WhatsApp

The same agent that handles your calls can handle WhatsApp: same script, same actions, same knowledge base. There is no second agent to configure and no second place to look — and if the chat needs something different, you separate it setting by setting without duplicating the agent.

Where everything lives

In the menu, under Operations, the channel has three entries: WhatsApp inbox (the conversations), WhatsApp templates (the approved messages for reaching out first) and WhatsApp, the screen this guide covers: your numbers, how they behave and the channel settings. At the top right you have Templates, which takes you to that screen, and Read the guide, which opens this page.

The screen is organized in tabs. The page address changes with the tab you have open, so you can send a teammate a direct link to one.

• Numbers — getting started, your accounts and each number with its agent. It opens first and it is the only tab with the Connect a number button.
• Calls — turn each number's voice calls on or off. It only shows up if your account has WhatsApp calls.
• Service — the labels and saved replies your team uses in the inbox.
• Alerts — which emails we send your team when something in the channel needs a person. Visible to whoever manages the channel.
• Integrations — the WhatsApp events that can reach your systems and the API keys with channel permissions. Visible to whoever can view webhooks or integrations.

Getting started

While something is missing, the Numbers tab shows Getting started at the top: the list of what it takes for the channel to work end to end, each step with its button. It checks itself off from your data, and a step we cannot confirm yet stays pending: it is never marked done just in case.

1. 1
   Connect your business number

   It is the number your agent will answer on. If the account is already connected but the number is still being registered with WhatsApp, the step tells you: it usually takes a few minutes.

2. 2
   Assign an agent to every number

   Choose the agent takes you to the number that is missing one. A number without an agent receives messages, but nobody answers them automatically.

3. 3
   Verify your business with Meta

   With a verified business and a payment method, WhatsApp delivers your templates. See how opens this guide in a new tab; if there is a problem, the reason is on the account card.

4. 4
   Have at least one approved template

   It is the message used to reach out first or to pick a conversation back up after 24 hours. Create a template takes you to the editor.

5. 5
   Turn on voice calls (optional)

   It only shows up if your account has WhatsApp calls, and it is marked optional: the channel works without them. Go to Calls opens that tab.

Once everything is done, the list stops showing and the tab is left for your accounts.

Connecting a number

There is a single button: Connect a number, on the Numbers tab (if it is greyed out, hover over it: it tells you what is missing). What happens next depends on whether your account can connect the number on your phone:

• If it can, Connect a number opens with the question Which number are you connecting? and two options. A new number, or one that isn't on any app is the one we recommend for your agent: the number answers only from the platform and stops working in the WhatsApp app on your phone. The number I use in WhatsApp Business on my phone connects it without taking it off the phone: you and your agent reply from the same number.
• If it cannot, the button opens the Meta window straight away to connect a new number.

A new number, or one that isn't on any app

1. 1
   Tap "Connect a number"

   If it asks which number you are connecting, choose A new number, or one that isn't on any app and tap Continue.

2. 2
   Enter the number

   A Meta window opens. There you enter the number that will answer from the platform. On this path it has to be a number not in use in any WhatsApp app; if it is the one on your phone, you can free it from the app first so it answers only from the platform (see Move the number from your phone to the platform completely, just below) or connect it without taking it off the phone with the other option.

3. 3
   Accept every permission

   If you leave one unchecked, the connection completes but the agent will not be able to reply. If that happens, connect again and accept everything.

4. 4
   Done

   When the window closes you see the account and its status. If it says Confirming, do nothing: we are finishing the check with Meta and it updates on its own in a few minutes. While the number says Registering, we are signing it up with WhatsApp.

Move the number from your phone to the platform completely

If the number lives today in WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business on a phone and you want it to answer only from the platform, free it from the app first. While it is still active on the phone, Meta will not let it in through the new-number path: it either rejects it or, if it is on WhatsApp Business, sends it to coexistence.

1. 1
   Save what you want to keep

   The history does not move to the platform, and deleting the account makes WhatsApp erase the chats on the phone and their backup. Export the ones you need first: in each chat, ⋮ → More → Export chat.

2. 2
   Delete the WhatsApp account on the phone

   In the app: Settings → Account → Delete account, and confirm with the number. Uninstalling the app is not enough: the number stays registered. Deleting it also turns off two-step verification, which would otherwise block the registration.

3. 3
   Keep the SIM in the phone

   Meta verifies the number with a code by SMS or by phone call, so it has to be able to receive it.

4. 4
   Connect it as a new number

   Wait a few minutes and follow the steps in A new number, or one that isn't on any app (above). When Meta asks for the number, enter the one you just freed.

