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A Thai mobile banking app works once two things are in place: a Thai bank account, and a Thai mobile number registered in your own name, matching your passport. If the phone number belongs to someone else, the bank will usually suspend the app while the account, card and branch service carry on as normal. Inside the app, you get one login on one device, and the bank asks for a face scan before you can open an account through the app itself, send more than THB 50,000 in a single transfer, or raise your daily limit above THB 50,000. The same Thai number is what lets you link PromptPay, the transfer system built around phone numbers rather than account numbers.
In short
- The phone number on the app must be registered in your own name - banks have required this since 2025.
- One login, one device, per banking app.
- A face scan kicks in above THB 50,000 per transfer, when you raise your daily transfer limit above THB 50,000, and when you open an account through the app itself.
- PromptPay only takes a Thai mobile number; your UK, US or Australian number won't work.
- If the app is blocked over a phone-number mismatch, the account and card usually still work; for other causes, ask the bank which services stay available.
Before you start: account, SIM and phone number
The app sits on top of an account you already have. In practice, banks ask for a long-term visa status before they open one at all - a retirement or marriage Non-O, a Non-B visa with a work permit, LTR or Elite status - and many banks turn away the DTV. If you haven't opened an account yet, that's a separate step we cover elsewhere; here we only flag it as the starting condition for everything below.
Next comes the phone number itself. Since 2025, banks have been checking that the number linked to the app is registered in the account holder's own name - ttb told its customers it was doing this - and a foreigner shows a passport to prove it. If the names don't match, the app gets suspended - the account, card and branch service are not affected. We suggest checking with your mobile operator whose name sits on your SIM registration before you go anywhere near a bank counter, and asking your own bank what it requires if the names differ.
Activating the app: in branch or yourself
We found no single Bank of Thailand procedure for registering the app in the official material we reviewed - each bank appears to run its own onboarding flow, for Thai and foreign customers alike, so ask your bank how it works for you. That's also why we don't walk through the exact screens of any one bank's app here: those steps change too often to publish safely.
What stays useful across banks is a short checklist for the branch visit itself:
- your passport, with whatever validity the bank asks for;
- any supporting document the bank requests for the phone-number check;
- a phone with an active Thai SIM registered in your own name;
- a question for the staff: does this account need a face scan to log in, and what's the default daily limit?
Ask at the branch how the number gets linked and what the first login involves - some banks add an extra identity check at this stage. If you later switch phones, some banks will ask you to come back in person to reactivate the app; that's a bank-by-bank decision, not a general rule, so it's worth asking before you need the app urgently.
PromptPay and QR transfers
PromptPay links a Thai mobile number to a baht account, so you can send and receive money by phone number instead of account number. As a foreigner, you link your own Thai number; the ID-card route exists only for Thai nationals, and - as banks state in their own terms, Krungsri among them - a foreign phone number is not accepted. One number links to one account at a time.
Ask your bank whether QR payments are available in its app, on what terms, and how they connect to PromptPay - we found no official rule covering this that we could publish here, so check before relying on it for a large purchase.
Limits and face verification
Bank of Thailand measures from March 2023 set three triggers for a face scan: opening an account through the app, sending over THB 50,000 in a single transfer, and raising your daily transfer limit above THB 50,000. There's no single limit that applies to everyone - each bank sets it according to its own view of the customer's risk. Press coverage mentions an additional THB 200,000-a-day threshold for face verification, but we found no Bank of Thailand text stating that figure - ask your bank whether it applies any extra threshold on top of the per-transfer and daily-limit triggers above.
This matters whenever you plan to send money out through the app - for example, a payment over THB 50,000 for a car or a villa deposit. Our lawyers recommend checking your daily transfer limit before that payment is due, not on the day you need to send it: if you need to raise your daily transfer limit above THB 50,000, a face scan is required, and it's better handled ahead of time than while a payment is stuck waiting.
One more thing worth knowing: banks don't send links to log in or confirm a transfer by SMS or email. If a message like that arrives, it isn't your bank, however familiar the sender's name looks.
If the app is blocked
Check with your bank what caused the block and what restores access - ask whether the registered name on the phone number matches your account, whether logging in from a new device needs reactivation, and whether a face-verification request is still pending.
If the cause is a name mismatch, the account, card and branch service normally keep working; for other causes, ask the bank which services remain available.
| Reason for the block | What still works | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Phone number not registered in your name | Account, card, ATM, branch | Branch visit with your passport and SIM to check the registration |
| Logging in from a new device | Ask your bank | Branch visit (the only route at some banks) |
| Face verification pending | Ask your bank | Follow the bank's instructions; ask in advance whether a branch visit is needed |
If your bank won't explain the block inside the app itself, send us the notice or letter - we'll take a look and tell you what it means and what to do next.
What to do next
Thailand has been discussing changes to digital banking security, including a cooling-off period for new devices and moving away from SMS codes for confirmation. None of this is law yet, and there's no official guidance to plan around, so don't rely on either change arriving on a particular date.
If your bank has refused an app or an account and the reason isn't clear, write to us on Telegram or WhatsApp. We'll reply within 24 hours and explain what can be done and how long it is likely to take.
A bank account and its app are just one piece of settling in. For what else to set up in your first months on Phuket, see our guide on moving to Phuket. If you'll also need to drive here, we've covered the Thai driving licence foreigners need in a separate article.
