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Sharing my experience using multiple Claude accounts: stable usage without residential IPs, fingerprint browsers, or credit cards. Covers login environments, IP addresses, payment methods, usage patterns, and network rules.
Previously, I shared an article on subscribing to Claude and ChatGPT memberships. Its main focus was how to obtain stable, official subscriptions via in-app purchases on the App Store—offering the advantage of requiring no credit card or other payment method; you only need to purchase gift cards for the corresponding region.
If you haven’t read it yet, here’s the detailed setup tutorial: Stable AI Subscriptions Without Overseas Credit Cards
Today, I’ll mainly share my day-to-day experience using Claude Pro and Claude Max.
Initially, I hesitated about writing this piece because there’s already a vast amount of reference material online (e.g., on Google or X) covering Claude account registration and account preservation. However, my approach differs significantly from what others commonly share—so this is truly just a personal experience report.
If you’ve read other tutorials on account usage or preservation, you’ve likely encountered terms like “residential IP,” “fingerprint browser,” and “U-card.” But I want to clarify: none of these were used in my setup.
Account Overview
First, let me summarize my account count. Altogether, I’ve registered five Claude accounts. Only one was created using email + SMS verification; the rest were all signed up directly via Google accounts. As of now, three accounts remain active. I’ll explain later why the two suspended accounts were disabled.
One more point: online reports about Claude account suspensions may not always be accurate. Ultimately, your own experience matters most. The same method might keep one person’s account intact while getting another’s banned. Furthermore, Anthropic has never publicly disclosed specific criteria that trigger account suspension—so all existing explanations are merely community-driven hypotheses based on anecdotal evidence.
ByteDance published an excellent deep-dive analysis of Claude’s suspension mechanism at the code level—a highly valuable technical report. If interested, check it out here: Deep Analysis of Claude’s Account Suspension Mechanism
Registration Experience
My first Claude account was registered around early 2025. At that time, I had recently set up aliases for my Outlook email address and used Outlook for registering many services. Registering via email required receiving an SMS verification code. During my initial attempts, I lacked suitable phone numbers capable of receiving those codes (Claude refused to send them to either of my two Philippine numbers), causing repeated stalls at this step.
Eventually, I repeatedly requested verification codes from Claude—several times every two or three days—and after several such attempts, my account was outright banned.
The symptom was that, upon my final attempt, the page immediately displayed a ban notice. So my very first account got suspended before I even completed registration.
Later, when registering my second account, I purchased an overseas phone number for SMS verification from Taobao (costing ¥10), which allowed me to complete registration successfully using my Google email. I then proceeded to subscribe to the Pro plan under this account—and it has remained fully functional ever since.
Of course, during regular use, one Pro subscription proved wholly insufficient. Sometimes, analyzing a single problem exhausted the full 5-hour usage quota—leaving me completely unable to continue. Under such circumstances, I opened third and fourth accounts.
For subsequent accounts, I abandoned email + SMS registration entirely and instead signed in directly via Google—clicking Continue with Google.
I also noticed many users still get prompted for SMS verification even when signing in via Google—likely due to IP or browser-related issues. For me, however, under my current IP and environment, Google sign-in never triggered any such verification request.
Login Environment
Let me share some Chrome usage tips—I believe Chrome’s built-in profile feature can effectively replace so-called “fingerprint browsers.”
This functionality is Chrome’s “profiles” feature. Official documentation is available here: Use Chrome with multiple profiles
Due to my work requirements—managing multiple tenants across different environments—I couldn’t possibly rely on logging in/out repeatedly within a single browser window. Thus, I adopted Chrome profiles long ago. Below is a screenshot of my current profiles—not even the most extreme case; at peak usage, I needed to scroll vertically to locate the correct profile because they wouldn’t all fit on one screen.
So when managing multiple Claude accounts, I simply assign each its own dedicated Chrome profile. Whether signing in via Google or email, I strictly confine each account to its designated profile and never cross-profile usage.
To me, this solution is sufficient—and far lighter than installing a separate fingerprint browser. So far, it’s caused zero issues or bans.
IP Address
You’ve probably seen many Claude tutorials insisting you must use residential IPs to improve IP quality. Honestly, though—I don’t even have my own residential IP yet.
Currently, besides using proxy nodes from a commercial provider (“airport”), I also operate a DMIT VPS located in the U.S. While this server hosts relevant services, I rarely use it. Most of the time, I access Claude and OpenAI services directly through the airport’s IP nodes. Only occasionally do I route traffic through my own VPS.
The airport service I use probably offers abysmal IP quality—ha! Yet, I rely almost exclusively on these IPs. To date, none of my four paid accounts have been banned due to network or IP-related reasons.
