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Set up WhatsApp

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Connect a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) to Active Reach and start sending messages in under ten minutes. This walkthrough covers both the managed path (Active Reach provisions a number for you) and the BYOM path (bring your own Twilio, MessageBird, or direct Meta credentials).

WhatsApp is a workspace-scoped channel. Each brand registers its own WABA number with Meta — there is no shared org-tier WhatsApp account. For multi-outlet brands, every outlet can have its own sender mapping under one WABA via the per-outlet routing UI.

Before you start

You’ll need:

  • A verified Meta Business Manager account
  • A phone number that isn’t already connected to another WhatsApp Business App
  • Admin access to your Active Reach workspace

If you’re using a shared inbox product today (e.g. Wati, Interakt), you can keep it running in parallel — Active Reach doesn’t take over the number until you explicitly promote it to primary.

Walkthrough

Open the Channels setting

From the dashboard, go to Settings → Channels → WhatsApp under your workspace (/dashboard/{workspaceSlug}/settings/channels). If WhatsApp isn’t already listed, hit Connect a channel and pick it from the channel picker.

Choose your path

Managed (recommended for SMBs): Active Reach provisions a fresh WABA number for you. Fastest path, no vendor credentials needed.

BYOM (recommended for teams with existing infrastructure): Paste your Twilio, MessageBird, or Meta direct credentials. Active Reach validates the number and takes over sending without migrating your existing number.

Complete Meta verification

Verify your business domain via the Meta verification flow. Active Reach opens this in a sandboxed tab — once Meta returns you to the callback, the verification badge appears next to your number.

Submit your first template

WhatsApp requires approved templates for marketing messages. Head to Templates → Create → WhatsApp and draft your first template. Active Reach writes a channel_template_lifecycle row, the validator worker picks it up and submits to Meta via MSG91’s client-panel-template/ endpoint, and the approval status streams back inline — most approve in under an hour.

WhatsApp templates with a document header need a Meta-uploaded media handle (the opaque 4:abcd== value from Meta’s Resumable Upload API) in example.header_handle for approval. Raw URLs get silently dropped by the wrapper. If the document is dynamic per send, use a TEXT header + URL button pointing at a canonical CDN PDF instead — runtime sends accept URLs via parameters[{document: {link: <url>}}], only template approval needs the handle.

Send a test

From Campaigns → New campaign, pick the approved template, target a test contact, and hit Send. The message will appear in both WhatsApp and the Active Reach unified inbox.

What’s next

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