbled his number on a scrap of paper: "06 61 23 45 67". You save it exactly as written, you send a text from France… and it lands with a stranger in Lyon, or nowhere at all. The problem is neither your plan nor the network: a foreign number written in local format is, as far as your carrier is concerned, either a French number or an invalid one. An international text message only goes through properly with a number in international E.164 format.
Updated 17 October 2026.
What is the correct format for texting a foreign number?
The format that always works is: + country code + national number without the leading 0, with no required spaces, no dashes, no brackets. Example for a Moroccan mobile given locally as 06 61 23 45 67: you write +212661234567. The "+" replaces the international exit code, and the first zero of the local number always disappears.
This rule comes from Recommendation E.164 of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), the standard that defines the global numbering plan: a number consists of the country code (1 to 3 digits) followed by the national number, for a maximum total of 15 digits. That is exactly the format your carrier, its SMSC and the international carriers expect.
The three mistakes that keep coming up:
- Keeping the national 0: +33 0 6 12 34 56 78 → invalid. The 0 is a domestic prefix; it never crosses a border.
- Mixing 00 and +: 00+212661234567 → invalid. You pick one or the other, never both.
- Leaving out the country code and assuming "the phone will figure it out": it doesn't, it fills in your country of registration.
Why write "+" rather than "00"?
Because the "+" is automatically translated by the phone into the exit code of the country you happen to be in, whereas "00" is fixed.
In France and across the European Union, the international exit code is indeed 00. But it changes elsewhere: 011 in the United States and Canada, 010 in Japan, 00 or a carrier-specific prefix in some Latin American countries. If you save a contact as "0033612345678" and then go on holiday to the United States, that number stops working: you would need 011. The same contact saved as "+33612345678" works from any network on the planet, and that is precisely why the standard exists.
The practical consequence: all your contacts, including your French ones, are better off saved with +33. It's the only way to have an address book that survives a trip, a SIM change or a switch to eSIM. If you're getting ready for a long journey, now is the time to do that housekeeping, while you're slipping a USB-C power bank into your backpack.
On Android as on iPhone, you get the "+" by holding down the 0 key on the dialling keypad, or directly with the alphanumeric keyboard in the contact card.
Country codes for the destinations called most often from France
Country codes are assigned by the ITU and almost never change. Here are the ones that matter most to French speakers, along with the local-zero rule.
| Country | Country code | Local number as given | Format to save |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spain (Movistar, Vodafone…) | +34 | 612 345 678 | +34612345678 |
| Portugal | +351 | 912 345 678 | +351912345678 |
| Italy | +39 | 320 123 4567 | +393201234567 |
| Germany | +49 | 0151 23456789 | +4915123456789 |
| United Kingdom | +44 | 07700 123456 | +447700123456 |
| Belgium | +32 | 0470 12 34 56 | +32470123456 |
| Switzerland | +41 | 078 123 45 67 | +41781234567 |
| Morocco | +212 | 0661 23 45 67 | +212661234567 |
| Algeria | +213 | 0550 12 34 56 | +213550123456 |
| Tunisia | +216 | 20 123 456 | +21620123456 |
| Senegal | +221 | 77 123 45 67 | +221771234567 |
| Ivory Coast | +225 | 01 23 45 67 89 | +2250123456789 |
| Canada / United States | +1 | (514) 234-5678 | +15142345678 |
| Mexico (Telcel) | +52 | 55 1234 5678 | +525512345678 |
| Brazil | +55 | (11) 91234-5678 | +5511912345678 |
Two subtleties that often catch people out:
- Italy does not drop the zero on landline numbers (a Rome landline is written +39 06…), but Italian mobiles have no leading zero. It's the most common exception to the "drop the 0" rule.
- North America, Tunisia, Senegal and Ivory Coast don't use a leading zero: you simply stick the country code in front of the full number.
If you're unsure about a more unusual country, the official lists of country codes and numbering plans are published by the ITU in its operational bulletin, and that's the source to trust over copied-and-pasted directories.
My text was sent, so why doesn't it arrive anyway?
Because a correctly formatted number only guarantees the first step. Three causes often pile on top of the format issue.
The number has been ported to another carrier
Number portability exists in most countries: a number starting with a prefix historically assigned to Movistar may today belong to an Orange España customer. For you, it makes no difference: the format stays the same, and it's the destination network that queries its portability database. It does, however, explain why some carriers take longer to deliver to a ported number.
The recipient is travelling too
A text sent to a Spanish number always follows that number, even if its owner is in Japan: it's the subscriber who receives it, and for them receiving texts is free both inside and outside the EU. The delay, on the other hand, can stretch out by several minutes.
The delivery report will lie to you
This is the most deceptive part: a "Delivered" status shown by your app often only proves that the message passed through an intermediary. We covered this in detail in our article on SMS delivery receipts abroad, which explains why that indicator is so unreliable outside France.
How do I fix my whole address book in one go?
There's no magic button, but there is a quick method that saves you from reopening 400 contact cards.
- Export your contacts in vCard (.vcf) or CSV format. On Android: contacts.google.com → Export. On iPhone with iCloud: icloud.com/contacts → Export vCard.
