WhatsApp is the channel customers expect in much of the world, and the WhatsApp Business app on one phone stops working the day a second person has to answer. Meta’s WhatsApp Business Cloud API is the hosted version of the platform that support tools connect to: your number lives with Meta, and messages reach your help desk through a webhook. This guide covers what you need on Meta’s side, how to connect it to Kommio, the 24-hour rule that shapes every WhatsApp conversation, and what Kommio does not do yet. Facts are as of 20 October 2026.

What you need from Meta

Kommio connects through a Meta app of your own, so the number, the app and the relationship with Meta stay yours.

  • A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) in Meta Business Suite, with a phone number registered on the Cloud API (WhatsApp Manager › Phone numbers). A number used in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app must be migrated first, and it then stops working in the app.
  • A Meta app of type Business in Meta for Developers, with the WhatsApp product added and the WABA connected (WhatsApp › API Setup).
  • A system user of your business with access to the WABA and the app, and a permanent token for it with the permissions whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management. The temporary token on the API Setup page lasts a day; do not use it for an inbox.
  • The phone number id and the WABA id (both numeric, not the phone number itself), and the app’s app secret (App settings › Basic).

To try it, development mode is enough: Meta gives you a test number that can message up to five listed numbers. For real customers the app needs Business verification and the number’s display name approved, and Meta raises the messaging limit as the number’s quality allows. Plan that before your launch date, because it is Meta’s process, not Kommio’s.

Connect the number to Kommio

  1. Open Settings › Marketplace › WhatsApp Business › Install in this workspace (or Settings › Inboxes › Add inbox › WhatsApp).
  2. Enter the phone number id, the WABA id, the permanent token and the app secret, and press Test connection. Kommio checks that the secret belongs to the token’s app, that the token is valid with both permissions, and that the number belongs to the WABA, and shows the display number, the verified name and the quality rating.
  3. Leave Point the app’s webhook at Kommio on. Kommio sets the app’s webhook to the inbox’s address, subscribes the WABA to the app, and answers Meta’s verification at once. The address that was there before is remembered on the inbox page. If you prefer, turn the option off and enter the callback URL, verify token and the messages field in the App Dashboard yourself; the inbox page shows all three.
  4. Name the inbox and choose its agents. Try it shows a wa.me button: message the number from WhatsApp, and your reply comes back.

Token and secret are stored encrypted and never returned by the API. When you rotate them, paste both on the inbox page under Replace the credentials.

The 24-hour customer service window

This is the rule that shapes WhatsApp support, so it is worth knowing exactly:

  • A business may reply freely within 24 hours of the customer’s last message. Every new customer message opens the window again.
  • After the window closes, and for a customer who has never written, only an approved template message reaches them.
  • Kommio does not send template messages yet; they are planned. So in Kommio the customer writes first, and bots and flows cannot start a WhatsApp conversation.

Kommio makes the rule visible instead of letting it fail later: the composer shows when the window closes, a reply after it is refused with the reason before it is queued, and a reply still queued when the window closes fails for good rather than being retried. Satisfaction surveys are sent only while the window is open.

What this means for your team: set an SLA policy for the WhatsApp inbox with a first-response target well inside 24 hours, and an automation rule that raises priority when a customer has been waiting for hours. A conversation answered on day two cannot be answered at all.

What comes in and what goes out

From the customer: text with their WhatsApp profile name; pictures, videos, voice notes, audio, documents and stickers as attachments (up to 100 MB); locations with a map link; contact cards; taps on reply buttons and list rows; replies threaded to the message they answer; forwarded messages marked; reactions as activity lines; and click-to-WhatsApp ads or links recorded on the conversation as whatsapp_referral, so you know what brought them. Every event is keyed by its WhatsApp message id, so Meta’s retries store nothing twice.

To the customer: text up to 4,096 characters (longer bot or flow messages are split), pictures up to 5 MB, videos and audio up to 16 MB, any other file as a document up to 100 MB with its file name. A chatbot flow’s choices become up to three reply buttons or a list of up to ten rows. Each reply shows sent, delivered and read, and a failed one shows Meta’s reason. When an agent opens the conversation, the customer’s newest message is marked read, so they see the blue ticks, and an agent’s typing shows as “typing…”.

Assignment, automation and reports

A WhatsApp conversation is a Kommio conversation, so the setup you already have applies: assignment by team or inbox with skills and load, automation rules on events and time, SLA policies by inbox and priority, agent bots, chatbot flows, and the AI agent if you turn it on. Reports count WhatsApp like any channel, as its own slice of the channel mix and with the inbox as a filter, and first response, resolution and satisfaction come out as medians and p90.

Customers are contacts with a phone identity, the same kind SMS uses, so someone who texts and then messages on WhatsApp is one contact with one history.

Health and troubleshooting

Every five minutes Kommio checks the token (with a warning a week before it expires), the number’s quality rating (a warning when Meta rates it red), the WABA’s subscription to the app (restored when it disappears) and, when Kommio set it, the app’s webhook. A token Meta refuses marks the inbox for a reconnect. The errors you are most likely to meet:

  • 131047 “Re-engagement message”: the 24 hours have passed; wait for the customer to write again.
  • 131030 “Recipient phone number not in allowed list”: the app is in development mode and the customer’s number is not listed.
  • 131026 “Message undeliverable”: the number is not on WhatsApp, or the customer has not accepted WhatsApp’s terms.

One WABA can hold several numbers, but an app has one WhatsApp webhook address. Use one Meta app per number, or set the webhook by hand on the other inboxes. The full table is in the WhatsApp setup guide.

Not there yet

  • Template messages (to start a conversation or reopen one after 24 hours): planned.
  • More interactive messages (call-to-action buttons, WhatsApp Flows), catalog and order messages: planned; orders arrive as a line saying so.
  • The On-Premises API and Business Solution Providers other than Meta: not supported.
  • Live verification. The channel was built against Meta’s documented APIs and a test double of the Graph API, and it is verified live as workspaces connect their apps; as of 20 October 2026 that verification is in progress.

Kommio Cloud is free with no seat pricing under its fair-use limits, and WhatsApp is included like every other channel.

Frequently asked questions

What is the WhatsApp 24-hour customer service window?

Meta lets a business reply freely within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, and for a customer who has never written, only an approved template message reaches them. Kommio's composer shows when the window closes.

Can Kommio send WhatsApp template messages?

Not yet. Template messages are planned. Today a reply after the window is refused in Kommio, with the reason, before it is queued, so nothing fails silently later.

Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app on the same number?

No. A number that is used in the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app must be migrated to the Cloud API first, and it then stops working in the app. Many teams use a separate number for the Cloud API.

Do I need a Business Solution Provider?

No. Kommio talks to Meta's Cloud API directly through your own Meta app. The On-Premises API and WhatsApp through other providers are not supported.

Is a customer who texts us by SMS and messages on WhatsApp one contact?

Yes. WhatsApp customers are contacts with a phone identity, the same kind SMS uses, so one person has one contact and one history across both.

Has the WhatsApp channel been tested against Meta live?

It was built against Meta's documented APIs and a test double of the Graph API, and it is verified live as workspaces connect their apps. Live verification is in progress as of 20 October 2026.

Facts on this page describe Kommio as it is on the date above; anything marked planned is on the roadmap, not shipped. Corrections to [email protected].