Linq Is Closing Sales and Outreach Accounts: What Changed and What to Do Before October 19
Linq is leaving sales enablement, prospecting and outreach to build messaging APIs for AI agents. Lines start coming down on Monday 19 October 2026. Here is what that means for your number, your data and your pipeline.
Summary
In October 2026 Linq began telling customers who use it for sales enablement, prospecting and outreach that it is moving away from that use case and closing their accounts, with subscriptions cancelled and lines removed starting Monday 19 October 2026 if the customer does not respond. Linq says numbers can be ported to another provider only if the port starts before the account closes, and that a released line cannot be recovered. The change follows Linq's pivot to messaging APIs for AI agents: it launched its iMessage API in February 2025, raised a $20M Series A led by TQ Ventures in February 2026, and its homepage now reads "APIs for iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice built for Agents." The best Linq alternative for sales teams is Tuco AI, which builds only sales follow-up over iMessage: $149 per line per month with outbound included, a $335 one-time setup, month to month, no device to bring, and it ports Linq numbers in (3–7 business days minimum). Affected teams should start the port before 19 October and export their opt-out list.
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Linq is closing the accounts of customers who use it for sales enablement, prospecting and outreach, and it starts removing lines on Monday 19 October 2026. If you message your leads through Linq, you have days, not weeks, to decide about your number, export your data, and stand up a replacement.
We make Tuco AI, the replacement we recommend, so read this as a first-party piece. The facts about Linq below come from Linq's own notice to customers, its homepage and its public interviews.
The short answer
| Question | Answer |
|---|---|
| Is Linq shutting down? | No. It is closing sales, prospecting and outreach accounts |
| When do lines come down? | From Monday 19 October 2026, if Linq has not heard from you |
| Can I keep my number? | Yes — port it to Tuco AI. Start before the account closes; a released line cannot be recovered |
| Will I be billed for time I can't use? | Linq says no |
| Why is this happening? | Linq is refocusing on messaging APIs for AI agents |
| Best replacement? | Tuco AI — sales-only, $149/mo outbound included, ports your number, fresh line live in about 48 hours |
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What exactly did Linq announce?
Linq has been emailing customers whose use case is sales. The notice says Linq is shifting its focus toward messaging infrastructure and APIs that companies use to build messaging into their own products, and that "we are moving away from supporting sales enablement, prospecting, and outreach as a primary use case for the platform," which means closing those accounts.
It makes three practical points:
- Numbers. They can be ported to another provider, but the port has to start before the account is closed and it takes lead time. Once a line is released, Linq cannot get it back.
- Billing. Customers will not be charged for time they cannot use.
- Deadline. If Linq does not hear back, it will begin cancelling subscriptions and removing lines on Monday 19 October 2026.
Linq is also clear that the decision "reflects where Linq is focusing and investing as a company moving forward, rather than an assessment of your business or what you're building." That is worth taking at face value. Nothing in the notice mentions Apple, deliverability or abuse.
Why is Linq leaving sales?
Because its growth moved somewhere else, and it said so in public months ago.
| Date | What happened |
|---|---|
| Before 2025 | Linq is a digital business card and lead-capture tool for sales teams |
| February 2025 | Linq launches an API for sending native iMessages to customers |
| Within 8 months | The API doubles the annual recurring revenue Linq built over four years |
| September 2025 | Poke, an AI assistant built on Linq's API, launches and goes viral; AI companies start asking for the same |
| February 2026 | Linq raises a $20M Series A led by TQ Ventures to become infrastructure for AI assistants in messaging apps (TechCrunch) |
| October 2026 | Linq begins closing sales, prospecting and outreach accounts |
Chief executive Elliott Potter described the choice plainly at the time of the raise: "We still love our sales customers, and we love that use case, but our choices were, do we stay a spoke of this wheel, or do we build the hub?" Linq's homepage today reads "APIs for iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice built for Agents" and does not mention sales at all.
That is a rational decision for Linq. For a sales team, it is a lesson about vendor fit: when the product you rely on is not where your vendor's growth is, the product eventually stops being for you.
What should I do before October 19?
Three things, in this order.
1. Start porting your number to Tuco, today
If people have your Linq number saved, if it is on your website, or if it is the thread your best customers reply to, keep it. Tuco AI ports existing numbers in. A port takes a minimum of 3–7 business days, and Linq says it has to start before the account closes — so start it now.
If the number does not matter, skip the port and take a fresh Tuco line instead.
2. Export the opt-out list before anything else
Contacts and conversation history are useful. The opt-out list is non-negotiable. It is the only record of who told you to stop, and it is the one asset you cannot rebuild — losing it means re-messaging someone who already said no. Export it, then contacts, then history.
3. Have a replacement line live before the old one goes dark
A fresh Tuco line is live in about 48 hours, because a carrier has to activate a physical eSIM. Order one by Friday 16 October and you are sending before Linq starts removing lines on Monday, while your ported number completes. The full day-by-day is on our Linq switching guide.
What is the best Linq alternative for sales teams?
