What is a WeChat Channels account ID (v2_…@finder), and why doesn't the sph ID work?

A WeChat Channels (视频号) account has two identifiers, and they serve different sides of WeChat. The one people can see is the 视频号ID: open WeChat, go to Me, Channels, the menu at the top right, then your Channels name, and it is listed there as a short string starting with sph, such as sphQ3x9KdLm2Tz. WeChat's mini program API takes it as finderUserName to open a profile. The other is internal: v2_ followed by a long run of hexadecimal characters and ending in @finder, about 86 characters in all. That is the account's username inside WeChat's Channels service, and it is what profile, video list and live replay data are keyed on. Paste the sph ID into a data tool and it finds nothing, because the two live in different systems and WeChat publishes no mapping between them.

Telling them apart

	视频号ID	Account username
Looks like	sphQ3x9KdLm2Tz	v2_0600002310…a8f1@finder (about 86 characters)
Where you see it	Channels profile settings in WeChat	Data responses, share link lookups
Who takes it	WeChat's own features (mini program links)	Channels data APIs, okdata
In okdata data	not returned	id on an account, author.id on a video

Two more strings look similar and are neither: a video share link such as weixin.qq.com/sph/AH3sCoIPhH is a link to one video, and a video ID is a long number such as 15051893554318805499.

Getting the v2_…@finder ID

1. By name. WeChat Channels account search goes through WeChat Search and usually returns the one account whose name matches best, with its id, name, avatar and who verified it. Check the name and the verifying organisation before you store the ID.
2. From a video. Video detail takes a share link or video ID and returns author.id.

With the ID, account profile gives the name, signature, IP region, video count and linked Official Account, and account videos lists videos newest first, about 15 a page.

Step	Calls	Cost
Name to v2_…@finder ID	1	$0.02
Profile	1	$0.02
First page of videos	1	$0.02
30 competitor accounts, all three	90	$1.80

Example

curl -G "https://api.okdata.online/v1/wechat_channels/users/search" \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer $OKDATA_API_KEY" \
  --data-urlencode 'query=央视新闻' \
  --data-urlencode 'fields=id,name,ext.verified_by'

Then pass the returned id, @finder and all, as id to the profile or video list endpoints. URL-encode it; the @ must survive.

Limits

• Followers and total likes are often null: WeChat hides them for many accounts, and meta.unavailable marks them platform.
• An account's url is the Channels home page, because WeChat gives Channels profiles no web page.
• Search finds accounts by name, not by sph ID. If you only have an sph ID, open the profile in WeChat, share one of its videos, and look the video up instead.