WhatsApp Business Account

This all happens on Meta's side: everything you need to do before you open the connection form in Lalexi. You end up with four values — the number, the Phone number ID, the WhatsApp Business Account ID and a permanent token — and with those in hand the connection takes a minute: WhatsApp Business.

If you just need a regular number from a phone, with no Meta involved, that's WhatsApp by QR code — nothing to prepare there.

Free up the number

Meta's rule: "Numbers already in use with WhatsApp cannot be registered unless they are deleted first." A number that lives in the WhatsApp app is unavailable to the API until that account is deleted. One number is either a phone or the API — never both at once.

A number in regular WhatsApp or in the WhatsApp Business app. Delete the account on the phone: WhatsApp (or WhatsApp Business) → Settings → Account → Delete my account, then enter the number with its country code. After that the number can be registered in the Cloud API.

A number already registered in another business account (WABA). A number belongs to exactly one business account, so it has to be deleted from the old one first — in the Business settings of that portfolio, in the WhatsApp accounts section. Meta attaches three conditions:

• only a business portfolio admin can delete a number;
• Meta asks for that number's two-step verification PIN;
• a number used to send paid messages within the last 30 days can't be deleted — you have to wait the period out.

A number banned by WhatsApp. Appeal to Meta first and wait for the ban to be lifted: a banned number won't register in the Cloud API.

Which numbers work

• A mobile number — it has to receive the confirmation code by SMS or voice call.
• Short codes are not supported at all.
• Landlines and VoIP aren't recommended by Meta for SMS: the code often never arrives. If that's the only number you have, pick voice call verification.
• The number must not already be used by another Lalexi inbox — the same number can't be connected twice.

Step 1. An app in Meta for Developers

1. Open developers.facebook.com and sign in with your Facebook account.
2. My Apps → Create App. Enter the app name and a contact email.
3. Pick the Connect with customers through WhatsApp use case.
4. Choose the business portfolio that will own the WhatsApp Business Account. No portfolio yet — create one right here.
5. Review Meta's requirements and press Create app.

Meta creates the WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) as part of this flow — you don't need to set one up separately.

Step 2. The phone number in the business account

1. In the app, open Use cases → Connect with customers through WhatsApp → Customize → API Setup. In the older interface it's WhatsApp → API Setup in the left sidebar.
2. Find the Send and receive messages block (Register your WhatsApp phone number in the newer interface) and add a number from the From list.
3. Fill in the business display name — this is what customers see in WhatsApp — and your company details.
4. Enter the number and choose verification by SMS or voice call, then enter the code you receive.

The test number Meta hands a new app is not usable for real work: it only sends to numbers you register in advance. Connect your own.

Meta reviews the display name separately, so it may sit in a review state for a while. That doesn't hold anything up: you can connect the number in Lalexi without waiting for the name to be approved.

Step 3. The two IDs

On that same API Setup page copy and keep:

• Phone number ID — the number's identifier;
• WhatsApp Business Account ID — the business account's identifier.

Both are digits only, and both go into the form. Don't swap them: Lalexi will refuse to create the channel with an invalid-credentials error.

Step 4. A permanent token

The token on the API Setup tab is temporary — it lasts 24 hours. A channel created with it will stop working the next day, so you need a system user token.

1. Open Business settings (business.facebook.com/settings) and select the portfolio that owns the WhatsApp Business Account.
2. Users → System users → Add. Give it a name (say, Lalexi WhatsApp), set the role to Admin and press Create system user.
3. Select the new user → Assign assets and give it the app from step 1 and the WhatsApp Business Account, with full control.
4. Press Generate token and pick the same app.
5. Set Token expiration to Never.
6. Tick the whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management permissions. Without both the channel won't be created.
7. Generate token, and copy it straight away.

No webhook setup needed

Cloud API guides usually include a separate step: paste a Callback URL and Verify token into the Meta app and subscribe to events. In Lalexi that step is redundant. Given the credentials, Lalexi does all of this itself when the channel is created:

• validates them against Meta — wrong credentials simply won't create the channel;
• registers the number in the Cloud API if needed;
• subscribes the app to your business account and sets the callback URL for that account, with its own verify token — Lalexi generates the token, you never type it anywhere;
• subscribes to incoming messages and to echoes of messages sent from the phone.

So once the token is copied there's nothing left to do in the Meta dashboard.

What you should have

Next: connect the channel in Lalexi — Settings → Inboxes → Add Inbox → WhatsApp → WhatsApp Cloud.

If it doesn't work