There are three options of a contact availability in PhoneHQ contact settings:
It is a contact that can be viewed and edited by everyone in your organization. Client representative? Service provider’s customer support? These contacts can be accessed, called, and edited by all users. There are no limitations as long as you have access to the company account.
This option is automatically suggested when adding a new contact. If skipped, every new contact will be set to public immediately after being saved.
It is a contact that is visible only to you. Working on closing a deal? Have a personal phone number of your account manager? That’s it! This contact can only be accessed by you. You can change this later if needed.
It is a contact that can be viewed and edited by assigned people. You decide which users or groups have access to this contact and can work with it.
1. Can I change a contact’s visibility later?
Yes. You can edit the contact and switch between Public, Private, or Shared—except for integration-based contacts.
2. Who can see a shared contact?
Only users or groups that have been explicitly assigned access.
3. Why is my contact showing as 'Shared' but I can't edit it?
This usually means the contact was imported from an external system (CRM, etc.). Edits must be made in the source tool.
4. What happens if I skip setting a visibility type when adding a contact?
The contact will default to Public after being saved.
Term | Definition |
Public Contact | A contact visible and editable by all users in the organization. |
Private Contact | A contact visible only to the user who created it. |
Shared Contact | A contact shared with specific users or groups. |
Integration Contact | A contact imported from another platform (e.g., CRM); marked as shared and read-only. |
Visibility Type | The access level setting for a contact (Public, Private, Shared). |
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