# Remove a participant from a WhatsApp group

`DELETE /v1/whatsapp/groups/{group_id}/participants/{participant_ref}`

Removes one person from the group. Name them by either identifier the
group's `participants` list them under: `bsuid`, which everyone has, or
`phone_number`, which is there only when WhatsApp shares it.

**Removal cannot be undone.** WhatsApp blocks a removed person from joining
the group by invite link, and the block follows the person rather than the
link they were removed under: rotating the invite link does not let them
back in. There is no add operation to pair with this one either, because
WhatsApp lets nobody be added directly and people join only by opening the
link. So nothing returns someone to this group once they are out, and
reaching them again means creating another group and inviting them to it.

The `202` response is the removal accepted, not applied: WhatsApp can still
refuse it, which arrives on the `group_participants_update` webhook. The
outcome lands on that participant's own `last_operation`, `pending` until the
webhook settles it, so removing several people at once gives each their own
state and their own failure rather than one shared verdict. Re-read the group
to see who is left.

A second removal of the same participant while theirs is `pending` returns a
`409` `WhatsAppGroupUpdateInProgress`; removing a different participant does
not. Only an `active` group can be changed; any other status returns a `409`
`WhatsAppGroupNotActive`.

## Code samples

**TypeScript**

```ts
const group = await bird.whatsapp.groups.participants.remove(
  "wag_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "BR.1566655121691972",
);
console.log(group.participants?.length);
```

Examples: [TypeScript](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.ts.md) · [Python](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.py.md) · [Go](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.go.md) · [PHP](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.php.md) · [CLI](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.cli.md) · [MCP](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.mcp.md) · [cURL](/docs/api/reference/delete-whatsapp-group-participant.curl.md)

## Example response `202`

```json
{
  "id": "wag_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "whatsapp_number_id": "wan_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
  "waba": "102290129340398",
  "subject": "New Purchase Inquiry",
  "description": "Jim would like to learn about new car purchase options for current year models.",
  "status": "active",
  "join_approval_mode": "auto_approve",
  "invite_link": "https://chat.whatsapp.com/JZm4S9tCkQx2LpVr7Ny8Ab",
  "participants": [
    {
      "bsuid": "BR.1566655121691972",
      "phone_number": "+16505551234",
      "username": "jim.almeida",
      "last_operation": {
        "type": "settings_update",
        "status": "pending",
        "requested_at": "2026-08-27T14:02:11Z",
        "settled_at": "2026-08-27T14:02:14Z",
        "results": [
          {
            "field": "subject",
            "applied": false,
            "error": {
              "description": "Group subject contains content that cannot be used.",
              "meta_error_code": "2388024"
            }
          }
        ],
        "last_error": {
          "description": "Group subject contains content that cannot be used.",
          "meta_error_code": "2388024"
        }
      }
    }
  ],
  "participant_count": 6,
  "pinned_messages": [
    {
      "message_id": "wam_01krdgeqcxet5s7t44vh8rt9mg",
      "pinned_until": "2026-09-01T09:14:52Z"
    }
  ],
  "profile_picture_url": "https://media.example.com/whatsapp/groups/JZm4S9tCkQx2.jpg",
  "last_operation": {
    "type": "settings_update",
    "status": "pending",
    "requested_at": "2026-08-27T14:02:11Z",
    "settled_at": "2026-08-27T14:02:14Z",
    "results": [
      {
        "field": "subject",
        "applied": false,
        "error": {
          "description": "Group subject contains content that cannot be used.",
          "meta_error_code": "2388024"
        }
      }
    ],
    "last_error": {
      "description": "Group subject contains content that cannot be used.",
      "meta_error_code": "2388024"
    }
  },
  "suspended_at": "2026-08-20T11:04:00Z",
  "created_at": "2026-05-20T09:14:52Z",
  "updated_at": "2026-05-25T16:42:01Z"
}
```

## Path parameters

- `group_id` (string): ID of the group to remove someone from.
- `participant_ref` (string): The person to remove, named by either identifier the group lists them under: their `bsuid`, or their `phone_number` in E.164 format (`+16505551234`) when WhatsApp gives you one. Pass the value as it reads: percent-encode the leading `+` as `%2B` only when your client does not do that for you. A value naming someone who is not in the group returns a `422` `WhatsAppGroupParticipantNotFound`.

