Communication

WhatsApp Business Cloud

19min

With WhatsApp Business Cloud modules in Make, you can:

  • watch events, send a message, and template messages
  • upload and download media
  • enable two-step verification, register, verify, and deregister senders
  • retrieve and update business profiles

Please note that it is not possible to use the phone number registered in the WhatsApp Business app or your personal WhatsApp number, which you use for communicating with friends and family. You will need a separate dedicated phone number for the API. For more information, please refer to the Could API documentation.

To get started with WhatsApp Business Cloud, you need:

To connect WhatsApp Cloud API to Make involves the following steps:



Set Up WhatsApp Cloud API

To set up WhatsApp Cloud API:

  1. Log in to your Facebook account.
  2. Go to the Facebook Developer Site, click My Apps > Create App.
  3. Select Business as the app type. Click Next.
  4. Enter the display name and select the business account. Click Create app.
  5. When prompted, re-enter the password of your Facebook account. Click Submit.

    The app is created.

  6. On the app's Dashboard, scroll down to find the WhatsApp app, and click Set up.
  7. Select the account type, and click Continue.
  8. Copy the WhatsApp Business Account ID to a safe place.

Create Permanent Access Token

To create a permanent access token for your WhatsApp Business Cloud account:

  1. Click Apps Dashboard > Business Settings.
  2. Go to System Users > Add. Enter the username, select the role as Admin and click Create System User.
  3. Go to Add Assets > Apps. Select the app you want to assign to the user, enable Full Control access, and click Save Changes.
  4. Go to WhatsApp Accounts > Add People > Select the system user > Enable Full Control Access > Assign.
  5. Go to System Users > Select the user > Generate Access Token.
  6. Select the app, following permissions, and then click Generate Token.
  7. Copy the token to a safe place.

You can use this token as a permanent access token.

Add your own phone number to WhatsApp Business Cloud API

When you set up WhatsApp API, a test number is created for you. You can add your own number.

  1. Log in to your Facebook developer account.
  2. On the Getting Started page, click Add phone number.
  3. Enter your business profile details and click Next.
  4. Enter the business phone number that you want to connect to WhatsApp Business API.
  5. Enter the verification code received on your phone number.
  6. Enter your business details and click Save.

You have successfully added your own business phone number to WhatsApp Business Cloud API.

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Connect WhatsApp Business Cloud to Make

To connect WhatsApp Business Cloud with Make you need to obtain the Permanent Token and WhatsApp Business Account ID values from your WhatsApp Business Cloud account.

  1. In your Facebook developer account:
  2. Log in to your Make account, and add a module from the WhatsApp Business Cloud app into a Make Make.
  3. Click Add next to the Connection field.
  4. In the Connection name field, enter a name for the connection.
  5. In the Permanent Token field, enter the token created prior to the connection.

    You can also use a temporary token which is only valid for 24 hours and available on the getting started screen.

  6. In the WhatsApp Business Account ID field, enter the ID from your Facebook Developer account > WhatsApp > Getting Started section screen, and click Save.

You have successfully connected the WhatsApp Business Cloud app and can now build Make.

Message

You can watch events, and send messages using the following modules.

Media

You can upload and download media using the following modules.

Phone Number

You can enable two-step verification, register, verify, and deregister senders using the following modules.

Business Profile

You can retrieve and update business profiles using the following modules.

Troubleshooting the WhatsApp Business Cloud

Some of the errors that you might encounter when using WhatsApp Business Cloud.

WhatsApp API - Error 500 code 13100

The user gets an error 500 from the module and the DevTool > Response Body shows error code 131000.

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You can only initiate new chats via Send a Template module. Only after sending a templated message to a specific customer and receiving a response from the customer, you can use this Send a Message module to send a non-templated message to the customer.

If you’re using a testing number, you must first register up to five authorized recipient numbers in WhatsApp Manager before sending messages to them. See Add Recipient's Phone Number.