How to Unlink a Phone Number from WeChat

Messaging apps have replaced SMS messaging in recent years, and WeChat is one of the most popular options. It is especially popular in its homeland of China, with over a billion users and a wide range of useful services.

To activate a WeChat account, you must link a mobile phone to your WeChat ID. That said, there have been a number of security concerns regarding China’s tech sector over the past few years. Not only that, sometimes you don’t want to continue using a particular messaging service. Whatever your reasons, you may want to disconnect your phone from WeChat. What can you do?

Well, some bad news first. Once you have linked a phone number to WeChat, you cannot unlink it without changing it to another number or deleting your entire account. If you decide to go either way, our guide will show you all the steps you need to take to make it happen.

Change Your WeChat Phone Number

1. Hungry WeChat app on your phone or tablet. It looks like two white chat bubbles on a green background. You will probably find it on your home screen.
   – If you see a chat conversation, tap the ‘Back’ button to return to your chat list.
2. Tap on ‘IThe ‘ tab is at the bottom right of your screen.
   
3. Tap on ‘Settings‘ at the bottom of the profile menu.
4. Tap on ‘account Security‘.
   
5. Tap on ‘Phone‘.
6. Tap on ‘Change Mobile‘. You should see your currently connected mobile number and country code.
   
7. Tap your existing phone number and replace it with a new phone number.
   
8. Tap on ‘OK‘. A verification code will be sent to the new number you have provided.
9. Enter the confirmation code sent to you by WeChat
   – If you haven’t received a code within a few minutes, the ‘Verification code not received?’ Press the button to resend.
10. Finally, tap ‘Send’ to finish linking your new phone number to your WeChat account. The previous number will now be unlinked.

Delete Your WeChat Account

If you do not want to keep any phone numbers connected to WeChat, you will need to delete your account. This will disconnect your phone and delete all your chats and chat history.

Before deleting your account, you should check that the following are true:

1. You have not changed your password or linked phone number in the last two weeks.
2. You have canceled or never activated WeChatPay and you have no outstanding payments.
3. You have used or deleted all your coupons in the ‘Cards & Offers’ section of your WeChat account.
4. You have given up all Admin privileges for WeChat Official accounts.
5. You have unlinked your account from any third-party apps and websites and revoked all login permissions granted through WeChat.

After checking that all this is taken care of, you are ready to request the deletion of your account. If your request is denied, double check the list above.

1. Open WeChat on your device. It’s the green icon with two white chat bubbles and it’s probably on your home screen.
   – If the app opens to a previous chat, tap ‘Back’ to return to your chat list.
2. Tap on ‘IYou can access your profile menu by clicking the ‘ tab.
3. Tap on ‘Settings‘.
4. Tap on ‘account Security‘.
5. Tap on ‘WeChat Security Center‘ at the bottom of the list.
   
6. Tap on ‘Account Cancellation‘ under the Security Center menu.
7. Tap on the green ‘Cancel request‘ button.
   

Your account and all related data will be removed within 60 days after your cancellation request is accepted. If you change your mind at any point during this time, simply log in to your account and the scheduled deletion will be cancelled. Of course, this also means that if, after logging in, you decide that you still want your account deleted, you will have to go through the whole process once again.

We Don’t Chat

By following these guides, you can unlink your phone number from your WeChat account by changing your phone number or deleting your account completely.

Do you know any other way to unlink your phone number in WeChat? Share your tips in the comments below and tell us about your experiences with this app.