Keep using the number on your phone

If the number you want to connect is the one you already use in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, you do not need to change it or get another one: the The number I use in WhatsApp Business on my phone option connects it to the platform without taking it off the phone. Meta calls this "coexistence". You keep chatting from the app, your agent answers from the platform, and the inbox shows both. On the screen, that account carries the With your phone mark.

1. 1
   Update the app and check the name

   On the phone, update WhatsApp Business from the store. And look at your business profile name: when you connect, that name is fixed on Meta's side, so correct it first if needed.

2. 2
   Choose "The number I use in WhatsApp Business on my phone"

   In Connect a number, when you choose this option the platform shows you what changes in your WhatsApp before the Meta window opens (the list is below). Read it, tick the box that says you understand and tap I understand, connect: until you tick it, the button stays disabled.

3. 3
   Sign in to Meta and choose to enter a new number

   The Meta window opens with your Facebook account. When it asks for the number, choose to enter a new one and type the number on your phone. Meta detects on its own that the number is live in the app and follows the coexistence path: there is no option to tick.

4. 4
   Confirm the details

   Meta shows the business profile that will be connected and, if you have no portfolio, asks you to create one right there. If you already have one, pick it from the list.

5. 5
   Scan the QR code from the app

   This is how this path verifies the number: instead of an SMS code, Meta shows a QR code and tells you which WhatsApp Business screen to scan it from. Once scanned, the window says Your account is connected and the account shows up in the platform with the With your phone mark.

6. 6
   Add a payment method (when you need it)

   Meta's last screen offers Add payment method. You can do it there or later, in WhatsApp Manager. You do not need it to receive messages and reply within 24 hours; you do need it to send templates: campaigns, reminders, or messaging someone first from the platform.

• Keep using the app. If the phone goes about two weeks without opening WhatsApp Business, Meta disconnects the number from the platform and you have to connect it again. The account card tells you it happened and why.
• The credential expires and is renewed by connecting again. The permission Meta grants the platform expires (on this path, after 60 days). There is no need to note the date anymore: the account card says Credential expires on… and, from 14 days before, alerts you with Renew. Renewing means connecting again the same way, without disconnecting first: pick the same number and you are done.
• If you reply from your phone, the agent stays out. When the person writes and you answer from the app before the agent does, the agent stays quiet for that turn. Your message shows in the inbox with the From the phone mark.

Each account card

Each connected account is a card with its name, its ID (with a button to copy it), Connected on… and, if its credential expires, Credential expires on…. On the right is its status:

• Connected — it works. Your agent answers on its numbers.
• Connecting or Confirming — we are finishing the connection with Meta. Nothing to do: it updates on its own.
• Not connected or Disconnected — your agent is not answering on that account. The card tells you why and how to come back.
• Expires in N days — the credential is about to expire: renew it before that date.

When an account needs something from you, the card gathers it in a single block, What this account needs, ordered from most to least serious and each item with its way out: that WhatsApp disconnected it and why (with Reconnect), that the credential is about to expire or already expired (with Renew), or that your business is not verified yet or Meta is reviewing the account (with the date we checked, Checked on…). If that block is not there, nothing is pending.

Refreshing, renewing or disconnecting an account

The card's ⋯ button gathers what you can do with the account:

• Refresh status — reads each number's quality, limit and name from WhatsApp again, and whether your business can send templates yet. It can be used once a minute per account. It does not register numbers: if you added one in WhatsApp, it shows up as Registering and we register it on our own in a few minutes. If the account has more numbers than your plan allows, it tells you how many were left out.
• Renew the credential or Reconnect — you go through the Meta window again, the same way the account was connected (with your phone or from the platform). The account, its numbers and its conversations are kept.
• Disconnect — at the end, in red. First we ask you to confirm and tell you exactly which numbers your agent stops handling, with their phone numbers. Conversations stay in the inbox: nothing is deleted. To come back, connect it again.

Verifying your business with Meta

Even with the account connected, the template approved and a payment method loaded, WhatsApp will not deliver your templates until Meta verifies your business. That is their process, not the platform's.

What you see for each number

Under each account are its numbers. Each row tells you how that number is doing and who handles it:

• The phone number and the name WhatsApp shows for it.
• Quality: Quality: good, medium or low. Meta calculates it from how people respond to your messages. A new number says Quality: no data yet: that is normal.
• Daily limit: Up to 1,000 people per day (or whatever applies) is how many distinct people you can message first in a day. Meta raises it on its own as the number builds a good track record. If we do not know it yet, it says Daily limit not confirmed yet.
• Registering: the number is still being signed up with WhatsApp. Below it we tell you what is holding it back, how to fix it and We try again on…: there is nothing to reconnect.
• Updated…: when we last read its details from WhatsApp. To read them now, use Refresh status in the account's ⋯ menu.
• Calls on (if your account has calls): tap it to go to the Calls tab.
• Agent: who handles that number. Changing it saves right away, with Undo in case you made a mistake. If the agent can't handle WhatsApp yet, the row tells you why and offers Open the agent to fix it. With No agent, messages still reach the inbox, but nobody answers them automatically. Someone who does not manage the channel sees who handles it, without the selector.

