Business Phone Numbers

A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) needs a valid, dedicated business phone number. This document describes business phone number requirements and features, how to register phone numbers, and how to manage registered phone numbers.

Requirements

To be eligible for registration, business phone numbers must be:

• owned by you
• have a country and area code (short codes are not supported)
• able to receive voice calls or SMS (we send you a message to verifying ownership)

Registered numbers can still be used for everyday purposes, such as calling and text messages.

Numbers already in use with the WhatsApp Messenger app or WhatsApp Business app cannot be registered unless they are deleted first. See our How to delete your account help center article if you wish to delete your number.

Banned WhatsApp numbers cannot be registered unless they are unbanned first. Contact support if your account is banned and you wish to appeal.

Display Names

A business phone number display name is the name that appears in WhatsApp Manager. Having a business phone number with an approved display name is one requirement for your business to become an Official Business Account.

You can set a display name when you add a business phone number in the App Dashboard > WhatsApp > API Setup panel, or in the WhatsApp Manager > Account tools > Phone numbers panel, if you haven't reached your phone number limit.

If you submit your business for business verification and it becomes verified, we will either:

• approve your display name
• reject your display name
• ask you to message more

In each case, we will notify you by phone_number_name_update webhook and Meta Business Suite notification.

If approved, we will set your business phone number's name_status to APPROVED.

If rejected, we will set your business phone number's name_status to DECLINED. We recommend that you re-review our display name guidelines, edit your display name accordingly, and file an appeal via Developer Support or Enterprise Developer Support.

If asked to message more, we don't have enough API usage data to determine if your number warrants a display name. Continue using the API, monitor phone number and message quality and take appropriate actions to improve your quality scores, and we will automatically re-review your display name at a future date.

Registering Phone Numbers

You can register a business phone number using the App Dashboard when completing the steps in our Get Started document.

If you didn't register a number when completing the steps in the Get Started document, return to the App Dashboard, go to the WhatsApp > API Setup panel. Scroll down to Step 5: Add a phone number, click the Add phone number button, and complete the flow.

As part of the registration process we will send a voice or SMS message containing a verification code to your phone number to verify that you are the phone number owner.

Note that you can also register a number using the WhatsApp Manager. See our How to connect your phone number to your WhatsApp Business account help center article to learn how.

If you are registering a 1-800 number, see Registering 1-800 and Toll Free Numbers for additional information.

Deleting Phone Numbers

Limitations

• Only a business admin for the WhatsApp Business Account can delete a phone number.
• A number can not be deleted if the business has sent paid messages within the last 30 days using that number.
  • If the business has sent paid messages in the past 30 days, you will be redirected to the Insights page showing the date of the last paid message. You will be able to delete the phone number 30 days after this date.

To delete a registered business phone number:

1. In the Business Manager, go to your Business Settings page.
2. Go to Settings > Business Settings > WhatsApp Accounts > WhatsApp Manager > Phone Numbers.
3. From the WhatsApp Manager, find the phone number that you wish to delete. Click on the trash icon under Delete in the upper right.

4. You may be asked to provide the password for your Facebook account connected to the WABA if the phone number had the status “Connected” previously.

Registering 1-800 and Toll Free Numbers

Businesses may want to register a 1-800 or other toll free number on the platform. These numbers are usually behind an Interactive Voice Response (IVR) system, however, which a WhatsApp registration call cannot navigate. Phone numbers behind an IVR system can be registered, but must be able to accept calls from international numbers and be able to redirect our SMS message or voice call to a real person.

To register a phone number that is behind an IVR system:

1. WhatsApp shares with you 1 or 2 phone numbers that the registration call will come from.
2. Create an allow list for these numbers. If you are unable to create an allow list for these numbers, add the phone number to your WABA and open a Direct Support ticket asking for the registration call phone numbers and include the phone number you are trying to register in the ticket.
3. Redirect the registration call to an employee or a mailbox to capture the registration code.

Phone numbers behind an IVR system that are unable to receive registration calls are not supported.

Registered Number Limits

Business phone numbers can only be registered for use with one API at a time: Cloud API or On-Premises API.

Business accounts are initially limited to 2 registered business phone numbers, but this limit can be increased to up to 20.

If your business has been verified and your business phone number has an approved display name (or if you have two business phone numbers and they both have approved display names) we will determine if your API usage warrants a phone number limit increase.

If we determine an increase is warranted, we will automatically increase your limit and notify you by business_capability_update webhook and Meta Business Suite notification of your new limit.

If we determine that an increase is not warranted, we will keep your limit at 2. If more than a week has passed since your business has been verified and your limit is still 2, ensure that you are monitoring phone number and message quality and take appropriate actions to improve your quality scores. After improving your quality scores, if we determine that your business warrants an increase, we will automatically increase your limit and notify you by webhook and Meta Business Suite notification of the new limit.

If you have access to Enterprise Support and need your limit increased beyond 20, open a Direct Support Ticket with the following selections and explain why your need more than 20 numbers:

WABiz: Account & WABA > Request type > Increase Phone Number Limits

Migrating Phone Numbers

You can migrate phone numbers from one WABA to another, as well as migrate a number from On-Premises API to Cloud API (or vice-versa).