WhatsApp Business API

Registration

/v1/account

The account node is for registering your WhatsApp Business API client.

This document covers:

You must use the admin account to register the application.

Authentication Tokens

To use the WhatsApp Business API, you must first authenticate your WhatsApp Business API client with the server and receive a token that enables you to access the service.

See the Login and Authentication documentation for more information about authentication.

Phone Number and Certificate

To register, you must have a valid phone number and the base64-encoded certificate associated with that phone number.

See the Phone Number guide for information about supported types of phone numbers.

Add Your Phone Number

See Connect Your Phone Number to Your WhatsApp Business Account for instructions on adding a phone number to your WhatsApp business account. A display name assigned to a phone number must be approved by the WhatsApp team before downloading the base64-encoded certificate.

Copy the Base64-encoded Certificate

A base64-encoded certificate string is generated for you and is used for validation during WhatsApp Business API client registration.

  1. Go to the Business Settings in your Facebook Business Manager.
  2. Click on WhatsApp Accounts under the Accounts menu, then select your WhatsApp Account from the WhatsApp Accounts list, if it isn't already highlighted.
  3. Go to the Settings tab, and click the WhatsApp Manager button.
  4. Under the Phone Numbers tab, you should see your phone numbers listed. Click the View button of the phone number you want the certificate for.
    Get the Certificate
  5. A pop-up dialog will display the certificate string in a gray box. Click Get Certificate.
    Download the Certificate String
  6. Use this certificate string in the cert parameter when registering with the account endpoint.

See the Display Name documentation for more information.

Requesting a Registration Code

Submit your phone number and base64-encoded certificate string to request your registration code. You can receive your code via either SMS or voice call.

Use the /v1/account endpoint to request your registration code.

POST /v1/account

{
    "cc": "your-country-code",
    "phone_number": "your- phone-number-without-country-code",
    "method": "sms" | "voice",
    "cert": "your-verified-name-cert-in-base64",
    "pin": "your-existing-6-digit-pin" # required if two-factor verification is enabled
}

Parameters

NameRequiredDescription

cc

Yes

Numerical country code for the phone number you are registering

phone_number

Yes

Phone number you are registering, without the country code or plus symbol (+)

method

Yes

Method of receiving your registration code
Options: voice, sms

cert

Yes

Base64-encoded certificate

pin

No

Existing 6-digit PIN — This is only required when two-factor verification is enabled on this account.

Response

Depending on the response received, the registration procedure can be considered complete or require another step to complete. If successful, you will receive one of the following HTTP status codes. Follow the instructions that match the response you received:

  • 201 Created — The account already exists. You are already registered, so you do not need to do anything else.
  • 202 Accepted — The account does not exist. Depending on the method selected in the request, check your SMS or voice number for the registration code. This response will include a returned payload that contains the vname decoded from the cert parameter for you to confirm the right display name is being set. If correct, proceed to the Completing Your Account Registration section to complete registration.
{
  "account": [{
      "vname": "decoded-vname-from-cert"
  }]
}

If any errors are returned, refer to Error and Status Messages for more information.

Completing Your Account Registration

Once you have received the registration code via your specified method (i.e., SMS or voice), complete your account registration by sending an API call to the /v1/account/verify endpoint:

POST /v1/account/verify

{
  "code": "your-registration-code-received-by-sms-or-voice-call"
}

If successful, the response will return the HTTP status 201 Created with no payload object in response body.

If any errors are returned, refer to Error and Status Messages for more information.

If you are re-registering your account, the Coreapp needs to be restarted once registration is complete.

FAQ

Yes, we can set up a new phone number or change the verified name when you are ready to go live.

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You can use any phone number that can get a phone call or SMS for the registration code. We understand that many 1800 or toll free numbers are backed by an IVR. WhatsApp registration calls are not able to navigate an IVR. However, we can share the phone number(s) the registration call will come from allowing you to be able to capture that call and redirect it to get the registration code. Please see please read this guide for more information.

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If you back up your current setup and restore it on the new machine, the registration information should move over with the rest of your implementation. See the Backup and Restore Settings documentation for more information.

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You can register new phones numbers and delete old one in your WhatsApp Account in the Facebook Business Manager.

  1. In your WhatsApp Account, go to Settings.
  2. Click on WhatsApp Manager.
  3. Select the Phone Numbers tab. This is where you can manage all the phone numbers for this account.
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If registration is failing with "sms" because of too many attempts and you see an "access denied" message, then please try registering with "voice"

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If you or your end client would like to request become an WhatsApp official business account, see the instructions in the Requesting an Official Business Account documentation section.

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Unfortunately, you will need to pick a different phone number that is capable of receiving SMS or voice in order for us to send the registration code. In the past, we had allowed manual registration codes, but this is no longer supported. Phone numbers that used manual registration codes before will continue to be supported as required. For any new phone numbers, we will only deliver registration codes via SMS or voice call.

If you want to use your 1800 or toll free number, please read this guide.

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