I live in the US and have a US phone number. I had successfully installed Phone Pe on my phone and even managed to conduct a transaction. However I received a new iPhone device with the same phone number. When I try to install Phone pe, i get the attached error "Unable to proceed. We are facing a technical issue."



Working with PhonePe support is like pulling teeth. They sent me to the support.phonepe.com website which requires an OTP to be sent. However the OTP never gets sent to the phone. In addition the agent told me that I will need a new Phone to use Phone Pe which is ridiculous.

Has anyone else with a US phone number figured out how to transfer the app to a new iPhone device? Alternatively what are the other UPI possibilities with a US Phone number?

Try one of the other UPI apps? Like GPay or Paytm. Or if you have Indian bank account, most bank apps now integrate UPI.

Maybe try connecting to an Indian IP address using a VPN then?

That won't help the OP since he still won't be able to get an OTP on a US number.

Quick update: The problem mysteriously went away. I suspect it might be a "security feature" since it didnt recognize the new eSIM from the new phone? A better error message or tech support would be nice

GPay is not a viable alternative for those based outside India. You cannot install the Indian version of the GPay app through the Android store (Google Play) without an Indian Google profile in place (which involves providing an Indian address, etc.). The standard US version of GPay / Google Pay / Google Wallet OTOH does not support UPI. Trying to get both set up to work simultaneously on an Android phone is possible but tricky and probably not an approach recommended for long-term use. No idea if this is even possible on a non-Android phone.

I do not have any recent experience with PayTM, though a few years ago it simply refused any non-Indian phone numbers so was a no-go.

Other than PhonePe, the best bet for those with US phone numbers linked to their Indian bank accounts to use UPI are the apps of the banks themselves. People have managed to get UPI working well with IDFC First, and HDFC. ICICI too but apparently it's more fiddly. SBI's app does not support full UPI for US phone numbers, but will allow payments to UPI addresses from your accounts.