Onboarding changes

Updated: Jun 26, 2026

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With the new account model, standard onboarding flows automatically create a separate Messaging account per partner and return the ID in the existing WABA ID field. WhatsApp Business app coexistence onboarding is an exception. For coexistence, Meta converts the existing WhatsApp Business account into a backward-compatible Messaging account and shares that account and the associated WhatsApp account with your partner business. No partner-specific Messaging account is created.

Under the new account model, Embedded Signup flows reflect the following changes:

“WhatsApp Business account” and “Messaging Account” appear in Embedded Signup screens and in Meta Business Suite for onboarded clients
Standard onboarding creates a WhatsApp account and a Messaging account when a client completes the flow. Coexistence converts the client’s existing WhatsApp Business account into a Messaging account instead.
waac_id starts appearing in message events starting at Phase 2 — New Graph API version

Partner-initiated account creation

With partner-initiated account creation, the same asset creation and sharing logic applies. Starting at Phase 1 — General availability, when a client accepts the partner’s request to create and share a Messaging account, they must provide a phone number. Adding a phone number is no longer optional.

Onboarding changes by phase

Onboarding updates roll out in phases. Each phase is additive — your existing integration continues to work without code changes.

Phase	Timing	What ships	What you need to do
Phase 1 — General availability	H2 2026	Standard Embedded Signup creates a separate Messaging account per partner automatically whenever a client completes the onboarding flow. Coexistence converts the client's existing WhatsApp Business account into a Messaging account instead "Add phone number later" is removed; the flow is phone-number-first Partner-initiated account creation: clients must now provide a phone number when accepting a partner's request to create and share a Messaging account Clients already onboarded with one partner can onboard with a different partner using their existing phone number. The `waac_id` is not yet included in message events (available starting Phase 2)	No code changes, but `waba_id` in message events now refers to a Messaging account ID.
Phase 2 — New Graph API version	H1 2027	`waac_id` (WhatsApp account ID) now included in message events alongside `cs_id` New Embedded Signup settings allow you to control if and where the Messaging account gets created (details to follow)	Start capturing `waac_id` (WhatsApp account ID) alongside `cs_id` (business phone number ID) and `waba_id` (Messaging account ID) in message events Can now optionally use WhatsApp account IDs and Messaging account IDs with new Graph API endpoints
Phase 3 — Mandatory transition	H1 2028	All Messages API versions require `messaging_account_id` (`waba_id` value in message events) for multiple Messaging account scenarios All APIs that target a phone number ID in the endpoint path, or accept a phone number ID as a query parameter, now must use WAAC IDs instead (`waac_id` value in message events)	Plan engineering work in 2027 to be on the new APIs before this date.

Learn more

Updates to WhatsApp Business accounts — overview of the new account model
Managing messaging accounts — how the new account model affects messaging
Embedded Signup overview — current Embedded Signup documentation