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Connect a WhatsApp Business number: your agent answers messages, voice notes and calls

Connect a WhatsApp Business number and your agent answers it. It replies to text messages, to voice notes (with a voice note in its own voice) and, once Meta allows calling on the number, to calls.

​Connect with Facebook

The quickest way: no token, ID or secret to copy.

1

Continue with Facebook

In Integrations → Connect a WhatsApp number, choose the agent that answers, then Continue with Facebook.

2

Pick your business and number

In Facebook's window, log in, then pick or create your business, your WhatsApp Business account and the number (Meta checks it with a code by SMS or call).

3

That's it

Voice213 connects the number, subscribes to its messages and calls, and registers it on the Cloud API. Send it a WhatsApp message: the agent answers.

Voice213 only gets permission to send and receive that number's messages; you can remove it any time in Meta's business settings. To send messages your business starts (outside the 24-hour customer service window), add a payment method in WhatsApp Manager.

A number in the regular WhatsApp Business app on a phone can't be used on the Cloud API at the same time: Meta asks you to move it, or to use a new number.

​Connect it by hand

If you'd rather use your own Meta app, open Connect manually with your own Meta app in the same window. You need:

  • A number on the WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API).
  • An app on Meta for Developers with the WhatsApp product.
1

Copy the number's ids

In your Meta app → WhatsApp → API Setup, copy the Phone number ID and the WhatsApp Business Account ID.

2

Create a permanent token

In Business Settings → System users, add a system user, then Generate token with the whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management permissions. Temporary tokens from API Setup expire within a day.

3

Copy the App secret

App settings → Basic → App secret. Voice213 uses it to check that every webhook really comes from Meta.

4

Connect it in Voice213

In Integrations → Connect a WhatsApp number, paste the details and choose the agent that answers. Voice213 checks the token with Meta and subscribes your app to the number.

5

Point Meta's webhook at Voice213

In Meta → WhatsApp → Configuration → Webhook, paste the callback URL and verify token that Voice213 shows, then Verify and save. Under Webhook fields, subscribe to messages, and to calls for phone calls.

Send the number a message: the agent answers. Your token and secret are encrypted and never shown again. If you change the token in Meta, use New access token on the Integrations page (numbers connected with Facebook don't need one).

One agent answers each number. You can switch it to another agent at any time on the Integrations page.

​Messages

  • Every message is marked read, with a typing indicator while the agent writes.
  • One customer's messages are answered one at a time, in order.
  • The agent answers in its language, from the same instructions, knowledge and tools as on calls. In chats, every tool waits for its answer.
  • Images, stickers and locations aren't read, but the agent is told what arrived so it can respond sensibly ("thanks for the photo, can you tell me the product's name?").
  • Each customer has one thread. It stays open while they keep writing. When they write again more than 24 hours after their last message, that thread is closed (with its summary and conversation.ended event) and a new one opens.

Each reply counts as one message from your agent plan. When your messages run out, the agent stops replying until you top up, and a note on the number's card tells you why.

​Voice notes

A customer's voice note is transcribed, with the agent's dialect in mind. The agent answers it like a written message. With Answer voice notes by voice on (the default), the reply goes back as a voice note in the agent's own voice.

A voice-note reply counts as two messages. When fewer than two remain, the reply goes out as text. French and English agents always reply in text. See Languages & Dialects for the accent of each dialect.

​Calls

With WhatsApp Business Calling, customers can call your number from WhatsApp and the agent picks up, live.

  1. Connect the number and subscribe to the calls webhook field, as above.
  2. On Phone access, enable calling on the number. Voice213 asks Meta to switch it on.
  3. Make sure the agent is allowed to answer calls (Integrations, on the number's card).

The agent picks up in about a second. It starts its first message once the caller's phone is on the line, so they hear it from the first word, and it doesn't listen until that message has finished. After that, callers can interrupt it at any time, and it uses its knowledge and tools as on any call. Calls count against your call minutes, like web calls.

Meta decides which numbers may use calling. If it refuses, its reason shows on the Phone access page.

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