You can create a WhatsApp Business account as a Solution Partner and then take extra steps to offer the WhatsApp Business Platform Cloud API, hosted by Meta, to your clients. Follow the steps below to learn how to create a WhatsApp Business account on the WhatsApp Business Platform as a Solution Partner.

• The steps in this article are intended for you if you're a Solution Partner and want to create a WhatsApp Business account for yourself or you want to send messages on behalf of an end client
• You'll need to sign up for a business portfolio.
• You'll need full control of the business portfolio.
• If you're creating an account on behalf of a business, the business needs to accept your request and ensure that their business portfolio business profile is complete.
• If a Solution Partner is supporting your business with the technical integration of the WhatsApp Business Platform, use the Embedded signup flow to create your WhatsApp Business account.
• If you’re developing for yourself or your organization and not on behalf of a client, visit the WhatsApp developer documentation to create your WhatsApp Business account.
• If your business uses the WhatsApp Business App, create your WhatsApp Business account on the WhatsApp Business app.

Start by going to Settings in Meta Business Suite.

1. Select the business portfolio that you want to create a WhatsApp Business account for from the dropdown in the top left.
2. Click on WhatsApp Accounts under the Accounts section.
3. Click Add WhatsApp account if this is the first WhatsApp Business account you want to create or connect to this business portfolio. Otherwise, click Add.
4. Enter the phone number associated
5. In the Create WhatsApp account section:
   1. Account name: Enter a name for your WhatsApp Business account.
   2. Messaging for: Select whether you're creating the account for yourself or a client from the drop down menu:
      • Your own business portfolio.
      • Your client's account to create an account on behalf of a business. If you need to enter the client's business portfolio ID, you can find it in the Business info tab in Settings.
   3. Time zone: Select the time zone where your business is located.
   4. Currency: Select the local currency of your business. The currency you select must match the currency you plan to pay your invoice in.
   5. Payment method (optional): Select a method of payment for your ads. If you don't have a current line of credit for payment, you can set up one.
   6. P.O. number (optional): Enter the purchase order (P.O.) number that will appear on your invoices.
   7. Click Done.
6. In the Add people and set permissions section:
   1. Search for people who you want to add to the account and choose them from the list.
   2. Select the permission level to assign to each person. You can select:
      • Partial access to allow people to manage phone numbers and message templates.
      • Full control to allow people to manage the WhatsApp account
7. Click Assign.

Once your WhatsApp Business account is created, our team will review it. We will notify you if there is an issue. You can check your account status on your settings page at any time.

Note: You need to take extra steps to offer the WhatsApp Business Platform cloud API to your clients.

Learn more

If a Solution Partner is supporting your business with the technical integration of the WhatsApp Business Platform, they'll manage your WhatsApp Business account. You can find and contact official Solution Partners for the WhatsApp Business Platform in the partner directory.

When working with a Solution Partner, you can create your WhatsApp Business account using the Embedded signup (recommended) or On behalf of (OBO) onboarding.

Note:

• If you’re a Solution Partner, create the WhatsApp Business account in Meta Business Suite and then take extra steps to offer the WhatsApp Business Platform Cloud API hosted by Meta technologies to your clients.
• If you’re developing for yourself or your organization, not on behalf of a client, visit the WhatsApp developer documentation to create your WhatsApp Business account.
• If your business uses the WhatsApp Business app, create your WhatsApp Business account on the WhatsApp Business app.

Beginning May 2, 2022, your businesses can start messaging customers after you complete the Embedded signup or On behalf of (OBO) onboarding processes. Business verification and display name review will no longer be needed to get started onto the WhatsApp Business Platform.

Manual signup

Create your WhatsApp business account with Partner-initiated onboarding

The onboarding method in this article is new and will replace “On behalf of (OBO)” onboarding. OBO onboarding gives your Solution Partner control of your WhatsApp business account. This onboarding method creates a WhatsApp Business Account that you own and operate. This allows you to easily change to different partners without going through account creation again.

Explore our help content library to find answers and troubleshoot issues.

A Solution Partner can use Meta Business Suite to initiate WhatsApp Business Account creation for you. Once the Solution Partner has initiated account creation, here’s what you need to do:

1. Log into Meta Business Suite.
2. If you have multiple business portfolios, select the desired portfolio in the dropdown menu at the top-left of the page.
3. Click Settings then select Requests.
4. Open the Other Requests panel and click the Received tab.
5. Locate the invitation and review its contents.
6. Accept or decline the invitation.
7. Add and verify a business phone number (optional).
8. Confirm the invitation.
9. Click Accounts and select the WhatsApp account panel and confirm that your WhatsApp Business Account has been created and shared with your Solution Partner.

Note: If you stop working with your Solution Partner, you will retain control of your account and they will no longer have access.

After completing signup, you can start messaging customers on the WhatsApp Business Platform immediately. You can respond to unlimited customer-initiated conversations and send business-initiated messages to 250 unique customers every 24 hours per phone number. Learn about how you can scale the capabilities of your account.

If you can't send messages to your customers, reach out to your Solution Partner to understand more about your account setup. You can also refer to Business Support Home to understand if there are any restrictions on your account.

Learn more

• Start messaging customers on WhatsApp Business Platform
• About business verification
• Create message templates for your WhatsApp Business account
• About billing for your WhatsApp Business Platform account
• View conversation insights for your WhatsApp Business account

Create your WhatsApp Business account using "On behalf of (OBO)" onboarding

We are phasing out “On behalf of” (OBO) onboarding in September. Partner-initiated onboarding will replace OBO onboarding. Learn more about Partner-initiated onboarding.

