# WhatsApp number banned? What to do next if it runs a bot

> Number banned and it runs a bot? Tell a restriction from a ban, request WhatsApp's in-app review, reach your users another way and avoid a repeat. No unban tricks.

Source: https://whasp.ai/blog/whatsapp-number-banned-what-to-do · 2026-10-20

## Key takeaways

- Check first whether the number is restricted, temporarily banned or banned: a restriction ends by itself and needs no appeal.
- For a ban, the only route WhatsApp documents is the Request review button in the app, one review per number, and contacting WhatsApp another way does not speed it up.
- No third-party service can lift a WhatsApp ban, and WhatsApp publishes no success rate for reviews, so plan as if the number is gone.
- Your users cannot find a banned number, so reach them on a channel you own and give them a link to the new number, because they have to write first.
- Before you relink or replace the number, work out what changed before the ban: cold messages, a volume jump, a new number, a new client or a shared network.

First, check what the screen says. A restriction ends by itself and needs no appeal. A ban shows "This phone number can't use WhatsApp" and, unless the ban is final, a Request review button. WhatsApp says most reviews finish within 24 hours. Tap it once, stop sending from the number and reach your users another way. No outside service can lift a ban.

Two kinds of source appear below. **Official** means WhatsApp's Help Center and Terms of Service, read on 19 October 2026. **Reported** and **vendor** mean what builders and a hosted-API provider say. Neither is a WhatsApp statement.

## Is the number restricted, temporarily banned or banned?

WhatsApp shows three different screens, and only one of them needs an appeal.

| What you see | What it means | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| "Your account is restricted right now" or "may be restricted soon" | [A restriction](https://faq.whatsapp.com/717472490411581). WhatsApp links it to signs of spam, automated or bulk messaging. You keep chatting with contacts and groups you already used, but cannot start chats or calls with new contacts, create groups or use linked devices. | Nothing in the app: it ends by itself and you get a notification. Stop messaging new contacts meanwhile. To see the time left, tap New Chat and pick a contact you never chatted with. |
| "Temporarily banned" | WhatsApp [ties this message](https://faq.whatsapp.com/1848531392146538) to unofficial versions of WhatsApp or scraping. | Stop using the unofficial client or stop scraping. If you do not, the account can be banned for good. |
| "This phone number can't use WhatsApp" | [A ban](https://faq.whatsapp.com/465883178708358). | Request a review, as below. |

If your bot connects as a linked device, a restriction can also log it out: the restriction page lists linked devices among the blocked features. When the session stays connected but sends to new contacts fail, builders call it error 463. See [error 463 explained](https://whasp.ai/blog/whatsapp-463-error-reachout-timelock).

## How do you request a review, and what are the odds?

The review is the only way back that WhatsApp documents. Do it once, honestly:

1. Open WhatsApp on the phone that holds the number and read the ban screen.
2. Tap **Request review**. WhatsApp sends a notification when it decides.
3. Wait. WhatsApp says that contacting it outside the review, or through another user's account, does not speed things up or change the decision, and that it reviews one number per appeal.
4. No Request review button? Then the ban is final and cannot be appealed.

File one honest request. The Terms list misuse of reporting channels, including fraudulent or groundless appeals, among the things you must not do ([Terms of Service](https://www.whatsapp.com/legal/terms-of-service)).

WhatsApp publishes no success rate. Its 2019 white paper, linked from [How to use WhatsApp responsibly](https://faq.whatsapp.com/361005896189245), says a team reviews appeals for the rare cases where it bans in error and may ask for more information. Reports vary: in [Baileys #1869](https://github.com/WhiskeySockets/Baileys/issues/1869), from October 2025, some builders say accounts reopened within hours, and others lost numbers for good after repeated bans. One hosted-API vendor tells customers a first ban is usually lifted, that they get one request, and that a refused one can be repeated after a month ([Whapi help center](https://support.whapi.cloud/help-desk/blocking/if-my-number-is-banned-can-it-be-restored)). WhatsApp's pages say none of that, so do not plan around it.

Our reading: if the ban followed automation at scale or repeated cold messages, expect it to stand. If it followed ordinary use, a review has a real chance. Either way, plan as if the number is gone and treat a restored one as a bonus.

If the review succeeds, you verify the number again by entering it. Chat history and backups return only after the unban ([About account bans](https://faq.whatsapp.com/465883178708358)). Our reading: go back to replies only for a while.

## What should you not do in the first hour?

Avoid these three moves.

- **Do not pay an unban service.** Official: only WhatsApp can ban or unban an account.
- **Do not resume the same messages from a new number.** Official, from the 2019 white paper: a new account that messages dozens of people who do not have it saved is judged against its history. Cold messages from a fresh number repeat the pattern.
- **Do not relink on the same phone, IP and server and hope.** Official: the white paper says registration checks look at IP, carrier and the history of the network. Our reading: a replacement there inherits whatever made the old number look abusive.

## How do you reach your users again?

Your users' chats belong to the banned number. They cannot message it, and you cannot read its history or backups while it is banned. The first message has to travel on a channel you own.