## Response body

- `id` (string, required): Unique identifier for the group. Accepted by every `/v1/whatsapp/groups/{group_id}` operation, and as `to` when sending a message to the group.
- `whatsapp_number_id` (string, required): The business number that created the group. It is the group's admin and the number every message to the group is sent from. Fixed when the group is created.
- `waba` (nullable string, required): Meta's identifier for the WhatsApp Business Account recorded when the group was created. This is a historical snapshot, not a live account directory projection. Null for a number we operate on your behalf, whose account is not yours to see.
- `subject` (string, required): The group's name, shown to participants and to anyone who opens the invite link.
- `description` (nullable string): The group's description, shown alongside the subject. Null when the group has none.
- `status` (string, required): Where the group stands. A group is messageable only while it is `active`.
- `join_approval_mode` (string, required): Whether opening the invite link joins the group outright or raises a join request to approve.
- `invite_link` (nullable string): The link that lets someone join the group, which is the only way in. A group has one link at a time. Null while the group is `pending`, since WhatsApp issues the link when it confirms the group. Rotating it through `POST /v1/whatsapp/groups/{group_id}/invite-link/rotate` replaces it, and every link the group had before then stops working.
- `participants` (array of object): Who is in the group, as of the last update WhatsApp sent, and the whole set rather than a page: WhatsApp holds a group to a handful of people, so there is never a page's worth to return. The business number that created the group is its admin and is not listed.
- `participants.bsuid` (string, required): Business-scoped user ID, Meta's identifier for this person against your business. The one identifier every participant has: WhatsApp always sends it, and it is stable for as long as they are in the group.
- `participants.phone_number` (string): Phone number in E.164 format. Absent when WhatsApp withholds it, which it does for anyone who has not shared their number with your business, so a group is normally a mix of participants with one and without.
- `participants.username` (string): The WhatsApp username this person chose. Absent when they have none, and not an identifier to address them by: it is theirs to change, so it names them in a list rather than keying anything.
- `participants.last_operation` (object): A removal asked of this participant that has not taken effect: `pending` while WhatsApp has yet to confirm it, or `failed` when WhatsApp refused. Never `success`, because a removal that succeeds takes the participant off this list: the entry disappearing is what says it worked. A `pending` removal refuses a second removal of the same person while leaving other participants free to be removed at the same time.
- `participants.last_operation.type` (string, required): What was asked.
- `participants.last_operation.status` (string, required): Where it got to. `pending` is what a client shows as in-progress, and what refuses the next change.
- `participants.last_operation.requested_at` (string, required): When Bird accepted the request.
- `participants.last_operation.settled_at` (nullable string): When WhatsApp reported the outcome. Null while `pending`.
- `participants.last_operation.results` (array of object): Per-field outcomes, on a `settings_update` that has settled. One entry per field the update carried, so a client can put a refusal next to the input it came from. Absent on every other operation type, which change one thing and report it on `status`.
- `participants.last_operation.results.field` (string, required): The setting this result reports on.
- `participants.last_operation.results.applied` (boolean, required): Whether WhatsApp applied this field. False when it refused this one, whatever it did with the others.
- `participants.last_operation.results.error` (object): Why WhatsApp refused this field. Present only when `applied` is false.
- `participants.last_operation.results.error.description` (string, required): WhatsApp's own explanation of the refusal, passed through. Show it to the person who asked for the change; never match on its text. Carries Bird's own words instead when the failure was Bird's verdict, such as a confirmation that never arrived.
- `participants.last_operation.results.error.meta_error_code` (nullable string): WhatsApp's most specific code for the refusal: its error subcode where it sent one, otherwise its top-level code. Treat it as an opaque string. Null when the failure was Bird's own verdict rather than a WhatsApp refusal.
- `participants.last_operation.last_error` (object): Why the operation failed as a whole. Present when `status` is `failed`, including when the confirmation never arrived and Bird gave up waiting. A `settings_update` that failed on some fields and not others carries the per-field detail in `results`.
