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Hello ManyChat Community!

I'm encountering a peculiar issue with the ManyChat API and I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this or has any ideas on how to resolve it.

Scenario:

  1. When trying to create a new contact via API, I receive the error: 'This WhatsApp ID already exists: 5554999999999'
  2. However, when using the API Swagger to search for this contact (using the /fb/subscriber/findBySystemField endpoint), I receive: 
    {
      "status": "success",
      "data": []
    }

     

This creates an impossible loop: I can't create the contact because it already exists, but I can't update it because the API says it doesn't exist!

Additional details:

  • The contact was originally imported into ManyChat.
  • I've tried searching using both email and phone number, with the same result.
  • I've checked the API token permissions, and they appear to be correct.

Questions:

  1. Has anyone faced a similar issue?
  2. Is there any known difference in how imported contacts are handled versus natively created ones?
  3. Is there an alternative method for finding or updating contacts that aren't being found by the standard API methods?

Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated. Thank you in advance for your help!

@felipestoker when you use findBySystemField you’re searching by phone number.

This searches for SMS subscribers, not Whatsapp subscribers.

So when you search it fails, because it does not find an SMS subscriber with that number. And when you try to create a Whatsapp subscriber, there’s already a user with the Whatsapp number (and there’s no way to search by Whatsapp number).

 

My solution to this:

I either make sure both phone and whatsapp_number are always set with the same number and synced. That way I can use the findBySystemField endpoint.

Or I create a mirror User Field, and sync the Whatsapp number to the User Field. In this scenario, I use the findByCustomField endpoint.

It’s a workaround, but it works perfect.

If you need help setting this up feel free to ping me.

Hello, @Gustavo Boregio.

Thank you very much for your help. It worked!

I spent a long time not knowing what to do until I saw your answer.

Congratulations on your expertise.

Happy to help! 

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