Chat channels
Set up WhatsApp
WhatsApp Business Cloud API, hosted by Meta. It needs a Meta developer app, and this server reachable from the internet — set the public base URL in Settings before you start.
Before you start
- A Meta developer app with the WhatsApp product added (developers.facebook.com) — Meta gives every new app a free test number to try things with before your own number is verified.
- A permanent access token — not the 24-hour one on the API Setup page: Business settings → System users → generate one with whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management.
- The app secret (App settings → Basic) — technically optional, but without it incoming messages can't be verified as really coming from Meta, so set it.
- Note the Phone number ID (WhatsApp → API Setup — a long internal number, not the phone number itself).
- Chat channels → WhatsApp: enter the Phone number ID, choose any verify-token phrase, paste the permanent access token and the app secret. Create, then Test.
- Open Setup on the channel, copy the webhook URL, and paste it into Meta: WhatsApp → Configuration → Edit webhook, with the same verify-token phrase, then subscribe to the “messages” field.
- Message the number to confirm it end to end.
How people use it
Add your team by phone number in the people list — they're recognised from their very first message, nothing for them to do. Replies ride the free 24-hour customer-service window that opens whenever someone messages first, so ordinary question-and-answer use needs no pre-approved message templates. WhatsApp's Business API has no group chats — every conversation is one-to-one.
Access
Linked numbers ask with their own account's access. An unrecognised number is asked to link an account instead, unless you've opened guest access groups on this channel, in which case it reads from those groups — useful for a customer-facing number nobody pre-registers.
Test can pass on Meta's temporary test number, but it can only message pre-approved test recipients until you verify your own number with Meta. Replies stopping a day after setup means the access token was the temporary Setup-page one — replace it with a permanent System user token.
Last updated 20 Sep 2026