---
title: "Update a contact by phone"
method: PATCH
path: "/contacts/by-phone/{phone}"
tags: ["Contacts"]
---

# Update a contact by phone

`PATCH /contacts/by-phone/{phone}`

## Request

- Base URL: `https://api.textla.com/v1`
- URL: `https://api.textla.com/v1/contacts/by-phone/{phone}`
- Auth: HTTP bearer

Partially updates an existing contact under the authenticated account, using its E.164 phone number as the resource key. The API resolves the service's numeric contact ID and current ETag before writing, then sends that ETag as If-Match; callers must not supply If-Match. Only supplied fields change. Supplied tags, groups, and keywords replace their entire bucket, and an explicit empty array clears it. Custom fields are merged per field: omission leaves all unchanged, an empty array is a no-op, and each listed entry may identify an existing definition by opaque field_id or name; a null value clears that field. A concurrent change between lookup and write returns 412.

## Path parameters

- `phone` string, required: E.164 phone number identifying the contact

## Request body

- PatchContactBody
  - `$schema` string, uri: A URL to the JSON Schema for this object.
  - `birth_date` string
  - `city` string
  - `company` string
  - `contact_type` 'subscriber' | 'lead': Type of contact: subscriber or lead. Omit to leave it unchanged; patching to an opted-in type clears soft_opted_out_at
  - `country` string
  - `custom_fields` CustomFieldValue[]
    - `field_id` string
    - `name` string
    - `value` unknown, required
  - `email` string
  - `first_name` string
  - `groups` string[]
  - `keywords` string[]
  - `last_name` string
  - `location` Location
    - `lat` number, double, required
    - `lon` number, double, required
  - `postal_code` string
  - `signed_up_at` integer, nullable: When the contact joined the list, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch; omit it or send null to leave it unchanged
  - `state` string
  - `street` string
  - `tags` string[]

## Response `200`

OK

- Contact
  - `$schema` string, uri: A URL to the JSON Schema for this object.
  - `account_id` string, required
  - `birth_date` string, nullable, required
  - `carrier` string, nullable, required
  - `city` string, nullable, required
  - `company` string, nullable, required
  - `contact_type` string, required
  - `country` string, nullable, required
  - `created_at` integer, required: When the contact record was created, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch
  - `custom_fields` CustomFieldValue[], nullable, required
    - `field_id` string
    - `name` string
    - `value` unknown, required
  - `email` string, nullable, required
  - `first_name` string, nullable, required
  - `groups` string[], nullable, required
  - `id` integer, required
  - `keywords` string[], nullable, required
  - `last_active_at` integer, nullable, required: When the contact was last active (used for aging), as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null when never recorded
  - `last_communicated_at` integer, nullable, required: When a message was last sent to this contact, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null until the first send
  - `last_name` string, nullable, required
  - `location` Location, required
    - `lat` number, double, required
    - `lon` number, double, required
  - `marked_invalid_at` integer, nullable, required: When the contact's phone number was marked invalid (for example, after a hard delivery failure), as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null while the number is considered valid
  - `opted_in_at` integer, nullable, required: When the contact opted in to messaging, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null if the contact has never opted in
  - `opted_out_at` integer, nullable, required: When the contact opted out of messaging, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null while the contact is opted in. A non-null value means the contact must not be messaged
  - `phone` string, required
  - `postal_code` string, nullable, required
  - `signed_up_at` integer, nullable, required: When the contact signed up, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null when not provided
  - `soft_opted_out_at` integer, nullable, required: When the contact was soft opted out, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch. Null while the contact is not soft opted out
  - `state` string, nullable, required
  - `street` string, nullable, required
  - `tags` string[], nullable, required
  - `updated_at` integer, required: When the contact record was last changed, as milliseconds since the Unix epoch

## Other responses

- `400`: Bad Request
- `401`: Unauthorized
- `403`: Forbidden
- `404`: Not Found
- `412`: Precondition Failed
- `422`: Unprocessable Entity
- `500`: Internal Server Error
- `502`: Bad Gateway
- `503`: Service Unavailable
- `504`: Gateway Timeout

---

[API](https://skmtc.dev/textla/apis/textla-api.md) - [All operations](https://skmtc.dev/textla/apis/textla-api/llms.txt) - [OpenAPI document](https://skmtc.dev/textla/apis/textla-api/revisions/473f03350bc1?raw)