Connect WhatsApp to Zaags

Setup guide for the business owner or admin · last updated September 2026 · about 20 minutes (plus Meta's verification, if you have not done it)

Give the Zaags Assistant a WhatsApp Business number. Customers write to it like they write to any business on WhatsApp; the assistant answers from your CRM or store (Salesforce, HubSpot or WooCommerce) and hands the thread to your team when a human should step in. Zaags connects your number directly to WhatsApp's official Cloud API, no third-party messaging provider in between.

0What you need

• A Facebook account that is an admin of your company's Meta Business Portfolio (business.facebook.com). No Facebook Page is required.
• A phone number for the assistant that is not currently registered on WhatsApp (see section 1). It must be able to receive an SMS or a voice call once, for verification. Landlines are fine (choose the call). Toll-free and short-code numbers are not accepted by Meta.
• Your company's legal details for Meta Business Verification (registration document, address, website or domain email), recommended, and required for a public display name and full messaging limits.
• Your Zaags account with the 🤝 ZaagsForce Assistant tool open, and your CRM or store (Salesforce, HubSpot or WooCommerce) already connected (for Salesforce, see the Salesforce guide).

1Choose the number

Three options, best first:

1. A new, dedicated number (recommended). A cheap SIM or a virtual number from your telecom provider. Nothing to migrate, nothing to lose, and your existing WhatsApp keeps working for everything else.
2. A landline you already publish (shop, office). Customers already know it; verification is done by voice call. Your phone keeps ringing for calls, only WhatsApp on that number goes to the assistant.
3. A number currently on the WhatsApp Business app. Possible, but you must first export your chats and delete the WhatsApp account on that number (WhatsApp Business app → Settings → Account → Delete my account). Its chat history does not move to Zaags. Do this only if the number is the one customers know and you are ready to run it entirely through Zaags.

Already on the WhatsApp API with another provider? The number can be migrated to Zaags without losing it, contact us first; the old provider must disable two-step verification on the number before the move.

2Your Meta business account

1. Go to business.facebook.com and sign in. If your company has no Business Portfolio yet, create one with the company's legal name.
2. Settings → Security Centre → Start verification. Upload a registration document; confirm your address; verify by domain email or phone. Meta usually answers within a few business days. You can connect the number before verification is complete, until it is, Meta limits the display name and the daily number of conversations the business can start (the assistant only replies, so this rarely matters).
3. Make sure the Facebook account you will use in the next step is an admin of that portfolio (Settings → Users → People).

3Connect in Zaags

Two ways. Option A works today and takes about 20 minutes in Meta's developer console, your own Meta app talks to your own WhatsApp account, and Zaags receives the messages. Option B is a one-click sign-in that we are rolling out as Meta approves it; if your channel card shows a Connect with Meta button, use that instead.

Option A, your own Meta app (available now)

1. Go to developers.facebook.com/apps with the Facebook account from section 2 → Create app. Name it Assistant – Your Company, choose the Business type, and attach your Business Portfolio.
2. In the app, Add product → WhatsApp → Set up. Meta creates a WhatsApp Business Account under your portfolio (or lets you pick an existing one).
3. WhatsApp → API Setup → Add phone number: the number from section 1, the display name (rules in section 4), then the 6-digit code by SMS or voice call. When done, copy the Phone number ID and the WhatsApp Business Account ID shown on that page.
4. Create a permanent key: business.facebook.com → Settings → Users → System users → Add (name Zaags Assistant, role Admin) → Assign assets: your app (full control) and your WhatsApp account (full control) → Generate new token for the app, expiry Never, permissions whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management. Copy the token, it is shown once.
5. Copy the App Secret: App → App settings → Basic → App secret → Show. Zaags uses it to check that every incoming message really comes from Meta.
6. In Zaags open 🧰 Tools → 🤝 ZaagsForce Assistant → 3 · Channels → WhatsApp → Connect my own Meta app, paste the four values (Phone number ID, WhatsApp Business Account ID, token, App Secret) and click Check. Zaags confirms the number and shows you a Callback URL and a Verify token.
7. Back in the app: WhatsApp → Configuration → Webhook → Edit → paste the Callback URL and Verify token → Verify and save → under Webhook fields, Subscribe to messages.
8. Switch the app to Live mode (App settings → Basic: add https://zaags.app/privacy as the privacy-policy URL if Meta asks for one, then flip the toggle at the top). Your own business's numbers need no Meta review for this.
9. Return to Zaags and click Send test: message the number from your phone; the channel card turns Connected when the round-trip works.

If you already have a Meta app with WhatsApp for another integration, you can reuse it: only the webhook (step 7) changes, one app can deliver to only one webhook, so the other integration would stop receiving. Use a separate app if you need both.

Option B, Connect with Meta (one click, when shown)

1. On the channel card click Connect with Meta. A Meta window opens; sign in with the Facebook account from section 2.
2. Pick your Business Portfolio, create or pick the WhatsApp Business Account, enter the display name and the phone number, type the verification code, Finish.
3. Zaags registers the number and switches on delivery automatically.

4Display name & profile

• The display name must be your business's real name as customers know it (or your brand's), no generic words like “Support”, no all-caps unless the brand is an acronym, no emojis, and it must match the name on your website or registration. Meta reviews it; a rejected name can be edited and resubmitted in WhatsApp Manager.
• Set the profile photo, description, address, opening hours and website in WhatsApp Manager → Phone numbers → Profile. Customers see these when they open the chat.
• Two-step verification for the number is set automatically by Zaags. Keep it, it is what stops someone else registering your number elsewhere.

5How conversations work

• Customers start. Someone messages your number; the assistant answers within seconds, in the customer's language, from your knowledge base and once verified, their own records (cases, tickets or orders). Its first reply says it is an AI assistant of your business, that disclosure is required by law in the EU and cannot be switched off.
• Verified before anything personal. A WhatsApp number is a good hint but not proof (numbers get recycled, phones get shared). Before the assistant shares anything from a customer's record it sends a one-time code to the email on file in your CRM or store (or runs a check you define, such as case or order number + postcode). You set the required level per type of data in Settings; personal details always require verification, and nobody can ask about anyone else's record.
• The 24-hour window. WhatsApp lets a business reply freely for 24 hours after the customer's last message. If a customer goes quiet and your team wants to answer later, Zaags holds the reply and sends it the moment the customer writes again, or, if you have an approved “we've replied to your request” template, sends that template instead.
• Hand-over to a human. When the assistant should not answer (the customer asks for a person, the topic is on your always-human list, a high-value account, or it is simply unsure), it tells the customer a team member will follow up, stops replying, and alerts your team, in Zaags, by email, on Telegram or Slack if linked, and as a Case in Salesforce or a ticket in HubSpot, with the whole conversation, the customer's CRM details and a drafted answer. Your colleague replies from the link in the alert; the reply goes out on WhatsApp from your number.
• Media. Photos and documents the customer sends are read if you enabled attachments; voice notes are transcribed. Files stay in Zaags and are linked from the CRM case or ticket (Salesforce, HubSpot), never uploaded into your CRM or store.
• No cold messaging. The assistant never starts a conversation, never sends marketing, never messages a number that has not written to you. This keeps your number's quality rating green.

6Rules & costs

• Meta's fees. At the time of writing WhatsApp does not charge for replies sent within 24 hours of a customer's message, which is all the assistant does. Any fee Meta introduces or charges for templates is billed by Meta to your own WhatsApp Business Account (add a payment method in WhatsApp Manager only if you decide to use templates). Zaags adds no per-message fee, ever.
• Zaags' fees are per conversation, not per message, see the pricing.
• Meta's policies apply, the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy and Commerce Policy. Some categories (alcohol, tobacco, weapons, gambling, adult content, certain medical products) cannot be sold or promoted over WhatsApp; Meta may restrict a number that breaks the rules.
• Quality rating. Meta rates each number from customer feedback and blocks. A reactive, helpful assistant keeps it high; if it ever drops, Zaags shows it on the channel card.
• Privacy. Tell customers in your privacy notice that WhatsApp is a support channel processed with Zaags. Where the messages are stored is spelled out in Where your data lives.

7Test it

1. From your own phone, message the number: ask something your Knowledge articles answer, then something they do not, then write “I'd like to talk to a person”.
2. Check the three outcomes: a grounded answer; an honest “I don't have that information, shall I pass you to the team?”; and a hand-over that lands as an alert with a reply link (and as a Case in Salesforce or a ticket in HubSpot).
3. Reply from the alert link and see it arrive on your phone. Then Resolve the thread in the same page.

8Switching it off

• Pause (keep the number, stop the assistant): channel card → Pause. Incoming messages are stored and your team is alerted; nothing is answered automatically.
• Disconnect from Zaags: channel card → Disconnect. The token is deleted. The number stays in your WhatsApp Business Account and can be connected to another provider or, after deleting it there, registered again in the WhatsApp app.
• Revoke from Meta (works without Zaags): Option A, business.facebook.com → Settings → Users → System users → Zaags Assistant → Revoke token (or delete the system user). Option B, Settings → Accounts → WhatsApp accounts → your account → Partners / Apps → remove Zaags. Zaags stops on its next call and shows the channel as needing attention.

9Troubleshooting

10Questions

Can my staff still use WhatsApp on their phones? Their own numbers, yes, unchanged. The assistant's number is used only through Zaags, hand-overs are answered from the alert link, on any phone or computer.

Can I have several numbers? Yes, one per country or brand, each with its own channel card and its own CRM mapping. The WhatsApp add-on is per number.

Does Zaags read my other WhatsApp chats? No. Zaags only receives messages sent to the connected number, through Meta's API. It has no access to any phone or any other number.

Is the conversation encrypted? Between the customer's phone and WhatsApp, yes, as always. WhatsApp's Cloud API then delivers the message to Zaags over an encrypted connection so the assistant can read and answer it, the same way it would reach any business inbox.

Need help? Write to contact [at] zaags.app with a screenshot of the channel card.