- Open the CSV file in a spreadsheet and find the phone number column. Numbers starting with 0 and containing 10 digits are your French numbers: replace the leading 0 with +33.
- Handle foreign numbers separately — the ones you recognise (family, colleagues, hosts) — using the table above.
- Re-import the corrected file, then merge duplicates (Google Contacts and iOS both offer automatic merging).
- Check three contacts at random by opening the card: the number should start with a + and have no 0 immediately after the country code.
If you've jotted numbers down on loose scraps of paper, a small travel contact notebook remains the most reliable safety net when your phone dies: write the numbers in it in + format, not local format — that's the whole point.
Special case: numbers dictated over the phone
When someone abroad dictates a number to you, always ask for two things: the country code and whether the number has a leading zero. A good habit is to ask them to repeat the number "the way you'd write it for someone abroad". In many countries, people instinctively give the local form without thinking about it.
Does saving a foreign number cost anything?
No: saving it is free, it's sending that gets billed. And the format of the number is what determines the pricing applied.
A key point that's often misunderstood: from France, a text sent to a foreign number is an international text message, almost never included in a plan's "unlimited texts", which cover messages sent to mainland France (and often to the French overseas départements). Texts to the European Union are governed by European Regulation 2018/1971, which has capped the price of a text to another EU country at €0.06 excluding tax (€0.072 including tax) since May 2019: that cap applies to messages sent from France to the EU, not to roaming. Outside the EU, prices are unregulated and vary widely from one carrier to another: check your carrier's "international" price list before you start typing.
Conversely, if you are travelling within the EU, the "roaming" regulation applies the roam like at home principle: texts you send from the EU to a French number are deducted from your domestic plan. The distinction between "from France to abroad" and "from abroad to France" is the most common source of billing misunderstandings; we took it apart in our guide to texts and data outside the European Union.
To send messages without depending on your carrier's international price list, you can also go through sending texts from the web: the number format stays exactly the same, the "+" and the country code are mandatory, and prices can be viewed on the pricing page.
Does the format change with RCS or an internet messaging app?
No — it's even stricter. Apps that rely on the internet — RCS via Google Messages, or messaging services that identify an account by phone number — look for an exact E.164 match.
In concrete terms: a contact saved as "0661 23 45 67" without a country code is not recognised as a user by these apps, which will then offer to "invite" them even though they're already active. Fixing the format suddenly brings back contacts you thought weren't there.
| Channel | Accepted format | Behaviour with local format |
|---|---|---|
| Texts from France | +country code or 00country code | Read as a French number → failure or wrong recipient |
| Texts from abroad | + only (reliable) | 00 may fail depending on the country you're in |
| RCS / Google Messages | strict +country code | Contact not recognised, falls back to SMS |
| Internet messaging apps | strict +country code | Contact invisible, invitation offered |
RCS also has another dependency: data, and therefore data roaming. If you turn data off abroad — a sensible reflex outside the EU — your RCS conversations fall back to standard text messages, billed as such. The details of that fallback are explained in RCS versus SMS.
The 60-second check before you leave
Before a trip or an important message, three checks are enough:
- Open the recipient's contact card and make sure it shows a + followed by a country code, with no 0 stuck behind it.
- Check that international texts aren't blocked on your line. Some lines, especially those opened for a child or with a "spending control" option, have international services blocked by default, which you need to disable from your online account. It's one of the causes described in our article receiving texts but unable to send them abroad.
- Test with a short message, with no accents or emoji: a text that switches to Unicode encoding drops from 160 to 70 characters and is split into several messages, each billed separately internationally. For longer stays, a dual USB wall charger suited to the country keeps you from ending up with a dead phone just when you want to run that test.
And if you're leaving for several weeks, the formatting mistake is sometimes compounded by a badly configured SIM: our guide switching to eSIM explains which line actually sends your texts when two profiles coexist in the phone. A universal travel plug adapter and an external SIM card reader cost next to nothing and save you from improvising on arrival.
Frequently asked questions
Should I put spaces in an international number?
No, they're optional. Phones and sending platforms ignore them, just as they ignore dashes, dots and brackets. Only the "+" and the digits count. For readability in a paper notebook, however, spaces are useful.
Can I write 0033 instead of +33?
From France, yes, both work. But from abroad, 00 isn't the exit code everywhere (011 in North America, 010 in Japan). The "+" is the only notation valid in every country, so you may as well use it everywhere.
How do I text a Movistar or Telcel number?
Exactly like any other number in that country: +34 for Spain, +52 for Mexico, followed by the number without its leading zero. The recipient's carrier plays no part in how the number is written, since portability has largely decoupled prefixes from carriers.
Is my text abroad included in my "unlimited texts"?
Rarely. Unlimited plans cover messages sent to France; a message sent to a foreign number is billed individually according to the carrier's international price list, subject to the cap of €0.06 excluding tax per text to the European Union since May 2019. Check your carrier's price list before sending in bulk.
Should I change the format of my French contacts too?
It's strongly recommended. A French contact saved with +33 works from France, from the EU and from any foreign network, and it's recognised by internet messaging apps. A contact saved as 06 only really works from a French line.
