Cancel or reclaim a number

Letting a number go is deliberate and reversible for a while. This page covers what happens when you release a line, how to take it back, and what a missed payment does.

Release a number

On the line you want to give up, choose Release. Nothing disappears right away:

  1. The line moves to pending release and keeps working normally.
  2. It stays live until the end of the billing period you already paid for — you get what you bought.
  3. At the end of that period the number is handed back to the carrier and the line is released. That's final.

You won't be charged again for a line in pending release.

Pausing ≠ releasing. Pausing stops calls but keeps billing and keeps the number. Releasing stops the billing and gives the number up. If you just need a quiet month, pause.

Change your mind

While a line is still pending release, there's an Undo on it. Click it and the line goes back to normal — same number, same settings, same history.

A number scheduled for release: a banner showing the release date, days remaining, and a Keep Number button.
Release scheduled — the number works until the paid period ends, and you can undo.

One wrinkle: if you bought other numbers in the meantime and your plan's active-line cap is now full, the restored line comes back paused instead of active. Pause something else and resume it, or move up a plan. See Plans & limits.

Undo stops being available once the release actually completes. After that the number is gone from your account and you'd have to buy a new one.

Nobody else can take it while you decide

For the whole pending-release period the number is still yours — it won't show up in anyone else's search and can't be claimed out from under you. It only returns to the carrier's pool after the release goes through.

If a payment fails

Missed payments follow a fixed timeline rather than an instant cutoff:

Stage What's happening
Past due The charge failed. The line keeps working while retries run.
After 24 hours The line stops working — calls no longer route — and waits for you to reclaim it.
14-day grace The number is held for you, along with its settings. Reclaim any time in this window.
After 14 days Permanently released. The number goes back to the carrier.

Retried payments during dunning don't restart the 24-hour clock — it runs from the first failure.

Reclaiming a line

Inside the grace window, open the line and choose Reclaim. You'll pay through checkout, and the line is restored in place:

  • The same number — you don't pick a new one.
  • The same settings — greeting, voice, instructions, block list, everything.
  • The same public slug on your agent contact card.
  • Its primary flag, if it was your primary line.
A past-due number in the reclaim window with the days left and a Reclaim button leading to checkout.
The reclaim window — pay to restore the line exactly as it was.

Two things to expect:

  • No free month. The first-month-free offer applies to your first number, once. Reclaiming is a normal paid month.
  • It can fail. If the grace window has closed, or the carrier already recycled the number and gave it to someone else, the reclaim is refused and you'll be asked to pick a new number instead. If a charge went through before that was discovered, it's refunded.

Gotchas worth knowing

  • Releasing your primary line clears the primary flag. Zinley falls back to another active line for outbound calls — set a new primary deliberately so it's the one you want. See Phone lines.
  • A paused line can still be released. You're never stuck paying for a line just because it's paused.
  • A past-due line can be released too, if you'd rather cut it loose than reclaim it.
  • Call history isn't tied to the number. What Zinley learned from calls stays in People and Topics after the line is gone.
  • Releasing a number doesn't cancel your plan — and cancelling your plan doesn't leave your numbers running. See Billing & Usage.

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