What Wap2b is, and what you'll need
Five minutes of reading here saves a lot of confusion later. This page explains who does what, and what you need in hand before you start.
How the pieces fit together
WhatsApp does not let businesses message customers directly from an app. Instead, Meta runs a service called the WhatsApp Business Cloud API — the plumbing that carries business messages. It has no screens. On its own you cannot use it without writing software.
Wap2b is a platform built on that service. It gives you the screens: a contact list, a message builder, a broadcast tool, a shared inbox, reports and billing. When you send a message from Wap2b, Wap2b hands it to Meta, and Meta delivers it to your customer's WhatsApp.
Two consequences are worth knowing up front, because they explain almost every rule in this manual:
- Meta sets the messaging rules, not us. Which messages need approval, how many conversations you can start per day, what gets your number restricted — those are Meta's, and they apply to every provider equally.
- Your WhatsApp account belongs to you, not to Wap2b. It sits in your own Meta business portfolio. If you ever leave, the number and its history go with you.
A note on wording
Wap2b is not "the official WhatsApp API" and neither is any other provider — that phrase gets used loosely in this industry. Meta provides the API. Wap2b is a platform built on it.
What you need before you start
Have these four things ready. Missing any one of them is the usual reason a signup stalls halfway.
- A real business. Meta checks that there is a genuine business behind the account — a website, a storefront, a registration, something verifiable. Personal use is not permitted.
- A Facebook account you can log in to. Connecting your number happens through Meta's own login screen. You do not need a Facebook Page to begin, but you do need to be able to sign in.
- A phone number that can receive a code. It must be able to receive an SMS or a voice call during setup.
- That number must be free to use. If it is currently on a personal WhatsApp account, you cannot use it — delete that WhatsApp account first, or pick a different number. If it is on the WhatsApp Business App, you can bring it across, but there is one setting to change first. See Connect your WhatsApp number.
What happens to the number
If you connect a new number, it can no longer be used in the ordinary WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business apps — all its messaging moves into Wap2b. If you bring across a number that is already on the WhatsApp Business App, you keep using the app on your phone as well; that path is called coexistence. Either way, a number on personal WhatsApp cannot be used at all until that account is deleted.
What it costs
There is no subscription. You add funds to a balance and messages are charged against it at an all-inclusive per-message price.
Starting a conversation is the main cost, and it depends on the message category and the country you are messaging. Messages customers send you are charged too, at a much smaller flat rate. Replies you send inside an open conversation are free.
Full detail is in How pricing works, and current rates are on the pricing page.
If something goes wrong
- You do not have a business website or registration. Meta's checks are not instant rejections — plenty of small businesses pass on the strength of a social media presence and a real address. Start the signup and see.
- Your only number is on personal WhatsApp. Either move that account to a different number first, or buy a new number for business messaging. There is no way to share one number between personal WhatsApp and the API.
Next
Create your account — it takes about two minutes.