Official WhatsApp API
Embedded signup is a convenient way to register your sender on the WhatsApp Business API directly from the NicoChat website. After registration, you can start using the API with the help of NicoChat to enhance your customer engagement experience.
However, it is not mandatory to do so.
You can create a new Meta Business Manager during the process if you do not already have one.
Prerequisites
Before you start using the WhatsApp Business API, you will need the following:
- A Facebook account.
- Administrator access to your Meta Business Manager account . If you do not have a Meta Business Manager account, you can create one during the embedded signup process. Also, the Meta Business account must not be blocked ( here you can see whether there are any restrictions on your Meta Business account)
- Credit card (Mastercard / Visa → No American Express!)
- A phone number that can be registered as a sender . This number must not be connected to any WhatsApp account (personal or WhatsApp Business API). You will need access to this number to receive an SMS or a voice call for verification. If you already have an account, you can find instructions on how to delete it here.
Video instructions
In this video, you will find a step-by-step guide on how to set up WhatsApp Cloud:
Coming soon
Step-by-step instructions
Step 1: sign in with Facebook
To start the process, log in to the NicoChat platform, go to the “Dashboard”, click “WhatsApp Cloud” in the left sidebar, and then click the “Connect WhatsApp Cloud” button:
In the pop-up window, log in to your Facebook account or select the account you are already logged in to in your browser.
Step 2: create or select a Meta Business Manager account
You can either select an existing Meta Business Manager account on which you have administrator permissions or create a new Meta Business Manager account . To create a new account, you will need to prepare the following information:
- Legal business name
- Business phone number
- Business website
- Business email address
- Country
- Corporate address
- City
- State / province / region
Please note that the newly created Meta Business Manager will be “ unverified ”. We recommend that you verify your Meta Business Manager as soon as possible. You can follow the instructions in Meta Business Verification .
Step 3: create a WhatsApp Business profile
1. Enter the name of your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)
Your audience will not see this information on your WhatsApp profile.
2. Enter the display name of your WhatsApp Business profile
Display names need to be reviewed by Meta, which is one of the important factors in increasing the number's messaging limit.
A display name must have consistent branding with external sources (for example, a company's website or marketing materials).
Display names must be related to your business and must not violate WhatsApp's commerce and business policies . In addition, the display name must comply with WhatsApp's display name guidelines .
3. Choose a business category from the list
4. Enter a description for your business
You can edit the description at any time, including after sender verification.
Step 4: verify the WhatsApp business number
- Enter the phone number you want to use as your WhatsApp business number. Please note that this number cannot be in use on any WhatsApp service.
- Choose one of the following verification methods:
- SMS
- Voice call
Once your number is verified,
you will be redirected to the screen below. Click the “Finish” button and you will be redirected back to the NicoChat platform.
Step 5: complete the registration of your number
Once you are redirected to the NicoChat platform, you will see the screen below and should click the “Sync Numbers” button:
and you will see the numbers you have just registered inside the NicoChat platform. By default, the status is “Paused”; you need to switch the status to “Active” .
By default, if you go to “WhatsApp Manager” and then to “Phone numbers”, you will notice that the status is “Pending”, as shown in the screenshot below:
Now, if you go back to NicoChat and click “Settings” as shown in the screenshot below, click “Register number” and register your number :
And once you complete the registration, you will see that your phone number status is “Connected” .
And now your channel is ready to be tested!
But before you start testing, it is very important to set up your billing and verify your Meta Business Manager (it is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended).
Also, you risk having your number or your Meta Business Manager account restricted if you do not have a verified Meta Business Manager.
Step 6: do a quick connection check
Once the WhatsApp number is connected, you can click “Create flow” and create a simple flow inside your main flow.
Click the “Publish” button to publish the flow, and then send any message from your personal WhatsApp number to this WhatsApp Cloud API number.
You should get the text message back. If you see the message, the connection is working. Your channel is responsive and working well.
Now you can go to “Content”, “Message Templates”, and click the “Sync” button. If you do not see any error message, the WhatsApp message templates are working as well.
Please note that no message template will actually sync to NicoChat when you are just getting started. You can also click “+ New Template” and create a new WhatsApp message template right from NicoChat.
Finally, you can go to “WhatsApp Manager” in your Meta Business Manager, connect a valid credit card to billing, and then test sending a WhatsApp message template to a WhatsApp user.
If your billing method is valid, the message template should be delivered without any issue.
If you have done all the tests, your WhatsApp Cloud API is correctly connected.
