When you connect your number to WhatsApp API, Meta registers it on the official API inside your WhatsApp Business account. As long as it stays there, you can't register it in the WhatsApp app on your phone. To free it up you have to delete it from Meta, and it's something you do yourself: the Meta account is yours and the deletion is confirmed with your password.
⚠️ Removing the channel in WeSpeak doesn't free up the number. The trash icon 🗑️ on the WhatsApp API card in Channels only removes it from your dashboard: in Meta, the number is still registered on the API.
Is this what you need?
Deleting the number from the API can't be undone: it stops sending and receiving messages through the API and, if you later want to connect it again, you'll have to set it up from scratch. Before you continue, check that this is your case:
| I want to… | What to do |
|---|---|
| Use the number again in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app on my phone | Delete it in Meta, following the steps in this guide |
| Move the number to another WhatsApp API provider | Don't delete it: ask the new provider to migrate it (see the FAQ) |
| Fix a connection that dropped | Don't delete anything in Meta: reconnect from Channels following Problems with WhatsApp |
| Cancel my WeSpeak subscription | Cancellation is requested only from Billing → Cancel subscription (Cancellation request). Freeing up the number doesn't cancel the service or stop billing |
Before you start
- The right Facebook account. Log in with the account that manages the Meta business portfolio WhatsApp was first connected with. Only a portfolio admin can delete numbers: with a different user you won't see the WhatsApp account, or the trash icon won't show up.
- Your Facebook password, because Meta asks for it to confirm the deletion.
- No paid messages in the last 30 days. If messages with a cost (for example, templates or campaigns) were sent from the number during that period, Meta won't let you delete it yet. We explain what to do below.
- No outstanding balance in Meta. If your WhatsApp Business account owes any charge —a Meta invoice your card didn't pay, or an unpaid credit line from a previous provider—, Meta won't release the number either until it's settled. We explain below how to see and pay it.
Step by step
- Log in to Facebook with the admin account of the business portfolio (the one used for the initial connection).
- Go to your portfolio's WhatsApp accounts section: business.facebook.com/latest/settings/whatsapp_account. If you manage more than one portfolio, make sure your business's portfolio is selected.
- Select the WhatsApp account that holds the number you want to unlink.
- Click the WhatsApp Manager button. It opens in a new window.
- In that window's menu, go to Phone numbers.
- Find the number and click its trash icon 🗑️.
- Enter your Facebook account password (the same one you use to log in to Meta) and a reason for the deletion. Confirm.
- Wait 3 to 5 minutes for Meta to release the number. Only then register it in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app, with the code sent by SMS or call, like any other number. If the app still doesn't accept it, wait a few more minutes and try again.
🔒 Your password is entered only in Meta's official window. WeSpeak will never ask you for it by WhatsApp, email or phone.
💡 Is Meta asking for a 6-digit PIN? It's the number's two-step verification. WeSpeak sets it up automatically when connecting the number, so it isn't a PIN you know: in WhatsApp Manager, tap the number's ⚙️, go to Two-step verification and turn it off (if it asks for the PIN, use the option to reset it). Then try the deletion again.
If Meta won't let you delete it
When you click the trash icon, Meta can block the deletion for two reasons. Check the message it shows you to know which one applies.
The 30-day rule
Meta doesn't allow deleting a number that was used to send paid messages in the last 30 days. In that case the number isn't deleted: Meta shows you the date of the last paid message, and you'll be able to delete it 30 days after that date.
- While you wait, don't send templates or campaigns from that number: every new paid message restarts the countdown.
- Once the 30 days are up, repeat the steps from the beginning.
An outstanding balance
Meta also won't release a number while its WhatsApp Business account has an outstanding balance: the deletion stays blocked until the debt is settled. The balance can come from two places:
- A Meta charge your card didn't pay (templates or assistant messages that Meta bills you directly). You can see and pay it in Meta Business Suite: Business settings → Billing & payments, WhatsApp Business accounts tab, Pay now button on your account. The details are in WhatsApp costs (Meta); if Meta declined the card, replace it following How to add or change the payment method.
- A previous provider's credit line. If before WeSpeak you worked with another WhatsApp API provider that assigned you its credit line and an invoice was left unpaid, Meta keeps the block until you settle it with that provider. This is one of the most common cases. What a credit line is and where to find it is in the WhatsApp FAQ.
Once the payment is settled, wait a few minutes (usually 3 to 5) for Meta to update the number's status, then repeat the steps from the beginning.
What happens next
- In Meta: the number leaves your WhatsApp Business account. The account, the business portfolio and your templates stay in place; only the number is removed.
- In WeSpeak: the channel stops sending and receiving messages and the WhatsApp API card shows Deleted. To take it off your dashboard, remove the connection from Channels with the card's trash icon 🗑️.
- In the app: the conversation history from the API doesn't move to the phone; the number starts with no previous chats.
💡 Order matters: first delete the number in Meta, and only then remove the channel in WeSpeak. If you do it the other way around and Meta still won't let you delete it (because of the 30-day rule or an outstanding balance), the number is left unattended: your guests write and neither the assistant nor the app replies.
Frequently asked questions
I removed the channel in WeSpeak and the WhatsApp app won't let me register the number.
Removing the channel from the dashboard doesn't free up the number: in Meta it's still registered on the API. Delete it from WhatsApp Manager following the steps in this guide, wait a few minutes and try again in the app.
I don't see the trash icon, or I can't see the WhatsApp account.
It's almost always because you logged in with a user who isn't a business portfolio admin, or because a different portfolio is selected. Log in with the account used to connect WhatsApp, or ask a portfolio admin to do the deletion.
Meta blocks the deletion because of an outstanding balance, but I never added a card in Meta.
The debt is most likely on the credit line of a WhatsApp provider you worked with before: Meta bills that provider for your account's messages, and the provider bills you. If an invoice was left unpaid, Meta won't release the number until you settle it with that provider. Then wait a few minutes and try the deletion again.
I'm moving to another WhatsApp API provider. Do I have to delete the number?
No, and it's better not to. Meta lets you migrate the number to the new provider's WhatsApp Business account while keeping its display name, quality rating, messaging limit and the green checkmark, if you have it. The new provider starts the migration; on your side, you'll usually need to turn off two-step verification for the number (from the number's ⚙️ in WhatsApp Manager). If you delete it instead, you'll have to set it up there as a new number.
Do I lose my number or my phone line?
No. The number is yours: deleting it from the API only frees it up so you can use it wherever you want. Calls on the line keep working normally the whole time.
Can WeSpeak do it for me?
No: the deletion is confirmed with the password of your Meta portfolio admin, and that account is yours. If you get stuck on any step, write to your advisor and we'll walk you through it.