- `participants.last_operation.last_error.description` (string, required): WhatsApp's own explanation of the refusal, passed through. Show it to the person who asked for the change; never match on its text. Carries Bird's own words instead when the failure was Bird's verdict, such as a confirmation that never arrived.
- `participants.last_operation.last_error.meta_error_code` (nullable string): WhatsApp's most specific code for the refusal: its error subcode where it sent one, otherwise its top-level code. Treat it as an opaque string. Null when the failure was Bird's own verdict rather than a WhatsApp refusal.
- `participant_count` (integer, required): How many people are in the group, excluding your business.
- `pinned_messages` (array of object): The group's pins, newest first. WhatsApp holds a few at once, and pinning past that unpins the oldest rather than refusing. No entry here is merely requested. An entry stays listed until it is unpinned, so one whose `pinned_until` has passed is still listed after WhatsApp has taken it off the chat.
- `pinned_messages.message_id` (string, required): The pinned message, as returned in the send response's `id`.
- `pinned_messages.pinned_until` (string, required): When the pin is due to lapse, projected from the `duration_days` the pin was asked for. An entry stays listed until it is unpinned, so a time in the past means WhatsApp has already taken the message off the chat.
- `profile_picture_url` (nullable string): Address of the group's picture, as WhatsApp serves it. Null when the group has none.
- `last_operation` (object): The last create, settings change or delete asked of the group. `pending` while WhatsApp has yet to confirm it, which is what a client shows as in-progress and what refuses the next change to the group. A settings change carries per-field `results`, since WhatsApp can refuse one field and apply the others. A removal reports on the participant's own entry rather than here, so several can be in flight at once. Pinning is synchronous and reports nothing.
- `last_operation.type` (string, required): What was asked.
- `last_operation.status` (string, required): Where it got to. `pending` is what a client shows as in-progress, and what refuses the next change.
- `last_operation.requested_at` (string, required): When Bird accepted the request.
- `last_operation.settled_at` (nullable string): When WhatsApp reported the outcome. Null while `pending`.
- `last_operation.results` (array of object): Per-field outcomes, on a `settings_update` that has settled. One entry per field the update carried, so a client can put a refusal next to the input it came from. Absent on every other operation type, which change one thing and report it on `status`.
- `last_operation.results.field` (string, required): The setting this result reports on.
- `last_operation.results.applied` (boolean, required): Whether WhatsApp applied this field. False when it refused this one, whatever it did with the others.
- `last_operation.results.error` (object): Why WhatsApp refused this field. Present only when `applied` is false.
- `last_operation.results.error.description` (string, required): WhatsApp's own explanation of the refusal, passed through. Show it to the person who asked for the change; never match on its text. Carries Bird's own words instead when the failure was Bird's verdict, such as a confirmation that never arrived.
- `last_operation.results.error.meta_error_code` (nullable string): WhatsApp's most specific code for the refusal: its error subcode where it sent one, otherwise its top-level code. Treat it as an opaque string. Null when the failure was Bird's own verdict rather than a WhatsApp refusal.
- `last_operation.last_error` (object): Why the operation failed as a whole. Present when `status` is `failed`, including when the confirmation never arrived and Bird gave up waiting. A `settings_update` that failed on some fields and not others carries the per-field detail in `results`.
- `last_operation.last_error.description` (string, required): WhatsApp's own explanation of the refusal, passed through. Show it to the person who asked for the change; never match on its text. Carries Bird's own words instead when the failure was Bird's verdict, such as a confirmation that never arrived.
- `last_operation.last_error.meta_error_code` (nullable string): WhatsApp's most specific code for the refusal: its error subcode where it sent one, otherwise its top-level code. Treat it as an opaque string. Null when the failure was Bird's own verdict rather than a WhatsApp refusal.
- `suspended_at` (string): When WhatsApp suspended the group. Present only while the group is `suspended`, and gone once WhatsApp lifts the suspension.
- `created_at` (string, required)
- `updated_at` (string, required)

## Related resources

- [Should I use a Bird SDK or call the API directly?](/explained/platform/should-i-use-an-sdk-or-call-the-api-directly) (answer)
- [Build your first integration](/learn/paths/integration) (course)
- [Send your first email](/docs/get-started/send-your-first-email) (docs)

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