Plan requirement
| Subscription | Any plan |
| Access | Agent |
A WhatsApp number cannot be removed from a profile the way an ordinary phone number can. It is stored as an identity of the type messaging, and the agent interface has no control for it. Only the API removes it.
Before you look: even when no number appears on the profile, the WhatsApp number is still linked to that user behind the scenes.
Remove it
- Open the profile of the user in question and take the user id from the address bar. It is the long number in the URL.
- Request that user's identities at
https://yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/api/v2/users/{user_id}/identities. - In the result, find the identity whose type is messaging and note its
id. - Send a DELETE request to
https://yoursubdomain.zendesk.com/api/v2/users/{user_id}/identities/{id}.json.
The profile no longer shows the number afterwards, and a later message from that number creates a new user instead of attaching to the old one. You need an administrator with API access for this, so it is not something an agent can do between tickets.
Why this comes up
Phone numbers get reassigned. Somebody takes over a number that used to belong to one of your customers, messages you, and lands on that customer's profile together with their history. That is the main reason to know this procedure, and it is a privacy incident rather than an administrative tidy up.
If someone saw another customer's conversation history, check what was visible and record what happened, then follow whatever your organisation does about disclosures. Restricting transcript history limits the exposure next time.
The simpler case
A customer who changed number and wants the old one off their profile. Same procedure, no incident, and worth doing so that notifications stop going to a stranger.
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