# Mask customer names and numbers

Let staff handle conversations while hiding stored customer phone numbers, email addresses and, when needed, contact names.

## Create the Masked Number role

Open **Settings → Custom Roles → Add custom role**. Use a name such as **Masked Number** and describe the intended access.

Choose the conversation access your staff need:

- For all permitted conversations, select **Manage all conversations**.
- For assigned or participating conversations only, select **Manage participating conversations and those assigned to them** and leave the other conversation permissions off.

Then leave these three contact permissions **unchecked**:

- **Show contact name**
- **View contacts and contact panel**
- **Manage contacts**

Leave reports and knowledge-base permissions off unless needed, then click **Submit**.

> There is no automatic masking from the role name. The unchecked contact permissions are what hide stored contact details.

## Apply it to the agent and inbox

1. Go to **Settings → Agents**, add or edit the person, choose **Masked Number** in **Role**, and save.
2. Go to **Settings → Inboxes → your inbox → Collaborators** and select that agent.
3. Check **Role in this inbox**. Choose **Use account role** to inherit the masked role, or explicitly choose the masked custom role here. A different inbox-specific role can change what the agent sees in that inbox.
4. Click **Update** and repeat the check for every inbox the person can use.

## If names should remain visible

Enable **Show contact name** only, while leaving **View contacts and contact panel** and **Manage contacts** off. Names that themselves look like a phone number or email address are replaced with a contact reference rather than exposing those details.

## Verify with the actual agent login

Use a test contact with a name, phone number and email address. Have the agent open the allowed conversation in the browser and in any mobile app they use.

Confirm they can handle the intended conversation. With all three contact permissions off, the normal contact identity is a reference such as **Contact #123**, and the stored phone/email and contact panel are restricted. If contact details still appear, review both the account role and **Role in this inbox**. An administrator or an ordinary agent without the restricted custom role retains broader visibility.

## Understand the boundary

Contact masking restricts structured contact fields. It does not remove phone numbers or names that people type into message text, attach in a file, or include in a group title. It does not alter the customer's WhatsApp account or erase information already seen or exported. Use test content and check the surfaces your staff actually use before relying on the setup.

Next: [Troubleshoot an agent's access](https://docs.bow.chat/getting-started/troubleshoot-agent-access).

Canonical: https://docs.bow.chat/getting-started/mask-contact-details
Version: 1
Updated: 2026-10-17T13:47:08.261Z