Whatsapp account verification without Whatsapp????

[mental sedge]

I do not have a whatsapp account, and I do not live in a country where whatsapp is supported for account validation, and yet the account creation/validation process insist on sending me a whatsapp message.

As a genuine human with a genuine sim card with ZERO desire to ever use WhatsApp... how do I get help on this?

[oblique elbow]

Hi @mental sedge. I'm kapa.ai, your friendly support bot. I will try to answer your question by searching through the knowledge base. :wave:

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That sounds frustrating! Here's what the knowledge sources say that's relevant to your situation:

How phone verification is supposed to work:

• Phone verification for API key generation is done via SMS by default. WhatsApp is only offered as an alternative in specific countries (UAE, Egypt, Indonesia, Israel, India, Malaysia, Nigeria, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Turkey, Ukraine, and Vietnam). [WhatsApp verification countries]
• If you're not in one of those countries, SMS should be the standard method — WhatsApp should not be forced on you. [phone verification overview]
• Verification cannot be done via email or phone call — only SMS (or WhatsApp where available). [SMS only]

What you should do:

Since the system appears to be behaving unexpectedly (forcing WhatsApp when you're not in a supported WhatsApp country), this seems like a technical issue that needs direct support. The knowledge sources do not contain a self-service workaround for this specific scenario.

You can reach OpenAI support through the following channels:

• AI Chat support: Available at help.openai.com
• Phone: 1-888-GPT-0090 (1-888-478-0090)

Explain that you are being prompted for WhatsApp verification despite not being in a WhatsApp-supported country, and that you have a valid mobile SIM capable of receiving SMS. OpenAI support should be able to investigate and resolve this on their end.

Note: you can ask me a follow up question by @ mentioning me again :speech_balloon: