Step by step
Connect your current WhatsApp Business number
Put your agent on the WhatsApp Business number your business already uses, through the Facebook window, and keep answering from the mobile app if you want to.
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- 6 min read
In this article
To put your agent on the WhatsApp Business number your business already uses, go to Channels, press Connect WhatsApp and choose I already use WhatsApp Business. The app asks where you use that number today and opens a Facebook window for you to authorise it. If you use it on the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, you can keep using it.
Before you start
You need the Admin or Owner role, a plan that includes WhatsApp and an agent that has no number yet: see what applies to all three ways. In every case you also need a Meta Business account you are an administrator of, and your business’s WhatsApp Business number.
The app asks “Where do you use that number today?”. The rest depends on your answer:
- On the WhatsApp Business app on my phone, and I want to keep using it. You keep answering from the phone and the agent answers from iAgentify. You need the WhatsApp Business app at version 2.24.17 or later: update it before you start.
- On the WhatsApp Business Platform, or I am going to add a number now. For a number that already works through the WhatsApp API, or one you will register in the Facebook window. The number must be able to receive an SMS or a call to verify it, and must not be in use in the WhatsApp mobile app. If it is already on WhatsApp Business with two-step verification, turn that off first in WhatsApp Manager.
Connect the number
Go to Channels and, under WhatsApp, press Connect WhatsApp. If you already have a number connected, the button is called Connect another number.
Under Agent, choose the agent that will answer the messages that reach the number.
Under How do you want to connect it, press I already use WhatsApp Business.
Answer “Where do you use that number today?” with one of the two options above.
Press Continue with Facebook. A Facebook window opens. If you see “Facebook is ready. Press the button to open its window.” instead, press Open the Facebook window.
Go through the Facebook window to the end. If you are keeping the mobile app, you choose to connect your WhatsApp Business app and confirm it from the phone. If not, you choose your number or register it, and verify it.
Meanwhile the app shows “Finish the signup in the Facebook window. This screen carries on by itself when you are done.”
Wait for “Verifying the number with Meta and connecting it to your agent.” to finish. The number is now under Channels with the status Connected and the label Meta or Meta, with the phone app.
To test it, send a WhatsApp message to the number from another phone. With the agent Active, the reply arrives within seconds and the conversation appears under Conversations. It is a real conversation and it uses credits.
If you keep using the mobile app
- Chats keep appearing on your phone and you can answer as usual.
- What you answer from the phone appears in Conversations as written by a person, and the agent does not answer the same thing twice.
- Answering from the phone does not put you in charge of the conversation. The agent will go on replying to that customer’s next messages. To keep it quiet in one conversation, press Take over or Pause under Conversations: see take over a conversation.
- Your earlier chats stay on the phone. In iAgentify you see conversations from the moment you connect.
Meta requires the contacts and chats of the app to be synchronised within 24 hours of connecting. iAgentify requests it when you finish. On the number’s card under Channels, Contacts and Chat history should say “Synchronisation requested from Meta”. If either says “Not accepted by Meta”, press Check to request it again before the deadline shown on the card. Once the 24 hours have passed, you have to disconnect the number from the platform in the WhatsApp Business app and repeat the connection here.
Advanced option: paste the credentials by hand
Below the question, Advanced options reveals Paste the credentials by hand. It is for someone whose number is already registered on the WhatsApp Cloud API, not in use in the WhatsApp mobile app, and who has a permanent token. You fill in three fields and press Connect number:
| Field | Where to find it |
|---|---|
| Phone number ID | In Meta for Developers: your app → WhatsApp → API Setup. Digits only; it is not the phone number |
| WhatsApp Business Account ID | On the same screen, next to the phone number ID |
| Permanent access token | From a system user of your Meta Business, with the whatsapp_business_management and whatsapp_business_messaging permissions. Temporary tokens expire after 24 hours |
Error messages and what to do
The app says what went wrong. These are the ones that raise most questions:
| Message | What to do |
|---|---|
| “The Facebook window was closed before finishing. Nothing was connected.” | Press Continue with Facebook again and go through to the last step |
| “We could not load Facebook.” | Turn off your ad blocker for the app and repeat |
| “Meta does not report that number as in use on the WhatsApp Business app.” | If the number already works through the API, choose the other option. If you use it in the app, update the app, finish the onboarding from the app and repeat |
| “Your WhatsApp Business account has several numbers on the app.” | Choose one under Number you want to connect and press Continue with Facebook again |
| “Meta could not register the number.” | If it has two-step verification, turn it off in WhatsApp Manager and repeat |
| “This number is already connected to an agent. Disconnect it there before using it here.” | Disconnect it from the agent that has it, under Channels. If it is not among your numbers, write to us from Support |
| “The connection could not be completed. Meta said:” followed by a text | Copy that text and send it from Support |
What it costs
iAgentify adds no cost per message with this way of connecting. Each agent reply uses its normal credits, as on your website chat, and replies a person writes from Conversations use no credits. Whatever Meta charges for your WhatsApp Business account is between you and Meta.
Disconnect the number
Under Channels, press Disconnect on the number’s card.
Confirm. The agent stops receiving and answering messages on that number.
Conversations already stored are kept and you can connect it again whenever you like. If the number was also on the mobile app, the WhatsApp Business app on your phone keeps working as before.
If a message goes unanswered, the causes are in a WhatsApp message was not answered.
Related articles
- Connect WhatsApp: the three ways and what each one needsYour current WhatsApp Business number, a new number from iAgentify, or one from your Twilio account. What each way needs, how long it takes, what it costs and how to choose.
- WhatsApp’s 24-hour rule in plain wordsWhatsApp only lets a business write to a customer during the 24 hours after their last message. What that means for your agent and your team, and what to do if the time runs out.
- A WhatsApp message was not answeredWhy your agent did not reply to a customer on WhatsApp. Each cause, with how to recognise it under Conversations or Channels and what to do so that it answers again.
- Take over a conversation and return it to the AIHow to reply to a customer yourself, what they notice on each channel and how to pause, resolve or return the conversation to the agent. The AI does not come back on its own.