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Connect WhatsApp — BYO setup guide

Connect your own Meta Cloud API WhatsApp number to JustLogin Connect. This is the full walkthrough — about 15 minutes if you already have a Meta Business account, an hour if you're starting from scratch.

Setup guide is being written.

The full step-by-step with annotated Meta screenshots is coming. In the meantime, the outline below covers every value you need and where to find it. If you get stuck, message your JustLogin account manager — we're on call to walk first-time customers through this end-to-end.

Before you start

You need three things in place:

  1. A Meta Business account. Create one
  2. A WhatsApp number verified in Meta. Meta gives you a free test number when you add the WhatsApp product to your app — fine for the first run.
  3. A Meta App with the WhatsApp product added. Meta's guide

Step 1 — Get credentials from Meta

You'll collect 5 values. Open these two tabs in your browser: Meta Business Manager and Meta App Dashboard.

WABA ID

Where: Meta Business Manager → Business Settings → Accounts → WhatsApp Accounts → click your WABA.

Looks like: 15-digit number, no dashes (e.g. 123456789012345).

Phone Number ID

Where: Meta App Dashboard → WhatsApp → API Setup → "From" dropdown → "Phone number ID" sits right under the +65… number.

Looks like: 15-digit number. Different from the Display Number (the +65… one).

Display Number (E.164)

Where: Same screen as Phone Number ID — the +65… number itself.

Looks like: + then country code then digits, no spaces (e.g. +6591234567).

Permanent Access Token

Where: Meta Business Manager → Business Settings → Users → System Users → click "Add" or use existing → Generate token → pick the app + grant whatsapp_business_messaging + whatsapp_business_management permissions.

Looks like: Long opaque string starting with "EAA…". Keep it secret — it never expires unless revoked.

App Secret

Where: Meta App Dashboard → App Settings → Basic → "App Secret" row → click "Show" → re-enter your Meta password → copy the 32-char hex string.

Looks like: 32 hexadecimal characters.

Step 2 — Paste credentials into Connect

Back in Connect, go to Settings → Integrations → WhatsApp and fill in Step 2 of the form. Pick a Verify Token (any string — we recommend 32+ random characters) and pick the chatbot that should answer messages sent to this number.

The Re-engagement template name field is pre-filled with hello_world — Meta auto-approves that template on every new WhatsApp Business Account, so it works out of the box. It's only used when Connect needs to ping a user more than 24 hours after their last message; everything inside the 24-hour window is free-form. Once you have a branded template approved in WhatsApp Manager → Message Templates, come back and swap the name in (e.g. jl_reengage_v1).

Click Test connection first. Connect calls Meta's Graph API to verify your token + Phone Number ID. If Meta accepts them, the Save & activate button unlocks. Click that to persist the configuration.

Step 3 — Tell Meta where to deliver messages

Connect now knows about your number, but Meta still needs to know where to send incoming messages. In Meta App Dashboard:

  1. Open WhatsApp → Configuration
  2. Under Webhook, click Edit
  3. Paste the Callback URL and Verify Token shown in Step 3 of the Connect page
  4. Click Verify and save — the row should turn green
  5. Under Webhook fields, find messages and click Subscribe

Send a test message from your phone to the WhatsApp Business number. Within ~2 seconds, the bot you bound in Step 2 should reply.

Common issues

Test connection fails with 401 / Invalid token.

Your access token expired or never had the right permissions. Generate a new System User token in Meta Business Settings → System Users → Generate token, and grant it both whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management.

Meta Webhook Edit screen says "The callback URL or verify token couldn’t be validated."

Almost always a verify-token mismatch — the string in Meta must be exactly the string you saved in Connect (case-sensitive, no leading/trailing whitespace). Use the Copy button in Connect's Step 3 instead of typing it out.

Webhook saves but bot never replies.

You probably forgot to subscribe to the "messages" field. Meta will save the webhook URL but deliver nothing until you click Subscribe on the messages row.

Webhook delivers but Meta reports 403 errors on inbound.

Your App Secret in Connect doesn't match the one in your Meta App. Re-copy it from Meta App Dashboard → Settings → Basic → App Secret → Show → re-enter password.

"Save & activate" stays disabled even though Test connection passed.

Check the Re-engagement template name field is filled — it's required. Default value is hello_world (Meta auto-approves it on every new WABA, so it works as-is). Also, if you refresh the page before clicking Save, the secret fields blank out and you'll need to re-paste them; we never echo secrets back from the server.

Still stuck?

Message your JustLogin account manager. For first-time WhatsApp setup we'll walk you through the Meta side on a 20-minute screen-share — no extra cost. We'd rather get you live than have you guess at Meta's UI.