WhatsApp Cloud settings
NicoChat offers a few settings that help you manage your WhatsApp API easily. If you click the 3 dots in WhatsApp Cloud, you will find the settings below:
- Health Check
- Business verification status
- Check payment method
- Phone numbers
- Message templates
- Catalog
- Two-factor authentication
- De-register number
BM business verification process (optional)
If you have not completed the Business Verification process, you will be limited to associating only two phone numbers and can have a maximum of 250 conversations per day.
If this limit is exceeded, the account will be automatically canceled after 15 days.
However, during this period you can still test the service. Once your business has been verified, you can associate the WABA with up to 20 phone numbers and the conversation limit will increase to 1,000 per day.
Check payment method
The first thing to do is to connect a valid credit card to your WABA numbers. If you have not connected a valid card and start sending WhatsApp message templates, you will see the error below:
[ { "error_code": 141006, "error_description": "There is an error with the payment method.", "possible_solution": "There was an error with your payment method. Please add a new payment method to the account." } ]
You just need to connect a valid credit card to your WABA numbers.
You will need to go to Meta Business Manager and find the WhatsApp account.
Health Check
If you click Health Check, you will see the screenshot below:
This will give you an overview of your phone number status, WABA status, and Meta Business account status.
Phone numbers
A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) needs a valid phone number dedicated to using the WhatsApp Business Platform.
This guide introduces how to choose phone numbers, add them to your account, and the related sending limitations.
Once you click this option, you will be redirected to “Phone numbers” in your WhatsApp Manager, and your phone number status will fall into one of the categories below:
Status is classified as follows:
- Connected : the sender functions normally.
- Flagged : this status occurs when the sender quality rating reaches a low (red) state. During this state, you cannot upgrade the messaging limit tier. If the quality rating improves to a medium or high state within 7 days from the day the sender status was moved to Flagged, the status changes to Connected. If the quality rating does not improve, the sender status returns to Connected, but the messaging limit decreases to the next lower tier. The lowest tier for verified businesses is Tier 1.
- Restricted : this status occurs when the sender reaches the messaging limit. During the Restricted phase, you cannot send outbound (notification) messages until the 24-hour window is reset. You can only respond to messages initiated by end users.
- Pending : you can click “Register numbers” to connect your phone numbers.
Add a phone number to a WABA
Currently, each verified Meta Business Manager can have up to 20 phone numbers, regardless of the number of WABAs.
If you would like to add a new number, please add it through the embedded signup process.
Change the display name
Each phone number has its display name, and this name should be related to your company or brand name. The display name will be reviewed by Meta. You can go to Meta to change the name.
Delete a phone number from a WABA
For complete removal, follow the steps below:
- In Business Manager, go to your Business Settings page.
- Go to Settings > Business Settings > WhatsApp Accounts > WhatsApp Manager > Phone Numbers.
- In WhatsApp Manager, find the phone number you wish to delete. Click the trash icon under Delete in the upper right.
Message templates
This link redirects you to the WhatsApp templates section in WhatsApp Manager. You can create and submit the template directly in WhatsApp Manager and, once the template is approved, go to NicoChat to sync the template back to NicoChat.
You can also click the “New Template” button in NicoChat and then create and submit the template directly inside NicoChat.
Catalog
Businesses can enable Catalogs to share products with customers using single-product and multi-product messages, or to showcase their products and services to customers in the WhatsApp app, allowing them to browse and add items to their cart without leaving the conversation, which provides a seamless and convenient shopping experience.
If you click the “Catalog” link, you will be redirected to WhatsApp Manager. Click “Catalog”, then “Choose a Catalog”, and from the drop-down menu select the catalog you want to connect.
Click “View catalog” if you want to view or manage the catalog. Click “Connect Catalog” and these WABA numbers will be connected to the catalog.
If you want to sync the product catalog from Facebook to NicoChat's native ecommerce, go to “Integrations”, then go to the “E-commerce” category, click “Facebook Business”, and log in to your Facebook account.
After you log in to your Facebook account, you will be redirected back to NicoChat and should click the “List Business Catalogs” button.
Find the catalog linked to your WABA numbers and click the “Facebook → Local” button. Your catalog products will then sync back to NicoChat Ecommerce → Products.
If you open any product synced to NicoChat Ecommerce → Products, all product titles, descriptions, images, and prices are in sync with Facebook Catalog messages.
You will need the RetailID to send the WhatsApp product catalog message. You can find the RetailID synced to the SKU in the products section.
Check more information on how to build a native WhatsApp ecommerce shopping experience here .
What are the most common errors in the embedded signup flow?
A. Business Manager account creation errors
An error occurred while processing this request. Please try again later.
