Connect your WhatsApp Business account

Tappya works with your own WhatsApp Business account. We do not provide a WhatsApp number on your behalf, and we do not resell messages — Meta bills you directly for what you send.

This guide covers everything from creating the account on Meta's side to sending your first message.

Before you start

You will need:

1. A Meta Business Manager account. It must be business-verified before you can message real customers — unverified, Meta only lets you message a few pre-registered test numbers.
2. A phone number that is not currently in use in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app. Moving an existing number onto the API signs it out of those apps permanently, so choose deliberately. Many restaurants use a new number for this.

Plan for verification to take time. Meta's business verification can be same-day or can take several days depending on the documents you submit.

Step 1 — Create the Meta app

Go to developers.facebook.com → My Apps → Create App, choose type Business, then add the WhatsApp product to it. This links the app to your Business Manager and creates a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA).

Step 2 — Create a System User

This is the part most people miss. The token shown on Meta's API Setup screen is a temporary one that stops working after 24 hours. You need a permanent one, which comes from a System User.

Go to business.facebook.com/settings → Users → System Users → Add. Give it a recognisable name such as "Tappya Integration" and set the role to Admin.

Step 3 — Give the System User access to your WhatsApp account

Still on the System User you just created, click Add Assets and grant:

• your WhatsApp Account (the WABA), with Full control
• the App you created in step 1

If you skip this, the next step still produces a token, but every message fails with a permissions error — because the system user has no access to the account it is supposed to send from.

Step 4 — Generate the token

On the System User, click Generate New Token and choose:

• App: the one from step 1
• Token expiration: Never
• Permissions: whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management

Meta shows the token once. Copy it straight away — if you lose it, you cannot view it again and will need to generate a new one.

Step 5 — Find your two IDs

In your app, go to WhatsApp → API Setup. Copy the Phone number ID and the WhatsApp Business Account ID. These are identifiers rather than secrets, so they are safe to share with your team.

Step 6 — Enter everything in Tappya

In Tappya, go to Settings → Messaging → Channels and select the WhatsApp row. Fill in:

Click Save. The status changes to Active.

WhatsApp has no separate on/off switch — saving a complete connection is what turns it on.

About the access token

Once saved, the token is never displayed again. The field shows that a token is on file along with its last four characters.

You can leave the token field blank when editing anything else on the page — your saved token is kept. Type a new token only when you actually want to replace it, for example after generating a fresh one on Meta.

Step 7 — Point Meta's webhook at Tappya

So that customer replies and delivery receipts reach you, go to your app → WhatsApp → Configuration → Webhook and set:

• Callback URL: https://api.tappya.com/v1/messaging/webhooks/whatsapp
• Verify token: ask Tappya support for this value
• Subscribe to: messages

Without this, you can send messages but will never receive replies or delivery status.

Step 8 — Choose what WhatsApp is used for

Back on the WhatsApp row, switch on the products you want:

• Order updates — confirmations and delivery notices over WhatsApp
• Marketing — campaigns, still subject to customer consent
• Inbox — inbound messages land in Conversations, where your team can reply and build an order directly inside the chat. Premium plans only.

To send login codes over WhatsApp, use the Where your messages go block at the top of the page. This needs an approved authentication template named otp on your WhatsApp account.

Message templates

Any message you send outside a 24-hour window from the customer's last message must use a template that Meta has approved on your account. Submit templates under Settings → Messaging → Templates. Approval is Meta's decision and usually takes from a few minutes to a day.

If something is not working