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WhatsApp is one workspace channel under Settings → Channels → WhatsApp, covering text chat, platform voice calls, and message templates. Preferred onboarding (platform domain only, e.g. app.famulor.io): WhatsApp Embedded Signup (Connect with Meta). On whitelabel custom domains, workspaces use manual credential paste only. Marketplace numbers (Settings → Numbers) are PSTN/SIP for phone voice. The same E.164 becomes WhatsApp only after Meta verifies it (OTP). Your SIP trunk settings are independent of WhatsApp Cloud API. Platform SMS helpers are SMS/MMS only — not used for WhatsApp.

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Prerequisites

Your plan includes WhatsApp text and/or WhatsApp voice.

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Reply and conversation settings

Both Cloud API and Coexistence senders offer AI Auto-Responses, Ignore message reactions, and Keep conversations unread. Reactions are ignored by default; turn this off to store new emoji reactions as customer messages and let them trigger replies when AI is enabled. Removing a reaction does not trigger a reply. Keeping conversations unread also suppresses the typing indicator. Under Edit → General → Timing, set the response delay and the inactivity timeout; under Edit → Advanced → Conversation ended, add an optional webhook URL. The timeout counts from the last customer message. The webhook includes the transcript and extracted variables. Allow re-triggering sends this sender-level webhook again when the same customer resumes an ended chat and becomes inactive again. Workspace webhooks and automations retain their own event subscriptions.

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Product UI

WhatsApp connection choice between Cloud and Business app coexistence

Settings → Channels → WhatsApp → Add number: select WhatsApp Cloud or Coexistence with WhatsApp Business app, then Continue.

  1. Add number opens a choice: select WhatsApp Cloud (Cloud API only — the number typically leaves the WhatsApp Business app) or Coexistence with WhatsApp Business app (app and WhatsApp Web stay on the number; the assistant replies in parallel; a teammate reply from the app pauses AI), then Continue. Setup guide next to the list walks through the steps.
  2. Connect with Meta (Embedded Signup) — pick assistant, optional marketplace number (Cloud only), OTP helper for marketplace SMS
  3. Or paste credentials manually on the Cloud path (token, app secret, verify token, phone number ID, WABA ID). Coexistence requires Connect with Meta.
  4. Toggles: Text chat, Inbound calls and Outbound calls (calls are Cloud-only — Coexistence numbers keep calls in the WhatsApp Business app)
  5. Edit a sender: the top shows its status, Quality, Limit and Calls. General holds the chat and outbound-voice assistants, AI Auto-Responses, Inbound calls, Outbound calls, Ignore message reactions, Keep conversations unread and the timing. Profile holds the Business Profile (About, Description, Business Address, Business Category, logo, banner, websites, and contact emails/phones); for Cloud senders, Publish to WhatsApp pushes it to Meta — the logo becomes your WhatsApp profile picture. Advanced holds the conversation-ended and read-receipts webhooks, the Cloud API credentials and the account IDs. Refresh from Meta, Enable / fix calling and Re-subscribe webhooks are in the ⋯ menu. Unsaved edits show a bar with Save and Discard.
  6. Select Templates beside a sender to open its dedicated template page. Sync with Meta follows every result page, imports templates created in WhatsApp Manager, and refreshes approval status. Add template lets you create a custom Utility or Marketing draft with text, image, video, PDF document or location headers, an optional footer, quick replies, website, phone and copy-code buttons, or browse the official template library by language. The live WhatsApp preview is also used while configuring campaign outreach. Media headers require a JPEG/PNG, MP4, or PDF review sample up to 3 MB. Templates that require runtime media, location, dynamic URL, or copy-code values remain previewable but are not available for Test or campaigns yet. Variables must be numbered contiguously ({{1}}, {{2}}, {{3}}) and mapped to a system variable, lead attribute, assistant variable, or custom key.
  7. Place a test WhatsApp call from the sender’s ⋯ menu (Test call)
Cloud API and Coexistence profiles: Cloud senders can use Publish to WhatsApp to publish profile details and a profile picture. For Coexistence senders, edit the public profile in the WhatsApp Business app, then use Refresh from Meta to import it. Save keeps a local draft and branding only. This also applies to API and MCP profile sync. The response delay waits after the latest incoming message before generating a reply; model processing and message delivery add to that delay. For manual setup, copy the webhook URL shown after connecting (verified custom domains are handled automatically) and subscribe to messages, calls, and message template status updates. Coexistence senders also receive Business-app echoes, contact sync, and recent chat history on the same webhook. For voice, also enable calling on the phone number under Edit → ⋯ → Enable / fix calling. Existing Cloud senders cannot be converted in place — disconnect in Meta and connect again with Coexistence. A Business-app reply pauses the assistant for that conversation until you resume it from History, imported chat history appears there as closed conversations, and disconnecting the number from the Business app (Settings → Account → Business Platform → Disconnect) shows the sender as ERROR until you reconnect it.
Connect WhatsApp form with assistant, optional number, text and voice switches and Connect with Meta

On the Cloud path, select the Assistant and an optional Marketplace number, choose text or voice capabilities, then use Connect with Meta.

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The 24-hour window and templates

Meta only allows freeform replies inside a 24-hour service window that opens each time a customer messages you:
  • Inside the window — your assistant can send any message, no template required.
  • Outside the window — you must send an approved template. This applies to starting a new conversation, re-engaging a customer after 24 hours of inactivity, and any notification or marketing message you initiate.
Meta sorts templates into three categories, each with a different approval bar: Add template creates Utility and Marketing templates, and the official library it browses is Utility. Authentication templates are created in WhatsApp Manager and picked up by Sync with Meta like any other template. A call-permission request isn’t a separate category — it’s a top-level CALL_PERMISSION_REQUEST component added to a Utility or Marketing template to ask a customer for permission to call them over WhatsApp voice. Meta returns the authoritative review status asynchronously.
Meta rejects templates that mix categories — for example, promotional language inside a Utility template. Other common rejection causes: vague example values for {{1}}/{{2}} variables (use realistic samples, not “test”), aggressive or urgent-sounding language, URL shorteners instead of your own domain, and restricted content (alcohol, gambling, adult, political, or otherwise prohibited categories).
Approved, rejected and paused templates can be edited. Provider review runs again after content changes, and approved templates are subject to provider edit-frequency limits. Keep a couple of backup templates ready for high-traffic use cases so a review, rejection or disable does not block outreach.

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Message quality and sending limits

Meta controls how much a sender may send through two separate things. Quality rating — High, Medium, or Low, based on how people react to your messages: blocks, spam reports, and whether they reply. It drops after a run of blocks or reports and recovers as you send relevant, requested content. Messaging limit — how many customers you may start a conversation with in a rolling 24 hours. A new sender starts at the lowest tier (typically 250 customers) and Meta raises it a step at a time — 1,000, then 10,000, then 100,000, then unlimited — as you send more with a healthy quality rating. A rating that stays Low can freeze the tier or move it back down. Replies inside an open 24-hour window don’t count against the limit. Both values come straight from Meta and are shown per sender in the list and at the top of Edit as Quality and Limit, so build a track record of quality conversations before scaling volume.

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Campaigns

Choose WhatsApp in the campaign wizard to send an active sender’s approved text template once per lead. Saved template bindings are prefilled and can be overridden per campaign. Mappings can use canonical contact fields, read-only channel/system variables, lead attributes, assistant variables, or a custom lead key. WhatsApp Call (Beta) requires Beta Features, WhatsApp voice access, an outbound-ready sender, and an approved call-permission template selected for that sender. Business-initiated calling also depends on Meta availability, region, and explicit customer permission. Permission requests and their visible Awaiting permission state are handled automatically. A grant resumes the lead only while its campaign is running. Voice campaigns may use an approved WhatsApp template, SMS, or email as their single post-retry follow-up. Successful calls, suppressed contacts, and manually paused campaigns never create that follow-up. Template sends use the same messaging credits as session WhatsApp.

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Read-receipts webhook

Under Edit → Advanced, you can configure an HTTPS endpoint that receives delivery and read-status callbacks. Every callback is signed with HMAC-SHA256 over the exact raw request body. The signature is sent as X-Signature-256: sha256=<hex digest>. A signing secret is generated when you first save the webhook URL. Existing secrets cannot be retrieved. Use Rotate signing secret in the sender settings, POST /api/v1/whatsapp/connectors/{id}/profile with action=rotate_read_receipts_webhook_secret, or the MCP tool rotate_whatsapp_read_receipts_webhook_secret. The new signing_secret is shown or returned exactly once, and the previous secret stops working immediately. Store the new value before leaving the response and update your receiver before sending a test request.

