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Glossary

WhatsApp Business API

Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform, today mainly the Cloud API, for sending and receiving messages from software. It needs approved templates and charges per message.

Updated 2 min read
Summarise
How it works

Definition: The WhatsApp Business API is the common name for Meta's WhatsApp Business Platform, which lets businesses and software send and receive WhatsApp messages programmatically instead of from a phone. Today it mainly means the Cloud API, which uses Meta's Graph API to send messages and webhooks to receive them. It needs a business portfolio, approved templates to start conversations, and Meta charges per message.

Key takeaways

  • The API is for software; the WhatsApp Business app is for a person on a phone.
  • Outside the 24-hour window, only approved message templates can be sent.
  • Meta bills message charges to the business's own account.

WhatsApp Business API vs the WhatsApp Business app

WhatsApp Business APIWhatsApp Business app
Used bySoftware, on behalf of a businessA person, on a phone
Starting a conversationApproved templates only, outside the 24-hour windowTyped like any chat
Set-upA Meta business portfolio, accounts and an access tokenInstall the app and verify the number

What you need to use it

Meta's Cloud API overview lists a business portfolio, a WhatsApp account and a Messaging account associated with it, a business app and the right access tokens and permissions. Most businesses reach the API through software that handles this set-up, but the account, number and message charges remain the business's own.

Rules that come with the API

  • The 24-hour window: free-form replies only within 24 hours of the person's last message.
  • Message templates, reviewed by Meta, for anything sent outside that window.
  • Opt-in consent: Meta requires businesses to get permission before messaging people.

How Milvao uses the WhatsApp Business API

Milvao runs on the Cloud API with the community's own number. The owner connects it with the WhatsApp Business Account ID and a permanent system user token, and Milvao checks the set-up. The number must be new, not used in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app, and works with one platform at a time. Meta bills message charges to the community's account. See the WhatsApp Business Platform integration.

Sources

Facts about WhatsApp and other services come from the pages listed, on the dates shown, and can change.

FAQ

Questions about whatsapp business api

No. Meta charges per message, with some service messages free under rules it changes from time to time. Check Meta's pricing page for current rates.

A number used in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app has to be removed from that app first. Many businesses use a new number instead.

Not necessarily. Software built on the API, Milvao included, handles the technical side. You still own the Meta business portfolio, the account and the number.
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