WhatsApp accounts tied to dead SIMs are being shut off in Pakistan, reported several outlets earlier this week. They say the Pakistan Telecommunication Authority has moved from warning users to blocking, so an account still registered to a number you stopped using could stop working – well, check how it actually works after the break.
The officials said the campaign to warn users came first, and the blocking is the next step. The authority’s reasoning is about reissued numbers: operators can hand a cancelled or dormant number to a new subscriber under the prescribed procedure, and whoever holds the number could then receive the verification code for the old account.
What PTA wants users to do
The advice is short. Check that the SIM your WhatsApp is registered on is still active. If you have moved to a new number, switch the account across with the app’s change-number option instead of registering afresh. WhatsApp’s help page on changing phones says the number change has to be done on the old phone first if you want to keep your chat history.
The warning isn’t new. PTA told users in August that accounts tied to inactive SIMs could be blocked at any time, and said such accounts were being used for fraud. What changed this week, according to PTA officials, is that the blocking has started.
Who is at risk
Anyone who stopped using a SIM but kept the WhatsApp account on it is exposed:
- people who let a second SIM lapse;
- people who switched operators without porting the number;
- people who lost a SIM and never reclaimed it.
A blocked account means losing access to its chats and contacts.
PTA has not published a notice about the blocking. It also hasn’t said how many accounts have been affected, or how long a SIM must stay inactive before its WhatsApp account is targeted.
How it works
PTA can’t switch off a WhatsApp account directly. The app is run by Meta from outside Pakistan, and only WhatsApp can ban or delete an individual account. The one way a regulator can tie WhatsApp to an active SIM is to make the platform do it: India’s telecom department ordered WhatsApp, Telegram, Signal and others in November 2025 to work only while the registered SIM is active in the phone, a rule known as SIM binding. Pakistan hasn’t issued any such order, and PTA hasn’t said it has asked WhatsApp for one. What PTA does control is the SIM. Through the operators, it can block, cancel and re-verify SIMs, and cancelled numbers can be given to new subscribers.
A WhatsApp account doesn’t stop working the moment its SIM goes dead. It keeps running over Wi-Fi or another connection. The trouble starts when WhatsApp asks for a new verification code, on a new phone or after a reinstall. The code goes to the number, so if the SIM is blocked you can’t receive it. If the number has been reissued, the new holder can.
WhatsApp has its own safeguards. It treats a number as recycled when the account has been unused for 45 days and then shows up on a different device, and it removes the old profile details. Accounts left inactive for about four months are deleted. Either way, the fix is the same: keep WhatsApp on a SIM that’s active and in your name. If you’re already locked out, register on a working number, though chat history tied to the old account may not come back.
