Support & Incident Response

We are committed to keeping the Whitepages API reliable and transparent. This page covers how to get help, what to expect during incidents, and how we handle changes to the API.

Support Channels

For any questions, issues, or feature requests, reach out through the following channels:

Incident Response Times

We classify incidents by severity. The following are our typical response and resolution times based on current operational metrics. These are not formal SLAs.

Incidents are typically detected and responded to within 30 seconds, with resolution within 15-30 minutes depending on the nature of the issue.

During an Incident

When an incident occurs, we follow this process:

1. Detection — Our automated monitoring systems detect anomalies and trigger alerts within seconds
2. Acknowledgment — The engineering team is immediately engaged
3. Investigation — The team identifies root cause and works toward resolution
4. Resolution — The issue is resolved and services are verified as operational
5. Post-mortem — For Critical and High severity incidents, an internal post-mortem is conducted to prevent recurrence

Getting Help During an Outage

If you suspect an outage or are experiencing unexpected errors:

1. Email support@whitepages.com with:
   • Your API key identifier (first 8 characters only, never send the full key)
   • The endpoint(s) affected
   • Error responses you are receiving
   • Approximate time the issue started

Breaking Changes Policy

We avoid breaking changes at nearly all cost. Backward compatibility is a top priority, and our goal is to minimize disruption to your integrations.

What We Consider a Breaking Change

• Removing or renaming an existing API endpoint
• Removing or renaming a field from a response body
• Changing the type of an existing response field
• Adding a new required parameter to a request
• Changing authentication or authorization behavior
• Modifying error response formats

What Is Not a Breaking Change

• Adding new optional request parameters
• Adding new fields to a response body
• Adding new API endpoints
• Adding new values to an existing enum field
• Improvements to error messages (text changes only, not format)

Our Commitment

• Breaking changes are always introduced in a new API version. Your existing integration continues to work on the current version.
• No unannounced breaking changes. Every breaking change is communicated in advance.
• Minimum 30-day notice before any breaking change takes effect.
• Migration guides are provided for every breaking change with clear before-and-after examples.
• Deprecation notices are communicated via email and changelog for endpoints scheduled for removal.
• Version support — When a new API version introduces breaking changes, the previous version continues to be supported for at least 3 months.

Change Notifications

We notify you about critical changes through multiple channels to ensure you never miss an important update.

Notification Types

Staying Informed

• Changelog — All API changes are documented in our changelog with detailed descriptions
• Email notifications — Sent to the email address associated with your API account. Ensure your contact information is up to date.