On this page
On Admin → Channels, the WhatsApp card has a Connect with Meta button. It opens Meta's own setup window, you answer its questions, and your number is connected: nothing to copy, nothing to paste, and no Meta app of your own. It takes a few minutes. An owner or an admin can connect a channel; if your plan has no room for another channel, the card says so before you start.
The number, the WhatsApp Business Account and the conversations stay yours. What changes is that your number runs through FiguredOutAI's Meta app rather than one you build.
If the card has no Connect with Meta button, or your number already runs through a Meta app of your own or another provider, use the advanced route instead: Connect WhatsApp with your own Meta app.
What you need
- A Facebook account you can sign in with. It becomes how Meta knows who connected the number; it is never shown to your leads.
- A phone number that can receive a code, by SMS or by voice call, while you are in the window.
- A number that is not on the WhatsApp app. A number registered on WhatsApp or the WhatsApp Business app has to be deleted from the app first, or Meta refuses it. Keeping the number on the app at the same time is not supported yet, and neither is moving a number over from another WhatsApp provider: move it away from that provider first, or use your own Meta app.
What Meta's window asks
The window is Meta's, so its exact wording changes now and then. In order, it asks you to:
- Sign in with Facebook and allow FiguredOutAI to manage WhatsApp for you.
- Pick or create a business portfolio. We fill in your business name from your workspace; check it and add what Meta asks for.
- Pick or create a WhatsApp Business Account. Most businesses create a new one here.
- Add your number and choose the display name your customers will see. It has to relate to your business name.
- Verify the number with the code Meta sends by SMS or call.
Close the window at any point and nothing is saved. The card tells you the step you stopped at, and pressing the button again opens the window again. The card also tells you if the window finished without a phone number, or if Meta's answer did not reach us in time; in both cases nothing was saved and you connect again.
What happens when you finish
We do four things, in order, and you see the result on the card:
- Check what Meta gave us. The account you picked must be one your login actually shared with us; otherwise nothing is saved and the card says so.
- Save the connection, encrypted. No token is ever shown, and you never handle one.
- Register the number for WhatsApp's Cloud API, with a two-step PIN we set and keep.
- Subscribe to your account's messages, so they reach your bot.
The card then shows Verified, your number, your display name and its review status. It says Connected once the first message has actually arrived.
When a step fails: Finish setup
If registering or subscribing fails, the connection is kept and the card shows Setup isn't finished with the reason and a Finish setup button. Fix what the reason says, press the button, and we try the last steps again with what we already have. You do not need to go through Meta's window again.
The one you may meet: "This number has a two-step PIN." Somebody set a two-step verification PIN on the number before. Turn it off in WhatsApp Manager (your number, then two-step verification), then press Finish setup. If the number is already live, we carry on without asking. Another you may meet is Meta refusing too many registration attempts for the number: wait a few hours, then press Finish setup.
The display name review
Meta reviews every new display name, usually within a day or two. While it is in review, messages still flow, but people may see your number instead of your name. If Meta declines it, change it in WhatsApp Manager to one that matches your business, and Meta reviews it again. The card shows the current status: Approved, In review, Declined, Expired or Not submitted.
Paying Meta
You pay Meta directly for WhatsApp, as you would with your own app; we never bill you for messages. Add a payment method in WhatsApp Manager so Meta can bill you for messages above the free allowance — the card links straight there. Meta's prices change often, so we do not quote them: see Meta's pricing (opens in a new tab).
Your bot only ever replies inside the 24-hour window that opens when a lead writes to you; it never starts a conversation with a template message.
Then test it, in both directions
Inbound: message your business number from a personal phone and watch it appear in the Inbox. Do this before you tell a customer about the number. It is also what turns the card from Verified to Connected.
Outbound: press Send test message and give it a number you can read. Then look at the bot's reply to your inbound message in the Inbox: if it is marked Not delivered, WhatsApp refused it, and the reason is under it with a link to what to do.
Quality, and a number that stops
The card shows the quality rating Meta gives your number: High, Medium, Low or Not rated yet. Medium or Low usually means people blocked or reported it; keep replies relevant, because a low rating can limit how many people you can message. If Meta reports the number as anything other than connected, the badge reads Number not active and the card says why, instead of calling it Connected.
Keeping it connected
Meta gives this connection access for 60 days at a time, and unlike Instagram's, it cannot be renewed for you: only connecting again renews it. In the last week the card shows Reconnect WhatsApp to keep it working with a Reconnect with Meta button, and the workspace owner gets one email. Press the button and pick the same number; your leads and conversations are untouched. If the 60 days run out first, the card shows Not working and the owner is emailed, and Reconnect with Meta restores it the same way.
If you remove us in Meta
Removing FiguredOutAI from your WhatsApp Business Account in Meta's business settings stops messages. The card shows Not working, and the workspace owner gets an email. Press Reconnect with Meta and pick the same number: the connection is restored, and your leads and conversations are untouched.
Moving from your own Meta app
A workspace connected the advanced way can press Switch to Connect with Meta on the card and pick the same number, or a new one. The connection is replaced; leads and conversations stay.
Disconnecting
Only the workspace owner can disconnect, from Admin → Channels. It stops your messages reaching the workspace and takes our app off your WhatsApp Business Account. The number stays registered and stays yours, ready for whatever you do with it next. Your conversation history is kept.