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Evolution of contact identification in Blip

  • Updated

Index

  1. Overview of the evolution of contact identifier variables in Blip

  2. Common technical risks

  3. Coexistence of IDs in Blip

 

Evolution of the variables contact.identity, tunnel.originator, and tunnel.identity as of June 1, 2026

Historically, the variables contact.identity, tunnel.originator, and tunnel.identity return the contact identifier in Blip in the following format: 

5599999990002@wa.gw.msging.net

With the evolution of the WhatsApp identification model, new contacts in Blip will be created using an internal Blip ID (GUID) in scenarios where the user's PN is not made available by Meta, in the following format:

e4b11bdd-a9bf-46ad-a9b0-34116dece5fe@wa.gw.msging.net

The mentioned contact identifier variables in the Builder/Studio, therefore, no longer necessarily represent a phone number and start to represent a generic contact ID when the PN is not available.

 

Common technical risks

  • Phone extraction via split 

    • Flows that extract the phone number directly from these variables - for example, via contact.identity.split("@")[0] - will need to be reviewed, otherwise they may return and register a generic ID instead of the PN and break any downstream logic that assumes a number.

  • CRMs and ERPs that store contact.identity, tunnel.originator, and tunnel.identity as a phone field 

  • Databases and logs that use the value as a join key 

  • Analytics and audits that assume a numerical format 

  • Flows with conditionals based on the phone number format

 

IMPORTANT! Coexistence of IDs in Blip as of June 1st.

In this first stage of Meta's transition to usernames, starting in June and while user adoption does NOT yet impact Brazil, contact identifiers will still coexist on the platform in these two contexts:

Context Format of contact ID variables
Contact that already existed with filled PN 5531999999999@wa.gw.msging.net
New contact with shared PN 5531999999999@wa.gw.msging.net
New contact without shared PN (username adopted) e4b11bdd-a9bf-46ad-a9b0-34116dece5fe@wa.gw.msging.net

In the future and with the proper communication carried out in advance for companies using Blip, however, all contacts on the platform will switch to the identifier format with the GUID assigned by Blip. We suggest that you prepare your operation, therefore, for the consolidation of the transition when the adoption of usernames is released by Meta throughout Brazil.

 

Need more help? Explore our content at Blip Academy or Blip Community, watch tutorials on our YouTube channel, or clear your doubts in our service channel 😃

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