What happens after you send it

The request is written down straight away - that is what the confirmation on this page means. From there the number stops returning a name to people who look it up, and stops being offered as a caller ID on incoming calls.

You will not get a message from us about it. We do not ask you for an email address and we do not send a code to the number, because either one would mean collecting more about you in order to hold less - and a code sent to a number would let anyone with this form test whether that number reaches a person.

Why the removal is kept on record

Unlisting has to outlive the moment you ask for it. The name database is rebuilt continuously from address books that people choose to share, so simply deleting the entry would achieve nothing lasting: the next person to share a phone book with your number in it would put it straight back, and you would be here again next month.

So a small, deliberate record is kept - the number in its normalised form, when the request arrived, and the address it came from. That record is what makes the removal durable. It is consulted as new address books arrive, and a number on it is not re-added.

This is the one place where keeping data is the privacy-protecting choice, and it is why the record does not expire. Nothing in it is used to build a profile of you, and it is not shared.

The same answer for every number

Whatever you type, this page replies in the same words and takes the same amount of time. It cannot tell you whether the number was listed, whether a name was attached to it, or whether somebody has asked about it before.

That is deliberate and it is not negotiable. A page that answered "that number is not in our database" would be a free, unlimited lookup service needing no account and no app - and, pointed at a range of numbers, a way to read the database out one number at a time. The removal form must never become the directory.

Questions people ask

Do I need the app? No. If you do have it, the same control is in its privacy settings and works the same way.

May I remove somebody else's number? You should not, and the confirmation box asks you to say the number is yours or one you may act for. Requests are recorded with the address they came from, and a run of requests for numbers that are not yours is treated as abuse.

What if I change my mind? Write to us and ask. An unlisting can be lifted, but only by a person looking at the request - never by this form. A form that could undo an unlisting would be a form that could undo somebody else's.

Does this close my account? No. This is about the number appearing in lookups. If you have an account and want it closed as well, use the account settings in the app.

What is held, for how long and on what basis is set out in the Privacy Policy. If something else is wrong - a name attached to the wrong number, say - the report form is the place for it.