1. Put a notice in your app, site or email: you moved to a new WhatsApp number. Include a wa.me link with a prefilled message that carries the user's id, so you can recognize them when they write ([wa.me links and QR codes](https://whasp.ai/blog/whatsapp-onboarding-wa-me-links)).
2. Send the same link by email or push to everyone you have an address for.
3. Keep each user's history in your own store, keyed by your user id and not by the chat, so a returning user picks up where they left off.
4. Do not message your old chat list from the new number. It is the cold-message pattern that gets new numbers banned.

## What happens on whasp when a number is banned?

When WhatsApp bans a number for good, whasp retires it and moves you to a ready number at no cost, with the same label, profile (name, about, photo) and paid period. Your webhook gets `number.status_changed` when health changes (a ban is `critical`), then `number.replaced` with the old number and the new one.

The new number starts empty. No chats move, and like every number it cannot write first (409 `chat_not_open`). Your logic sends users the new `wa_link`. Each chat opens when the user writes, and sends without `from` go out from the new number from then on. A minimal handler, with your own `alertOnCall` and `queueMoveNotices`:

```ts
import { Webhook } from "standardwebhooks";

const wh = new Webhook(process.env.WHASP_WEBHOOK_SECRET!); // whsec_...

type Num = { number: string; wa_link: string; health: string; health_reason: string | null };
type WebhookEvent = { id: string; type: string; data: any };

export async function POST(request: Request) {
  const body = await request.text(); // raw body: verify before parsing
  let event: WebhookEvent;
  try {
    event = wh.verify(body, Object.fromEntries(request.headers)) as WebhookEvent;
  } catch {
    return new Response("Invalid signature", { status: 401 });
  }
  if (await alreadySeen(event.id)) return new Response(null, { status: 204 }); // events can arrive twice

  if (event.type === "number.status_changed") {
    const n: Num = event.data.number;
    if (n.health !== "healthy") await alertOnCall(`${n.number} is ${n.health}: ${n.health_reason}`);
  }
  if (event.type === "number.replaced") {
    const next: Num = event.data.new_number;
    // Users cannot reach the old number: send each one the new link on a channel you own.
    await queueMoveNotices(event.data.old_number, next.wa_link);
  }
  return new Response(null, { status: 204 });
}

declare function alreadySeen(id: string): Promise<boolean>;
declare function alertOnCall(text: string): Promise<void>;
declare function queueMoveNotices(oldNumber: string, waLink: string): Promise<void>;
```

The full flow, with message templates for your users, is in [moving users to a new number](https://whasp.ai/blog/whatsapp-number-replaced-migrate-users). The event list is in [/docs](https://whasp.ai/docs).

## How do you stop it happening twice?

Work backwards from the ban before you touch anything. Ask five questions:

1. Did the number message anyone who had not written to it first?
2. Was the number new, or did volume jump in the days before?
3. Did users block or report it, or ask it to stop and get ignored?
4. Did you link or relink a third-party client around then?
5. Were several accounts running from one phone, IP or server?

Each maps to something WhatsApp says it watches. [Why WhatsApp bans numbers](https://whasp.ai/blog/why-whatsapp-bans-numbers) walks through them, and [how to warm up a new number](https://whasp.ai/blog/warm-up-whatsapp-number) covers the ramp.

Sometimes there is nothing to find. In Baileys #1869 builders reported bans on bots that had run for over three years, and one account that had never been connected to a bot. So the lasting fix is design: users write first, volume stays steady, one phone and IP per number, and a recovery path ready before you need it.

If the number is on the official Business Platform, the Business Messaging Policy applies. It was last updated on 23 September 2026. It lets WhatsApp limit a business's sending based on blocks and reports, and points businesses that think they were wrongly enforced against to its appeal pages ([policy](https://whatsappbusiness.com/policy/)).

## What to do next

Today: request the review if you have the button, tell your users where to find you, and write down what changed before the ban. This week: fix whatever the five questions turned up. If you are choosing how to connect a bot, [how to put an AI agent on WhatsApp](https://whasp.ai/blog/put-ai-agent-on-whatsapp) compares every route and who carries the ban risk on each.

## Questions

### How do I get a banned WhatsApp number unbanned?

Open WhatsApp on the phone and tap Request review if the button is there. WhatsApp says most reviews finish within 24 hours and that contacting it any other way does not help. If there is no button, the ban is final and cannot be appealed.

### Can a third-party service unban a WhatsApp number?

No. WhatsApp's Help Center says third-party services cannot ban an account or remove a ban and that only WhatsApp can do either. Do not pay for one.

### Is a WhatsApp restriction the same as a ban?

No. A restriction blocks new chats, new groups and linked devices for a set time and ends by itself, while chats with people you already talked to keep working. A ban locks the number out until a review says otherwise.

### Should I register a new number after a ban?

Not before you know what caused the ban. A new number that starts with cold messages repeats the pattern that gets numbers banned.