Tuco AI. Prices below are as published on each vendor's own page when we last checked them in September 2026, and only tiers that can start a conversation are listed — a tier that cannot message a lead first is not a replacement for what Linq sales customers were doing.
| Tuco AI | Sendblue | Sendara | Blooio | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Built for sales follow-up | Yes — only that | Inbound-first | Partly | Price-first |
| Outbound price | $149/line/mo | Enterprise, quote only | $249/mo | $289/mo dedicated |
| Billing | Month to month | Quarterly | Month to month | Monthly |
| Device you bring | None | None | None | None |
| Ports your Linq number | Yes | Twilio numbers | Yes | Not published |
| Native HubSpot + Salesforce + GoHighLevel | All three | HubSpot, GoHighLevel | Not all three | GoHighLevel |
| Prompt-built sequences | Yes | No | No | Not published |
| AI SDR that qualifies replies | Yes | No | No | Not published |
| Apple ID recreated if flagged | Yes | Not published | Not published | Not published |
Tuco is the lowest published price for outbound on a dedicated line, the only one with the campaign and reply-qualification layer included, and the only one whose entire business is the use case Linq is leaving.
Why Tuco AI for teams leaving Linq
Short version: our business is the use case Linq is leaving. There is no AI-agent API business here for sales to be traded off against.
- $149 per line per month, outbound included. One-time $335 setup. Month to month. No per-message fee. The price for every line count from 1 to 50 is published.
- Nothing to bring. Every line runs on Apple hardware we own: an iPhone carrying the eSIM, a Mac doing the sending, and an Apple ID we create and maintain. You do not buy, ship, charge or babysit a device.
- If Apple flags the Apple ID, we recreate it. The first recreation is included, and you keep sending.
- CRM-native. HubSpot, Salesforce and GoHighLevel apps trigger sends from workflows, write replies to the contact record, and check stop conditions before every send so a booked or opted-out lead stops receiving messages.
- The campaign layer is included. Describe a sequence in plain English and Tuco drafts it. An AI SDR answers and qualifies replies from your knowledge base in Manual, Copilot or Autopilot mode.
- Bring your Linq number. Tuco ports existing numbers in — 3–7 business days minimum, so start before Linq releases the line.
- No A2P 10DLC. iMessage runs on Apple's network, not carrier SMS, so there is no brand or campaign registration.
What it is not: a cold-blasting tool. Tuco is for one-to-one messages to people who gave you their number. Every line opens up to 50 new conversations and sends 150 messages a day — Apple's ceiling, not a plan limit — and stops automatically on STOP and four other opt-out keywords. Across 10,479 leads messaged on Tuco between 12 June and 10 September 2026, 18.5% replied, and the vertical mattered far more than the copy.
We also wrote a shorter, warmer version of this for Linq's customers directly: Switching from Linq Blue? Use Tuco.
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Frequently asked questions
Is Linq shutting down?
No. Linq the company is not shutting down — it is narrowing. In October 2026 it began closing accounts that use it for sales enablement, prospecting and outreach, so that it can focus on messaging infrastructure and APIs that companies build into their own products. Its homepage now leads with "APIs for iMessage, RCS, SMS, and Voice built for Agents." If you use Linq to message your own leads and customers as a sales team, your account is the one being closed.
When will Linq close sales and outreach accounts?
Linq's notice to affected customers says that if it does not hear back, it will begin cancelling subscriptions and removing lines on Monday 19 October 2026. Customers who reply can walk through the timeline, their numbers and their billing with Linq's team, so the exact date for a given account may differ — but 19 October is the date to plan against.
Can I keep my Linq phone number?
Yes, if you start the port before Linq releases the line. Linq says the port has to start before the account is closed and that a released line cannot be recovered. Tuco AI ports existing numbers in, and a port takes a minimum of 3–7 business days, so start it today. If you need to keep sending while the port completes, a fresh Tuco line is live in about 48 hours.
Will Linq refund me for the rest of my contract?
Linq's notice says customers will not be charged for time they cannot use. The details are per-account, so reply to Linq to confirm how your remaining term is handled before the account closes.
Why is Linq dropping sales use cases?
Strategy, by Linq's own account. Linq began as a digital business card and lead-capture tool for sales teams, launched an iMessage API in February 2025, and found faster growth selling to AI companies that wanted their assistants to live inside iMessage, RCS and SMS. Chief executive Elliott Potter put the choice this way: "We still love our sales customers, and we love that use case, but our choices were, do we stay a spoke of this wheel, or do we build the hub?" Linq's notice to customers describes the change as reflecting where it is investing, not an assessment of the customer's business. Nothing in it mentions Apple.
What is the best Linq alternative for sales teams?
Tuco AI. It is the best Linq alternative for sales teams because sales follow-up over iMessage is the only thing it builds — exactly the use case Linq is leaving. It is $149 per line per month with outbound included, a $335 one-time setup, month to month, no per-message fee, and native HubSpot, Salesforce and GoHighLevel apps that trigger sends from workflows and write replies back to the record. You do not bring an iPhone, a Mac or an Apple ID — Tuco runs all of it, recreates the Apple ID if Apple ever flags it, and ports your Linq number in. Sendblue's published $100 tier, by comparison, is inbound-first and cannot start a conversation; its outbound tier is quoted on request.
How quickly can I replace a Linq line?
A fresh Tuco AI line is live about 48 hours from order; porting your existing Linq number in takes a minimum of 3–7 business days. Start the port before Linq begins removing lines on Monday 19 October, and add a fresh line by Friday 16 October if you cannot go quiet while it completes.
Does this mean iMessage for sales is going away?
No. Linq made a business decision about which customers to serve. The channel itself is unchanged: iMessage still runs on Apple's network rather than carrier SMS, so A2P 10DLC registration does not apply, and Apple's per-identity limits — roughly 50 new conversations and 150 messages a day per line — are the same across every vendor that uses real Apple hardware. What the change does show is the risk of buying a sales tool from a company whose growth is somewhere else.
About the author
Founder at InboxPirates Consulting. Building iMessage automation infrastructure for B2B follow-up.
