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Set up the WhatsApp Official Business API

Last updated: 28 October 2026

The WhatsApp Official Business API choice is on the Channels page now. Meta runs this service, so a few things need to be ready on the Meta side first.

This guide takes you through them in order. Each step links to the Meta page that explains it.

  1. Create a business portfolio, or check that you have admin access to one

    A business portfolio is the Meta account that owns your WhatsApp business account. If your business already has one, ask the owner to make you an admin. If it has none, create one.

    Open the Meta page

  2. Turn on two-factor authentication on your Facebook account

    This protects the Facebook account that controls your business portfolio. Turn it on for the account you use to sign in to Meta.

    Open the Meta page

  3. Get a number ready that can receive a code by SMS or phone call

    Meta sends a code to the number to prove that you own it. The number must be able to receive an SMS or a phone call.

    You can use a number that is not on any WhatsApp account, or the number of your WhatsApp Business app (see step 6).

    Open the Meta page

  4. Open WhatsApp Manager and add a payment method

    Meta charges you directly for the messages that cost money. Add a card in WhatsApp Manager so that your account can send them.

    Open the Meta page

  5. Read the fees and the 1,000 free service messages a month

    Each number gets 1,000 free service messages a month. After that Meta charges its rate for the country of the customer you reply to.

    Meta publishes the price list for every country. Read it before you connect, so the first invoice holds no surprise.

    Open the Meta page

  6. If you use the number of your WhatsApp Business app, know what changes

    You can keep the number you use today. You keep the WhatsApp Business app on your phone for your chats. Meta turns off some features of the WhatsApp Business app for that number:

    • Broadcast lists. You cannot create new ones, and the ones you have become read only.
    • Disappearing messages.
    • View-once messages.
    • Live location.
    • Linked devices. Meta unlinks them when you connect. You can link the supported ones again afterwards, but not WhatsApp for Windows.

    If this number is connected to YunaChat as a WhatsApp App channel today, signing it up on the WhatsApp Official Business API ends that channel. YunaChat keeps answering on the number through the WhatsApp Official Business API.

    Open the Meta page

  7. Start the sign-up from the Channels page of YunaChat

    When steps 1 to 6 are done, open the Channels page in your YunaChat dashboard and follow the checklist there. YunaChat then guides you through the Meta sign-up window.

    Open the Channels page

Meta links checked on 2026-10-28.