# Private numbers

A session can be private: then only the member who linked it can see and use it. Use this for your own WhatsApp number in a shared workspace, so colleagues cannot read its messages or send from it.

## Who can see and use a private number

| Who | What they get |
| --- | --- |
| **The member who linked it** | Everything, as with any session: its page, messages, settings, webhook and API key, from the dashboard, their own personal access tokens and the apps they connected. |
| **Workspace owners** | Its name, number and status in **Sessions**, marked **Private** with the member's email. They cannot open it, read its messages or send from it; they can only share it with the workspace or delete it. |
| **Other members** | Nothing. It does not appear in their lists, and the API answers `404` to them. |

Anyone who holds the session's API key can still send from it, so keep the key to yourself. A private number counts towards your plan's numbers like any other.

## Make a number private

- **When you link it:** turn on **Private** in **Sessions → New session**.
- **Later:** open the session and turn on **Private** on its page. Only the member who created the session can do this, and turn it off again to share the number with the workspace.

## Private numbers in rotation

The member who linked a private number can turn on **Rotation** in its settings. Messages the workspace sends with [rotation](https://warsita.com/help/sender-rotation) may then go out from it, without anyone else seeing its messages or settings. **Settings → Sending** lists it among the numbers in rotation for owners.

## When the member leaves

Their private numbers stay linked and keep counting towards the plan. An owner opens **Sessions**, opens the **⋯** menu on the number's row and chooses **Share with workspace** to take it over, or **Delete** to unlink it.