The Calls tab

If your account has WhatsApp voice calls, this tab shows one row per active number with its switch. Calls are answered by the same agent that replies to that number's messages.

• If a number can't turn its calls on, the row tells you why: No agent, Agent transfers (a WhatsApp call cannot be passed to a phone line) or Not available with your phone (a number connected with your phone does not take calls from the platform).
• What WhatsApp has, under each number, shows read-only what WhatsApp has set up: whether the Call button in the chat is visible, whether the person can Return a missed call, the Restrictions and when we read it.
• Hours: they are answered during the same hours as the platform's voice calls. The tab shows them read-only —the days, the time range and the time zone— and they are not set separately.

How to ask for permission to call, call campaigns and what calls cost are in the WhatsApp calls guide.

The Service tab: labels and saved replies

This is where the whole team's labels and saved replies are created, edited and deleted. The inbox uses them: labels are applied from each conversation and summarized under Summary, and saved replies are inserted by typing / or with the lightning bolt. From the inbox, Manage labels and Manage saved replies bring you to this tab.

• Labels — with New label you choose the name and the color, and see How it looks in the inbox. Each one shows how many conversations use it. Renaming it keeps it on the conversations that already have it; deleting it removes it from all of them, and before deleting we tell you from how many. Whoever manages the channel defines them; everyone else sees them read-only.
• Saved replies — with New reply you write the Shortcut (what you type after “/” in the inbox: no spaces, and it is saved in lowercase) and the Text. Each one shows how many times it was used. Whoever can reply in the inbox creates and edits them. Deleting one removes it from the inbox for the whole team, and it cannot be undone.

The Alerts tab: team emails

Choose when we email your organization's admins: when something happens in the channel that needs a person. Whoever manages the channel sees and changes it.

• An account disconnects — WhatsApp disconnected an account and your agent stopped answering on its numbers. On by default.
• The credential is about to expire — 14, 7 and 1 days before it expires, and on the day it expires. On by default.
• A template changes — WhatsApp rejected it, paused it, disabled it or changed its category.
• A number's quality drops — it went from high to medium, or from medium to low.
• A conversation handed to the team goes unanswered — the agent handed it to a person and nobody on the team has written back. Under Alert after you choose 15, 30 or 60 minutes. We check every 10 minutes, so the email can arrive up to 20 minutes later; and a single email groups all the ones waiting.

Changes are saved with the bar that shows up at the bottom only when you changed something; if you leave without saving, we ask first. Each alert goes out once for what happened —it does not flood your inbox with the same problem—. Under Who receives them you see your organization's active admins; they are set in Settings → Team (Go to Team). If there are none, the screen warns you that these emails reach nobody.

The Integrations tab: events and API keys

Your system can find out what happens in the channel: every time one of these events occurs, we send a signed notice to the webhooks that receive it. Message text never travels. The tab shows how many webhooks receive each event.

• Account disconnected (whatsapp.account.disconnected) — WhatsApp disconnected an account: it stops receiving and sending until you reconnect it.
• Template status changed (whatsapp.template.status_changed) — it was approved, rejected, paused or disabled, or WhatsApp changed its category.
• Number quality (whatsapp.number.quality_changed) — a number's quality changed based on how people respond to it.
• Conversation handed to the team (whatsapp.conversation.handoff) — a conversation the assistant was handling moved to a person or to the unassigned queue.
• Conversation closed (whatsapp.conversation.closed) — the team, the assistant, the end of a call or a deletion closed it.

These events reach the organization's webhooks that are turned on, not an agent's, and you subscribe to them in Integrations (Manage webhooks). There, Test lets you send a sample event: if the webhook receives more than one event that can be tested, the button opens a menu to choose which. The sample has the same shape as the real event, with made-up data and the test: true mark, and it shows up in the delivery history.

Under API keys you see how many active keys have WhatsApp permissions and when they were last used. Keys are created and revoked through the platform API —they do not have a screen in the portal yet— and each key's secret is shown only once, when it is created.

The inbox and templates

Conversations are read and answered in WhatsApp inbox, and the messages for reaching out first are built in WhatsApp templates. Each has its own guide in this same section.

Frequently asked questions