If you partner with a Solution Partner that doesn't offer the embedded signup, you'll need to approve a messaging on behalf of request.

Before you begin

1. Log into Meta Business Suite. If your business doesn't have a business portfolio, sign up for one. Note: To access the APIs, your business portfolio must belong to your end business, not to an agency or third-party.

• Complete the business profile in Meta Business Suite, the Solution Partner can proceed to create your WhatsApp Business account and the certificate will be available for download.
• Your Solution Partner will request your business portfolio ID via email to create your WhatsApp Business account. To find your ID in Meta Business Suite you can:

  1. Click Settings.
  2. Click Business info. Your business portfolio ID can be found below your business portfolio name. Remember that your business portfolio ID isn't the same as your Facebook Page ID.

Approve messaging on behalf of your business

You need to approve your Solution Partner to send messages from your WhatsApp Business account on behalf of your business. When your Solution Partner sends you a message on behalf of request, you'll receive a notification in Meta Business Suite and by email.

Here’s how to approve this request:

1. Go to the Requests section in Settings.
2. Click Requests.
3. In the Received tab, find the request from your Solution Partner and click Approve.

You can start messaging customers on the WhatsApp Business Platform immediately. Your businesses can respond to unlimited customer-initiated conversations and send business-initiated messages to 250 unique customers every 24 hours per phone number. Learn about how you can scale the capabilities of your account.

Learn more

• Capacity, quality rating, and messaging limits (Meta for Developers)
• About your WhatsApp Business phone number’s quality rating
• Change your WhatsApp Business display name
• Differences between the WhatsApp Business Platform and WhatsApp Business App
• Create a WhatsApp Business account on the WhatsApp Business Platform Solution Partner

• Capacity, quality rating, and messaging limits (Meta for Developers)
• About your WhatsApp Business phone number’s quality rating
• Change your WhatsApp Business display name
• Differences between the WhatsApp Business Platform and WhatsApp Business App
• Create a WhatsApp Business account on the WhatsApp Business Platform Solution Partner

WhatsApp message templates allow businesses to use existing and pre-approved templates to send structured messages to customers who have opted to receive notifications. Messages can include appointment reminders, shipping information, issue resolution or payment updates. You can create multiple templates in different categories.

When you create a message template or edit one to add a new language, you can format the text inside your messages and preview your edits in the Preview section. Remember that you can’t do a formatting check in the Preview section. It’s possible that your template will be rejected due to formatting concerns such as excessive line breaks.

If you have a catalog set up on Facebook, you can use Multi-product message (MPM) templates which let you send a subset of up to 30 products from your catalog to your customers or you can use a catalog template message that includes a View catalog button that enables customers to view your whole product offering in just one message.

Note: If your business uses only the WhatsApp Business app, don't follow the steps in this article. Go to this article instead.

• Create a business portfolio.
• Create a WhatsApp Business Platform account.
• You'll need a developer to implement the message templates into WhatsApp Business Platform after completing the following steps.

To create message templates for your WhatsApp Business account:

1. Go to Meta Business Suite and select your business portfolio.
2. Click
3. Click WhatsApp Manager.
4. Click the account that you want to create the message template for.
5. Click the 3-dot icon.
6. Click Manage message templates.
7. (Optional) If you have multiple WhatsApp Business accounts, use the dropdown menu to select the account where you want to create a message template.
8. Click Create message template.
9. Choose your category, name and languages:
   • Category: Choose which type of template you'd like to create: marketing, utility or authentication. You can hover over the template types to view details for each template.
   • Name: Enter name of the template in lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores only.
   • Language: Choose which languages your message template will include. You can delete or add more languages in the next step.
10. Click Continue.
    1. For utility and marketing templates follow these steps:
       1. Add sample: If you want to include variables or media (optional), you must add a content example for your template by clicking the Add sample button. This helps us during the review and approval process, so we can understand what kind of message you plan to send. Make sure these are representative examples and do not include any actual customer information.
       2. Header: (Optional) Add a title or choose which type of media you'll use for this header.
       3. Body: Enter the text for your message in the language you've selected. You can edit text formats, add emojis or include variables. These allow a developer to add unique information such as specific names, locations or tracking numbers when inputting the templates into WhatsApp Business Platform.
       4. Footer: (Optional) Add a short line of text to the bottom of your message template.
       5. Buttons: (Optional) We offer a variety of buttons for marketing and utility messages that can help you drive engagement. You can select from the dropdown menu to create buttons that let customers respond to your message or take action. If you don't want to add any buttons, select None.
       6. Call to action: You can combine up to 10 buttons in a button list that lets your customers take action. The types of action include Call phone number and Visit website. This lets you add a phone number or website URL to your message. If you choose Visit website, you can include up to 2 URLs which can be either a Static (fixed) website URL or a Dynamic website URL, which creates a personalized link for the customer to view their specific information on your website by adding a variable at the end of the link. Note: You can combine a call-to-action and a quick reply as one button.
       7. Quick reply: Create up to 3 buttons that let your customers respond to your message.
    2. For authentication templates follow these steps:
       1. Code delivery: You can choose between Autofill and Copy code for how your customers input the code into your app. Note: Learn about authentication templates with one time password buttons.
       2. Message content: The message content for authentication templates is fixed as shown in the preview. You can optionally add a security recommendation statement and/or code expiration time in your message content.
11. When completed, click Submit.

Your template will now be sent for review. The status of your template is viewable under Message templates. After your template has been approved, you can begin sending messages with that template. Learn more about sending message templates.

Learn more