Thus, I suspect much of the online chatter blaming IP quality for bans lacks solid evidence. Supporting this view, ByteDance’s aforementioned deep-dive analysis (Chapter 6) makes no mention whatsoever of IP-related triggers.
Payment Method
Regarding payment, as outlined earlier, all my Claude subscriptions—whether Pro or Max—are purchased exclusively via in-app purchases on the App Store, specifically using Nigeria’s regional store. I neither use the U.S. App Store nor credit cards.
However, my second account was suspended due to payment method changes—and this account had operated smoothly for over a year before being lost.
Here’s how it happened: This account had consistently renewed via Nigeria-based App Store in-app purchases until, during a period when Bitget U-cards were trending widely, I decided to open one too. At the time, there was a promotion offering $10 cashback for paying AI subscriptions with U-cards. I figured I’d test whether the U-card worked by using it for my next renewal.
Interestingly, right after my subscription expired, I paid directly via the web interface using the U-card—and the transaction succeeded. I then happily resumed using Claude Code CLI.
Result? Paid at noon; banned by 2 p.m. The CLI instantly reported suspend.
Initially, I assumed the $20 fee would be forfeited—but after waiting three days, the full amount was refunded to my card. Anthropic’s speed in suspending accounts is undeniable; their refund efficiency is equally impressive. And just like that, my longest-running Claude account vanished.
That said, over the following days, I saw others on X successfully activate accounts using the same U-card method—suggesting that abrupt shifts between vastly different payment methods may be the real cause. Since then, I’ve kept all renewals strictly via Nigeria-based App Store purchases.
Even more surprisingly, I’ve used the same App Store account to pay for multiple Claude accounts—with no restrictions. At one point, a single App Store account paid for three Pro subscriptions simultaneously, with zero bans.
Currently, one Pro account has been upgraded to Max, while the remaining two will expire gradually this month. However, I barely use those two Pro accounts anymore.
Usage Patterns
Most of my daily usage happens inside the Claude Code CLI. I discovered many people weren’t aware Pro subscriptions could be used via CLI—even though support has existed for quite some time.
During the multi-Pro-account phase, I switched accounts using /login once hitting quota limits. Other multi-account tools exist (e.g., CC Switch), but /login remains my preferred method.
As for mobile usage—you’ve probably read warnings online advising against logging into Claude on smartphones. But think about it: You’ve invested in such a powerful AI tool—would you really restrict yourself to using it on just one device? That seems like a tremendous waste.
So my routine is simple: Regardless of how many accounts I maintain, I log into all of them on my MacBook Pro—and also on my smartphone. Occasionally, I even log in on my server.
On mobile, my most-used feature is Remote Control. Sometimes, when I haven’t finished work on my computer, I simply enable Remote Control and continue remotely from my phone. In other cases, Claude’s research reports outperform Gemini’s tools—and those tasks are handled entirely on my phone.
In fact, my default invocation command has evolved into this—automatically skipping permissions and enabling remote control:
claude --dangerously-skip-permissions --remote-control
Before upgrading to Max, juggling multiple Pro accounts did pose minor inconveniences. Each time I switched to Account A in the CLI and launched remote tools, my mobile Claude app also needed to switch to Account A for matching remote control functionality. Though perfectly logical, it was slightly cumbersome. Since adopting Max, however, account switching is virtually obsolete.
Network Rules
I frequently switch Claude accounts across two laptops and one smartphone. A key prerequisite: All devices run Surge as their network proxy client, and their configuration files sync automatically via iCloud.
Thus, modifying a rule on one device instantly propagates it to all others. Even across multiple devices, the underlying network proxy behavior remains nearly identical—whether routing via airport nodes or my VPS. For any given account, both device identity and outbound IP stay consistent—even if that IP is shared among thousands of users.
Below is my Surge rule set, integrating common AI services. For me, Claude-specific rules are the most critical component. You can feed these rules into various AI agents to convert them into formats compatible with your preferred proxy software: Surge AI Rules List
Summary
My practical experience clearly diverges from mainstream tutorials.
No residential IP. No fingerprint browser. No U.S.-region credit card. Instead: airport nodes, Chrome profiles, and Nigeria-region App Store in-app purchases. Two suspended accounts resulted from excessive verification-code requests during registration and sudden payment-method changes. The remaining three accounts remain fully operational.
Therefore, rather than expending energy on complex environmental obfuscation, I recommend focusing on two core principles: consistency and avoiding abrupt changes. Stable login environments, stable payment methods, and stable network egress points—these are the true pillars sustaining account longevity.
Of course—as emphasized at the outset—all suspension-related insights (including this article) remain speculative. Anthropic has never disclosed concrete suspension criteria. My sole aim is to transparently share my real-world usage patterns for your reference.