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History

Every WhatsApp conversation lands in History alongside your other channels:
  • Text conversations appear as channel WhatsApp.
  • Voice calls appear as channel WhatsApp voice.
Completed text conversations remain manually replyable while Meta’s 24-hour customer service window is open. After a manual reply, History asks whether to keep the conversation completed or reopen it with AI auto-replies. Reopening starts a fresh inactivity timer without extending Meta’s 24-hour window. For Coexistence senders, chat history shared by the WhatsApp Business app after connecting appears in History as its own completed conversations, each carrying a small Imported pill next to the channel label. Imported conversations are a read-only record of what happened before or outside Famulor — they don’t have a live service window and can’t be reopened for a manual reply or AI auto-replies. When a customer sends a photo, your assistant automatically describes what’s in it and can respond to the content as part of the conversation. Incoming voice notes are automatically transcribed and handled just like a typed message. Both the media and the resulting description or transcript are visible in the conversation.

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Billing

  • Text: billed per message at the workspace’s Messaging (sent) / Messaging (received) rate — the same rate other messaging channels use. Current rates are on the Usage page.
  • Voice: existing voice-minute credit reservation/settlement (same as phone/SIP calls)
  • Meta conversation pricing: customer payment method in WhatsApp Manager (Tech Provider)

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Troubleshooting

A sender’s status pill shows PENDING, CONNECTED, or ERROR.
Confirm you completed the full Meta signup popup and created (not reused) a WhatsApp Business account during setup, then refresh after a few minutes. Still pending after 30+ minutes: contact support with the sender ID.
Point at the sender’s Error status in the list to read the last error. Credential problems are fixed by re-running the connect flow; a policy or quality suspension has to be addressed (usually spam-like sending behavior) and appealed through Meta.
The rejection reasons above are the usual causes; a disabled template is normally quality feedback. Create an improved version and narrow who you send it to.
Marketing templates can take the longest; create an alternate template if you need to send sooner.
Send to numbers in E.164 format, confirm the recipient has WhatsApp, check the sender is CONNECTED, and confirm you haven’t hit your messaging limit.
You’re outside the customer’s 24-hour window; send an approved template instead.
Confirm an assistant is assigned to the sender and AI Auto-Responses is on, then check History for the conversation’s error state.
Review what you sent right before the drop, tighten targeting, and reduce volume; both the rating and the tier recover as you send higher-quality, more relevant messages.
Allow popups for the site, clear cookies/cache, or retry in another browser; then re-run the connect flow from the start.

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Public API

  • Messaging connectors: GET/POST /api/v1/messaging-connectors with platform=whatsapp
  • Templates: GET/POST /api/v1/whatsapp/templates; use source=library, language, limit, and the returned paging.after cursor to browse the official library. parameter_bindings maps positions such as 1 or header.1 to variable keys. Supply library_template_name plus library_button_values when a preset has URL or phone-number buttons. action=update edits drafts locally; component or category changes to an editable provider template are sent to Meta, while mapping-only changes stay local. Upload media-header review samples through POST /api/v1/whatsapp/templates/media or MCP upload_whatsapp_template_review_sample. API and MCP clients can create the same call-permission template by supplying a BODY and CALL_PERMISSION_REQUEST component.
  • Outbound voice: POST /api/v1/calls/whatsapp-outbound
  • History AI resume: POST /api/v1/history/actions with action=resume_ai, kind=messaging, and the conversation ID
  • Calling management: GET /api/v1/whatsapp/calling reads readiness (Meta call settings, webhook subscription, quality rating) for a connector’s business number; POST /api/v1/whatsapp/calling runs enable_calling, resubscribe, or ensure_voice.
  • Sender assets: POST/DELETE /api/v1/whatsapp/connectors/{id}/assets upload or remove a Business Profile logo/banner (URL or base64).
  • Sender profile and read receipts: GET/PATCH/POST /api/v1/whatsapp/connectors/{id}/profile manages the sender profile, tests the signed callback, and rotates its signing secret.
  • Messenger Connect can also be driven entirely through the API: POST /api/v1/messenger/facebook-login/pages lists the Facebook Pages a user access token can manage, ahead of POST /api/v1/messenger/facebook-login.
  • MCP: WhatsApp template tools + start_whatsapp_outbound_call + get_whatsapp_calling_status + manage_whatsapp_calling + rotate_whatsapp_read_receipts_webhook_secret + upload_whatsapp_sender_asset / delete_whatsapp_sender_asset + list_messenger_facebook_pages
The marketplace-number OTP capture session (the phone-number-verification step that turns a purchased number into a WhatsApp-capable one) stays dashboard-only — it’s an interactive telephony flow with no REST/MCP equivalent. See also Embedded Signup setup, Messaging channels, WhatsApp Voice.