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WhatsApp Business

WhatsApp is often the channel customers actually prefer. Faberiq connects to the WhatsApp Business Platform (Meta's Cloud API), which means messages flow through a business phone number registered with Meta, not through the WhatsApp app on someone's handset. This guide explains the prerequisites, the connection, and WhatsApp's messaging rules.

Understand the Two Kinds of "WhatsApp Business" First​

  • The WhatsApp Business app (the green app on a phone): this is not what Faberiq connects to.
  • The WhatsApp Business Platform / Cloud API: a phone number registered to your Meta Business Portfolio that programs can send and receive with. This is what Faberiq uses.

A number can only live in one world at a time. A number actively used in the consumer or Business app must be migrated to the platform before an API can use it, which deletes its app chat history. Most businesses simply register a separate number for the bot.

Prerequisites​

  1. A Meta Business Portfolio (business.facebook.com), the same one described in the Meta guide.
  2. A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) inside that portfolio with at least one registered phone number. If you have none yet, Meta's console walks you through it: from developers.facebook.com or the WhatsApp Manager in your business settings, add the WhatsApp product, create the WABA, then add and verify a phone number (Meta calls or texts a code to it). Meta provides a free test number for development, but a real customer-facing bot needs your own number with a display name approved by Meta.
  3. The Facebook login of someone with admin access to that portfolio.

What the Faberiq Dialog Asks For​

Nothing to paste. The WhatsApp connector authenticates by OAuth through Meta: you click Continue, sign in with Facebook, and approve the WhatsApp permissions (whatsapp_business_management, whatsapp_business_messaging, and business_management). Faberiq handles tokens, the phone number ID, and the webhook subscription itself.

Connect, Step by Step​

  1. In Faberiq, open Workflow, then the Connectors tab.
  2. Find WhatsApp Business in the catalogue and click it.
  3. Name the connection and continue.
  4. On the Configure step, click Continue and complete the Facebook sign-in popup, approving the WhatsApp permissions and sharing the right business assets.
  5. Faberiq then finishes automatically: it looks up the WhatsApp Business Accounts you granted, picks the first one that has a phone number, verifies the number is not disconnected, subscribes the account to message events, and stores the phone number ID. The connector card turns connected and shows the business account name, the display phone number, and the phone number ID it bound to.
  6. On the Skills step, keep Receive messages and Respond to messages enabled and finish.
note

If your portfolio holds several WhatsApp numbers, Faberiq currently binds to the first available one. Keep one number per portfolio you connect, or check the connector card to confirm which number it picked.

Put a Workflow Behind the Number​

  • Recipe: install WhatsApp Business Bot from the Recipes tab (about 3 minutes). It creates a WhatsApp trigger, a knowledge assistant agent that answers from your Knowledge Base, converts interested leads into customers, and books appointments, and a WhatsApp reply step.
  • Existing workflow: open Workflow Settings and check WhatsApp Business under Channels. Every checked channel becomes an entry point, and the agent replies on whichever channel the customer used.

Test It​

From a phone that is not the business number, send a WhatsApp message to the connected number. The workflow runs and the reply arrives in the same chat. During development with a Meta test number, remember that test numbers can only message the recipient numbers you registered in the Meta console.

The 24-Hour Session Window​

WhatsApp's rule, enforced by Meta: a business can send free-form text to a customer only within a 24-hour customer service window that opens (and re-opens) each time the customer messages you. Inside the window your agent replies normally. Outside it, only pre-approved template messages may be sent, and Faberiq's reply skill sends ordinary text, so a reply attempted more than 24 hours after the customer's last message will be rejected by Meta. Practically: your bot can always answer incoming messages, but it cannot re-open a conversation that has gone quiet for a day.

Troubleshooting​

SymptomLikely cause and fix
Connect fails with "No WhatsApp Business accounts found for this account"The Facebook login you used has no WABA, or you did not share it on Meta's asset screen during OAuth. Reconnect and grant the WhatsApp Business Account.
Connect fails with "No WhatsApp phone number is available for this business account"The WABA exists but has no registered number. Add and verify a number in WhatsApp Manager, then reconnect.
Connect fails saying the phone is disconnectedThe number failed or lost its registration. Finish number verification in Meta (WhatsApp Manager shows the number's status), then reconnect.
Messages never arrive in FaberiqConfirm the connector is connected and the workflow has the WhatsApp channel checked. If the underlying Meta app is in development mode (self-hosted deployments), only registered test recipients work; see the Meta guide. Reconnecting re-subscribes the account to message events.
Replies fail only for old conversationsThe 24-hour session window has closed; see above.
Replies fail with a quality or limit errorMeta rates numbers for quality and tiers how many unique customers you can message per day. Check the number's quality rating and messaging limits in WhatsApp Manager.