Turning Off WhatsApp Business Calls: A UK Guide for 2026

Disabling calls on WhatsApp Business has become a pressing issue since Meta rolled out voice and video calls on WhatsApp Web on 28 July 2026, and confirmed that business video calls on the official API are coming in Q4. If your business number rings all day and no one picks up, you have two very different technical paths — and choosing wrong costs you customers.

TL;DR

• In the WhatsApp Business App, disabling calls is a local device setting: App settings → Call settings → turn off Receive calls.
• On the Official API (Cloud API), it's an API field: POST /<PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/settings with calling.status = "DISABLED". The call icon disappears from the chat and business profile.
• There's a better middle ground than the on/off switch: call_hours (operating hours by timezone and holiday) and callback_permission_status (call-back requests).
• Meta already limits business-initiated calls: 1 permission request per day and 2 per week per user on production accounts.
• With business video calls expected in Q4 2026, turning everything off now could close a revenue-generating channel in telemedicine, identity verification, and property inspections.

Why so many businesses want to disable calls in 2026

The question isn't new, but search volumes have exploded for a concrete reason. On 28 July 2026, WhatsApp announced audio and video calls directly in the web version, plus call transfer between mobile and desktop, waiting rooms for call links, high-definition video from the first seconds, and noise suppression. The feature is being rolled out gradually.

In practice, this changed the geography of the problem. Previously, an unwanted call only rang on the mobile phone sitting on the agent's desk. Now it can ring in the browser of someone working all day on WhatsApp Web — interrupting text-based service, which is where most UK SMEs actually convert.

Two factors add to this. First: the business number receives calls from anyone who has the contact, with no queue, no hours, no recording, and no CRM history. Second: those using the free app have no routing layer — the phone rings, period. It's a phone exchange without a PABX. If you're still deciding between the app and the paid platform, it's worth reading the comparison WhatsApp Business App vs Official API first, because the answer for calls changes completely depending on the scenario.

How to disable calls in the WhatsApp Business App (step-by-step)

This is the route for those using the free app downloaded from Google Play or the App Store.

The official in-app route

1. Open WhatsApp Business on your phone.
2. Tap the three dots in the top right corner.
3. Go to App settings (in some versions, the menu appears as Settings → Business tools).
4. Open Call settings.
5. Turn off the Receive calls option.

From then on, the device stops receiving voice calls on that number. It's a per-device setting, not per-account.

If the option doesn't appear in your version

WhatsApp's feature distribution is gradual, and not every device gets the same menu at the same time. In that case, use the native privacy alternatives:

• Silence unknown numbers: in Settings → Privacy → Calls, enable the option. Any number not in your contacts stops ringing — but the call still appears in the Calls tab and in notifications.
• My contacts except…: in the same privacy menu, restrict who can call you to a controlled list.
• Individual block: for the specific number that keeps calling, blocking cuts off both calls and messages at once.

What the customer sees on the other end

This is the part almost no one explains. With Receive calls off, the call button disappears from the conversation. But with Silence unknown numbers, the customer still hears the ringing tone — they think you're ignoring them. The difference between "the button doesn't exist" and "you didn't answer" is huge for brand reputation.

The three traps of disabling calls only in the app

I've seen entire operations break by trusting this setting. The three recurring problems:

1. It's not auditable. The setting lives on the device. Changed phone, factory reset, reinstalled the app, or a new agent with another linked device? It reverts to default without anyone knowing.

2. It doesn't scale. The app was designed for one or two people handling calls directly. When the business grows and decides to automate externally with an unofficial API, it enters the territory that causes the most headaches: number bans. I've detailed the triggers in How to avoid WhatsApp business number blocking.

3. Silencing isn't disabling. Silencing unknown numbers solves noise, not flow. The call is still logged, still generates a notification, and still occupies the agent who needs to check whether it was a hot lead.

How to disable calls on the Official API (WhatsApp Cloud API)

On the WhatsApp Business Platform, behaviour is fully controlled via API — and that's where things get truly configurable. Meta exposes a number settings endpoint:

POST /<PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/settings

To turn it off completely, the payload is straightforward:

{
  "calling": {
    "status": "DISABLED"
  }
}

With status set to DISABLED, according to Meta's official documentation, calls are disabled and the call icon is not shown in the conversation or on the business profile info page. A GET on the same path returns the current configuration. Note the conceptual difference: here, disabling calls applies to the entire number, not a device — that's what turns the decision into a service policy, not a preference of whoever holds the phone.

The fields you need to know

Field	Values	Purpose
calling.status	ENABLED / DISABLED	Turns the calling feature on or off for the number
calling.call_icon_visibility	DEFAULT / DISABLE_ALL	Hides the call button in the chat bar, profile, and other entry points
calling.callback_permission_status	ENABLED / DISABLED	Allows the user to request a call-back
calling.call_hours	object	Defines telephone operating hours by timezone and holiday
calling.sip	object	Integrates calls with your SIP server (requires explicit enablement)

Monitor changes with webhooks

If you manage multiple numbers, you need to know when someone changes this setting. Subscribe to the account_settings_update field (with the whatsapp_business_management permission) and you'll receive notifications of changes to status, call_icon_visibility, callback_permission_status, sip.status, and the SRTP key exchange protocol. That's the audit trail the free app will never give you.

