How to get the WhatsApp Business API, step by step

The number can’t be in use on WhatsApp already. In Meta’s words, “Numbers already in use with WhatsApp cannot be registered unless they are deleted first.” If your shop number is on the WhatsApp Business app today, moving it means removing it from the app first, so save what you need and plan the switch for a quiet day, or start with a new number.

It needs a country and area code (short codes don’t work) and must be able to receive a code, by text message or by a call.

You sign in with a Facebook or Meta business login, then pick your business portfolio or create one, and a WhatsApp Business account inside it. Have your business name, website and a one-line description to hand for the profile.

You can build on Meta’s Cloud API yourself: a Meta app with the WhatsApp use case, a permanent access token, and your own code to send and receive messages. Or use a provider whose product already runs on the API. Most of them open Meta’s Embedded Signup, a window where you do the same steps without writing code.

Meta sends a code to the number and you type it in. If the number is a landline, ask for the code by a call rather than a text.

The display name shows on your WhatsApp profile and, once approved, at the top of the chat. Meta checks it automatically against its naming guidelines when the number reaches a higher messaging limit, so a name that matches your business and your website is the safe choice from the start. A customer who edits your name in their own WhatsApp sees the name they set instead.

A new business portfolio can start conversations with 250 people in a moving 24 hours, counting only messages sent outside a customer’s 24-hour customer service window. Replies to people who wrote to you first don’t count. It can register two business numbers at first.

To reach 2,000, verify your business with Meta, or deliver 2,000 template messages outside the window within 30 days using templates of high quality. Meta raises the limit from there while quality stays high.

Write the templates you’ll need in the first week, such as an order update and a reply to a ticket after a quiet day, and submit them: Meta reviews each one. Set your opening hours and an away message, decide who answers, and test every path from a personal phone. Then put the number on your website, receipts and shopfront.

Meta charges per delivered message, by type and by the customer’s country calling code, and bills the WhatsApp account. Messages customers send you aren’t charged, and each number gets 1,000 service messages a month before they are. Check Meta’s pricing page for your country before you plan a large send.