The WhatsApp Business API is how a business runs WhatsApp as a real support and sales channel rather than one phone. You connect a number through Meta’s Embedded Signup, which runs inside the HiQBot dashboard. This page covers what you need first, the steps in order, and what to do at each point it goes wrong.
Last updated 28 August 2026
Facebook Business Manager
Pick the business this number belongs to
Business verification
Meta checks the business is real
Phone number
A number not on a personal WhatsApp
Display name
The name customers see, matching the business
An illustration of the connection flow, not a screenshot. Meta controls the verification step, so how long it sits there is not up to us.
Before you start
Gathering these first turns the connection into a few minutes of clicking. Starting without them is where the week goes.
It cannot be a number currently registered to a personal WhatsApp account. A landline works if it can take a call to receive the code.
The number gets attached to a business, not to a person. If your marketing team already runs ads, this exists and you need access to it.
A registered name, an address and a public presence that matches. Verification is where most delays happen, and it is Meta’s process rather than ours.
This is the name customers see above the chat. Meta rejects names that do not resemble the verified business, so pick the one on your paperwork.
The connection
The connection runs inside HiQBot through Meta’s Embedded Signup. You are not copying tokens between tabs or standing up a server.
Choose the Business Manager account, then the number you are putting on WhatsApp. Meta sends a code to that number and you enter it.
Enter the name customers will see. If it does not resemble the verified business, Meta rejects it, so use the registered name rather than a campaign slogan.
Once Meta clears the business, the number is live and messages arrive in your inbox. The agent answers from documents you have uploaded.
A number on the API can keep running in the WhatsApp Business app at the same time. Your team answers on the phone they already use, and the agent handles the conversations nobody has picked up. This is the part most guides skip, and it is usually the objection that stops a rollout.
Connecting the number takes minutes. Business verification is Meta’s review and runs on their timetable, not ours. Any page promising you a fixed number of minutes to go live is promising something it does not control.
When it goes wrong
Every setup guide documents the path where nothing breaks. These are the ones that send people looking for a support ticket.
Why
It is on a personal WhatsApp or a WhatsApp Business app account, and that registration owns it.
Fix
Delete the account from inside the WhatsApp app on the phone that holds it, wait for the deletion to finish, then try again. Or use coexistence and keep the app.
Why
Meta is reviewing documents, or the details you submitted do not match the ones on your registration.
Fix
Check the business name, address and website match your registration exactly, character for character. Resubmit with a document that shows all three together.
Why
It does not resemble the verified business name, or it contains a promotion, a URL or a generic word.
Fix
Use the registered business name. Drop taglines, discounts and web addresses. You can request a change again after the rejection.
Why
The number cannot receive the message, or it is still tied to another account.
Fix
Switch to the voice call option, which reads the code aloud. If it still fails, the number is usually still registered somewhere.
Why
Template content is reviewed separately from the number, and marketing templates are held to a stricter bar than utility ones.
Fix
Re-read the category you filed it under. A message that sells belongs in marketing, and filing it as utility to avoid the rate is the most common rejection.
Two bills, not one. Meta charges your business for messages directly, per message since July 2025, at a rate that depends on the country and the message category. HiQBot charges for the plan. We do not sit in the middle of Meta’s billing and we do not mark it up.
What the WhatsApp Business API costsEmbedded Signup, business verification and display name rules are Meta’s, and they change. When this page and Meta disagree, Meta is right and we want to know about it.
Read Meta’s Embedded Signup docsYes, through coexistence. The number runs on the API and in the app at the same time, so the phone your team already answers on keeps working while the agent handles the rest.
No. Embedded Signup runs inside the HiQBot dashboard. There is no server to deploy, no webhook to register and no token to paste anywhere.
The connection itself takes minutes. Business verification is Meta’s process and does not run on a schedule anyone can promise, which is why this page does not print a number.
A number can only be connected to one provider at a time. You migrate it, which means removing it from the current provider before connecting it here.
Every plan, starting with Solo at $49 a month. WhatsApp is not held back for an upper tier.
The setup is the boring half. The half that matters is what happens when a message arrives at 11pm and nobody is holding the phone.