Middle ground: operating hours instead of disabling calls entirely

In most projects we handle, the real problem isn't the call — it's the call outside hours. No one complains about a call at 2pm on a Tuesday; they complain about the 11pm Sunday call that no one answers and turns into a bad review.

That's what call_hours is for. The structure accepts timezone, weekly schedule, and holiday calendar:

{
  "calling": {
    "status": "ENABLED",
    "call_hours": {
      "status": "ENABLED",
      "timezone_id": "Europe/London",
      "weekly_operating_hours": [
        { "day_of_week": "MONDAY", "open_time": "0900", "close_time": "1800" }
      ],
      "holiday_schedule": [
        { "date": "2026-12-25", "start_time": "0000", "end_time": "2359" }
      ]
    }
  }
}

Outside the configured window, the customer is directed to the text conversation instead of falling into the void. Combine this with callback_permission_status enabled: those who really need to talk request a call-back, and your team calls when someone is available. It's the difference between a closed door and a door with a doorbell.

When NOT to disable calls on WhatsApp Business

Before turning off the channel, look at the calendar. According to MobileTime reporting published on 17 July 2026, Meta is testing business video calls on the WhatsApp Business Platform, with a launch expected in Q4. The use cases cited are exactly the highest-ticket ones: telemedicine, identity verification, technical support, product demonstrations in retail, and insurance claim inspections. A video call button will appear in the conversation, with configurable hours and consumer authorisation for each call.

The UK context matters: WhatsApp is used by a significant portion of the population. Authenticating a legitimate call within the app — with an official business account badge — solves a problem that no telecom provider has solved: customers not answering unknown numbers for fear of scams.

The limits Meta already imposes

The fear of "they'll call me non-stop" makes less sense than it seems, because the platform is already restrictive with business-initiated calls:

Rule (production account)	Limit
Call permission requests per user	1 per day and 2 per week
Business-initiated calls	up to 100 per day
Consecutive unanswered calls	2 trigger a warning to reconsider
Consecutive unanswered calls	4 revoke permission automatically

In the sandbox environment, the numbers are different: 25 permissions per day and 100 per week, with a warning after 5 unanswered calls and revocation after 10. In other words: the business doesn't call when it wants; it calls when the customer has authorised it.

The cost comes into the equation before you decide

Disabling calls is often a cost decision disguised as a user experience decision. It's worth having the numbers on the table. Brazilian accounts started being billed in reais from 1 July 2026, in the same move that reorganised message pricing. Voice calls via the API are billed by duration, with 6-second pulses, variable rates by country, and volume discounts — a fraction of a pulse counts as a full pulse.

On the messaging side, industry press points to two dates for 2026: 1 August, when Meta Business Agent billing began based on token consumption (around US$2 per 1 million tokens), and 1 October, when service and utility messages within the 24-hour window become billable. Check the current prices on the official platform pricing page before finalising your budget — they change.

Two practical points: if your inbox platform charges on top of Meta's price, every call minute and every message becomes third-party margin — the subject of the post Markup on WhatsApp messages. And if it charges per agent, disabling calls won't save your account at the end of the month, as I argued in Unlimited agents on WhatsApp.

How we handle this in Agathas Web projects

I'm a full-stack developer with over 15 years of experience and have run Agathas Web since 2008, with much of my work today focused on official WhatsApp API integrations for SMEs. The roadmap we apply before touching any call configuration is always the same:

1. Measure: how many calls come in per week, at what times, and how many turned into sales or resolved tickets. Without this data, disabling calls is a guess.
2. Separate channels: sales number and support number rarely need the same voice policy.
3. Configure hours before disabling: call_hours first, status: DISABLED only if out-of-hours volume remains unmanageable.
4. Leave a trail: account_settings_update webhook active and the configuration versioned alongside the rest of the infrastructure.
5. Review in Q4: with business video calls arriving, today's policy could be obsolete in three months.

In projects running on our service platform, this configuration lives in the dashboard, alongside automation flows — not hidden in a phone menu that any team member can change without notice.

Conclusion: turn off the noise, not the channel

Disabling calls on WhatsApp Business is easy in both worlds: a toggle in the app, a DISABLED field in the Cloud API. The hard part is deciding whether you should. In most operations we analyse, the right answer wasn't to cut voice, but to put hours, permission, and logging around it — because in 2026, WhatsApp's voice channel has stopped being an accessory to chat and become part of the customer service journey.

If you're not clear on how many missed calls your number accumulates per month, start there. The natural next step is to migrate the number to the Official API, where all this policy becomes auditable configuration rather than device preference.