The WhatsApp channel lets your agent handle customer conversations on WhatsApp Business. When a customer messages your business number, your agent reads it and replies automatically — the same agent that answers your storefront widget, Gmail, and Telegram.
WhatsApp requires your own Meta Business setup — a Meta Developer app, a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), and a registered phone number. Vosaire doesn't manage this for you; each business connects its own. This is a Meta requirement, not a Vosaire limitation — WhatsApp's platform rules require every business to own its own WhatsApp Business Account.
Before you start — set up WhatsApp Business on Meta
This part happens entirely on Meta's side, outside Vosaire:
- Go to Meta for Developers and create a developer account if you don't have one.
- Create a new Meta App and add the WhatsApp product to it.
- Under WhatsApp → API Setup, you'll get a test phone number automatically — you can use this to try things out before registering your real business number.
- Register your business's phone number under WhatsApp → Phone Numbers, if you haven't already.
- Generate a permanent access token: go to Business Settings → Users → System Users, create a System User, assign it to your WhatsApp app with full control, and generate a token from there. (The token shown in the API Setup quickstart page is temporary and expires in 24 hours — you want the permanent one from a System User.)
- Grab your App Secret from App Settings → Basic.
You'll need three values from this process: Phone Number ID, Access Token, and App Secret.
Do I need to verify my business with Meta?
Not necessarily, and not to get started. Without verification, Meta caps you at 250 conversations per 24 hours on a test number — plenty for trying things out. If you need more volume later, you can complete Meta's Business Verification (a sole proprietor / individual business is an accepted category, not just registered companies) to raise that limit. This is entirely between you and Meta — Vosaire doesn't gate anything based on your verification status.
Connecting the channel in Vosaire
Go to your agent → Channels → Add Channel → WhatsApp, and paste in your Phone Number ID, Access Token, and App Secret.
Once you save, Vosaire generates a callback URL and a verify token for you — you'll see these immediately after connecting.
Finishing the setup — activate the webhook
This is the one step that can't be skipped: Meta won't send you any messages until you register the callback URL with them.
- Go back to Meta App Dashboard → WhatsApp → Configuration.
- Paste in the callback URL and verify token Vosaire showed you.
- Subscribe to the messages webhook field.
Meta will call the callback URL once to confirm the verify token matches — that's what turns the webhook on. Once that's done, incoming WhatsApp messages will start flowing to your agent automatically.
If you ever need to see the callback URL or verify token again, open the WhatsApp channel from the Channels page and click View setup details.
How it works in practice
- A customer messages your WhatsApp number.
- Vosaire receives it via the webhook you just registered, and verifies it's genuinely from Meta.
- Your agent generates a reply using your knowledge sources — the same logic as every other channel.
- The reply is sent back through WhatsApp using your access token.
Current limitations — please read before relying on this for support
WhatsApp support in Vosaire is early, and there are a few real limits worth knowing before you point real customer traffic at it:
- Text messages only. Photos, voice notes, documents, and stickers aren't read yet — a customer who sends one of those won't get an automated response to it.
- WhatsApp's 24-hour window applies. Meta only allows free-form replies within 24 hours of the customer's last message. Outside that window, Meta requires a pre-approved template message, which Vosaire doesn't yet send — a reply that would land outside the window won't go through.
- Failed sends aren't yet surfaced in the dashboard — if a message fails to send (expired token, rejected by Meta, etc.), it won't show up as a visible error in Vosaire yet.
None of these block getting started, but they're worth planning around, especially the 24-hour window if your reply volume is high enough that some replies could lag.
Need help?
WhatsApp is the most involved of Vosaire's channels to set up because it requires a fair amount of configuration on Meta's side. If you get stuck at any point, schedule a call with support and we'll walk through it with you.