This is a very unclear error that needs further assistance. Business account creation could have failed for various reasons.
==> If you get such an error, use an active Facebook account or contact Support for resolution.
You have reached the limit for the number of Businesses you can create at this time.
There is a limit to the number of Business Accounts you can create.
==> Use an existing Business Account or delete/close unused Business Accounts.
Your Facebook account is too new to create a business account. Try again in an hour.
New Facebook accounts have to wait some time to create a Business Manager account.
=> Use an existing active Facebook account or wait a few hours before using your new account. The new Facebook account can be actively used during the wait period.
We limit how often you can post, comment or do other things in a given amount of time in order to help protect the community from spam. You can try again later.
Your Facebook account was flagged because of suspicious behavior.
==> You need to use an existing, active Facebook account with no prior issues.
You're no longer allowed to use Facebook Products to advertise. You can't run ads, manage advertising assets or create new ad or business accounts.
You are unable to create new Business Manager accounts due to previous suspicious behavior.
==> Use an existing, active Facebook account with no prior issues.
Your payment account is disabled
Your payment account was disabled due to previous suspicious behavior.
==> Please contact Facebook for assistance here
A User Can Only Create One Business User At One Time
You can only create a single Business Account within a given time period.
==> Use an existing Business Account to onboard.
The name you chose for your business isn't valid. Consider using xxx.
==> Add a valid name that matches the name of your business.
B. WhatsApp Business Account creation errors
User does not have permission to create WhatsApp Business Accounts.
You do not have the Admin level permission needed to create WhatsApp Accounts under the Business Account you selected.
==> Get Admin access to the Business Account to proceed, or select an account you have Admin permissions for.
You can only create a limited number of WhatsApp Business Accounts before your business and WhatsApp account verification is complete. You can create additional accounts after you are verified.
You tried to create multiple WhatsApp Business Accounts under an unverified business.
==> You can create additional WhatsApp Business Accounts only when Business Verification and WhatsApp account checks are complete. Start Business Verification for the account by visiting Business Manager.
We can't verify the Facebook Business Account that you selected. Go back to the previous screen to select a different account, or go to Facebook Business Manager for support.
The Facebook Business Account selected does not comply with our policies to use the WhatsApp Business API and could not be verified.
==> Visit your Business Manager account to get more information about this Facebook Business Account. If your Business Verification submission is rejected, you should have received an email notification with the detailed reasons. You can try resubmitting your Business Verification if you think this was a mistake, or create a WhatsApp Business Account using a Facebook Business Account that has already been verified.
Something has gone wrong. You will need to contact support and try again.
This could be an intermittent issue on WhatsApp.
==> You can retry the flow in a few minutes.
C. Phone setup errors
This phone number already exists in your list of phone numbers.
You are trying to add a phone number that already exists in your WhatsApp Business Account.
==> Go back into the flow or restart the flow to select the existing phone number.
This number is registered to an existing WhatsApp account. To use this number, disconnect it from the existing account. Then, return to this page and re-enter the number. Note: it may take up to 3 minutes for the number to become available.
The phone number was already registered on our platform (i.e., WhatsApp Messenger, WhatsApp Business App or WhatsApp Business API).
==> Go to “WhatsApp Cloud” settings and de-register the number if you want to use it, or register a new number.
Your verified name violates WhatsApp guidelines. Please edit your verified name and try again.
The name used for the phone number's business profile does not meet our guidelines.
==> Please reference the Display Name guidelines and try again.
Something has gone wrong. You will need to contact support and try again.
There was a problem creating the phone number's Business Profile.
==> Re-enter the correct Business Profile name according to the guidelines and other details.
D. Phone verification errors
Phone number ownership is already verified.
==> This phone number has already been verified. You can refresh the page to see the change applied.
Your phone number doesn't appear to be valid. Please double-check it, or try again after 5 minutes.
An incorrect phone number was entered, or we do not support numbers in this format.
==> Make sure the number is operational and verified by a telecom provider. We do not currently support Interactive Voice Response (IVR) numbers.
You have exceeded the number of attempts.
To block spam, the system only allows a limited number of verification attempts.
==> You have to wait about 12 hours before retrying. After this waiting period, come back to the flow and select existing accounts and phone numbers to verify again.
There was an error verifying this phone number. Please try again later.
There was a problem with the verification code.
==> Please try again later.
You have requested your code too many times.
To block spam, the system only allows a limited number of verification attempts.
==> We limit the number of times you can request a code within a certain time frame. Come back to the flow after the specified time and select existing accounts and phone numbers to request a code again.