Guided Onboarding

This guide includes instructions for both direct businesses and third-party vendors. Third party vendors include independent software vendors (ISVs) who are implementing WhatsApp on behalf of another company or brand. Under each step, look for the Note for ISVs subheading to find specific instructions.

Before getting started, please make sure your business meets the eligibility criteria for the WhatsApp Business Platform.

If you want to use your number, and that number has never been registered with the WhatsApp Business API, then it can be used to register with Twilio. You will still need to follow the steps described in this guide.

• If you want to port your number to Twilio, please read our support article about moving an existing WhatsApp Number to Twilio .
• If you just want to register your own number without porting it to Twilio, please read our support article about activating your own number .

Note for ISVs

When onboarding a new End Client, you will need to have the following information handy:

• Client's Meta Business Manager ID - Your client will need to have created a Meta Business Manager prior to you submitting this form
• Client's Legal Business Name
• Client's Contact Email Address - This should be whoever will be filling out the form to accept the End Client terms

Navigate to the Messaging > Senders > WhatsApp Senders section in the Twilio Console. Click the WhatsApp Sender submission button to create a new sender profile. If you already have a WhatsApp sender, click "Create new Sender".

Node.js

Python

C#

Java

Go

PHP

Ruby

twilio-cli

curl

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// Download the helper library from https://www.twilio.com/docs/node/install

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// Find your Account SID and Auth Token at twilio.com/console

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// and set the environment variables. See http://twil.io/secure

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const accountSid = process.env.TWILIO_ACCOUNT_SID;

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const authToken = process.env.TWILIO_AUTH_TOKEN;

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const client = require('twilio')(accountSid, authToken);

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client.messages

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.create({

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from: 'whatsapp:+14155238886',

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body: 'Hello there!',

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to: 'whatsapp:+15005550006'

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})

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.then(message => console.log(message.sid));

Output

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{

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"account_sid": "ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",

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"api_version": "2010-04-01",

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"body": "Hello there!",

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"date_created": "Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:01:45 +0000",

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"date_sent": "Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:01:45 +0000",

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"date_updated": "Thu, 24 Aug 2023 05:01:45 +0000",

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"direction": "outbound-api",

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"error_code": null,

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"error_message": null,

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"from": "whatsapp:+14155238886",

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"num_media": "0",

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"num_segments": "1",

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"price": null,

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"price_unit": null,

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"messaging_service_sid": "MGXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",

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"sid": "SMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX",

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"status": "queued",

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"subresource_uris": {

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"media": "/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages/SMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Media.json"

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},

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"to": "whatsapp:+15005550006",

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"uri": "/2010-04-01/Accounts/ACXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX/Messages/SMXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX.json"

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}

Once your Twilio number is connected to WhatsApp, you have many options.

• Check out the API Reference to see examples of sending messages with the Twilio API for WhatsApp
• Learn how to send and receive media messages
• Complete a Twilio API for WhatsApp Quickstart in the language of your choice to get started quickly

In order to register a phone number with WhatsApp, WhatsApp sends a pin code to the phone number to verify ownership. In situations where the phone number cannot receive SMS messages, Twilio may need to receive the pin code from an automated voice call from WhatsApp. This can happen when a Twilio phone number is not SMS-capable, or when WhatsApp is having trouble delivering SMS pin codes to the phone number. To receive a pin code via voice, Twilio may temporarily disable the phone number's webhook URL used for incoming calls. This process typically takes 5-15 minutes, and Twilio will revert the change to the previous URL. However, during this time, all calls to the number will be routed away from your system so that our team can intercept the pin code from WhatsApp.

If your WhatsApp sender ever goes offline after it is initially registered, the pin code verification process will need to be completed again.

If you would like us to coordinate with you when registering or re-registering a number on WhatsApp, please let us know by opening a support ticket.