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WhatsApp Registration Guide — Step by step

This guide walks you through connecting your business to WhatsApp and getting your AI assistant live — even if you've never used Meta Business tools. No technical skills needed. Follow the steps in order.

How long? About 20–30 minutes of your time, spread over a few days. Some steps (like Meta's business verification) happen on Meta's side and can take a day or two. You can stop after any step and resume later — your progress is saved.

Your home screen shows a Getting Started checklist. Each step below matches a card on it. Always do the one marked "Recommended next."

Before you begin — have these ready

  • ✅ A Facebook account — create one (a personal login is fine).
  • ✅ Your business name and a business email address.
  • ✅ A dedicated phone number for WhatsApp that can receive an SMS/call code (OTP).
    • ⚠️ It must not already be active on the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app. If it is, delete that WhatsApp account first, or use a fresh number.
  • ✅ A credit/debit card for Meta billing. (Meta charges you directly for conversations — Page-Nest never charges you for messages.)
  • ✅ (Recommended) a business website and a privacy policy page — these help Meta approve you faster.

Step 1 — Organization & subscription

Usually already done by the time you reach the dashboard: your organization (workspace) and an active subscription. Nothing else can start until your subscription is active.

Step 2 — Complete your business profile

Tell us about your business: type, primary goal, country, timezone, support email, and optionally your website.

💡 We only ask for what Page-Nest needs. We never ask you to upload business documents here — if Meta needs verification documents, you upload those directly to Meta (see Business Verification).

Time: ~5 minutes.

Step 3 — Prepare for WhatsApp setup

A quick readiness check — confirm you have the items from Before you begin above and tick each box. This prevents the most common failure: a phone number already in use on another WhatsApp app.

Time: ~5 minutes.

Step 4 — Connect your WhatsApp Business account

The main step. When you click Connect, a secure Meta window opens (Meta's "Embedded Signup" — Page-Nest never sees your Facebook password). In that window you will:

  1. Log in with your Facebook account.
  2. Create or choose your Business (your Meta Business Portfolio, formerly "Business Manager"). You can create it right inside the popup.
  3. Create or choose a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) and a display name customers will see. Follow Meta's naming rules: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/overview/display-name
  4. Add and verify your phone number — Meta sends an OTP by SMS or call; enter the code.
  5. Add a payment method if Meta asks.

Page-Nest then shows a short "Setting up your connection…" screen and finishes automatically. When done, WhatsApp shows Connected ✅.

Helpful Meta links:

Time: ~10 minutes.

Already have WhatsApp in Meta?

Choose "Connect an existing Meta WhatsApp Account" on the first screen and pick it in the Meta window.

Step 5 — Configure your AI assistant

Set your assistant's name, greeting, languages, business hours (optional), fallback response, and turn on human escalation (and where requests go).

Time: ~8 minutes.

Step 6 — Business verification

To message more customers per day, Meta must verify your business — handled on Meta's side. See the dedicated Business Verification guide.

Step 7 — Upload your knowledge base

Add the documents and FAQs your assistant answers from. After upload, Page-Nest indexes them (a few minutes). See Knowledge Base.

You can't publish (Step 11) while documents are still indexing — just wait for it to finish.

Time: ~10 minutes (plus indexing).

Step 8 — Design your conversation flow

Open the Menu Designer to build your welcome menu, buttons, forms and human hand-off, then publish the flow.

Time: ~15 minutes.

Step 9 — Create message templates

Templates are pre-approved messages you send first (e.g. confirmations, reminders). Meta must approve each template before you can send it. See Troubleshooting if a template is rejected.

Time: ~10 minutes per template + Meta review.

Step 10 — Test your assistant

Run the guided test checklist: send a test message and confirm the greeting, AI answers, menu, human hand-off and template delivery all work. Tick each item.

Time: ~10 minutes.

Step 11 — Publish & go live 🚀

When every required step is complete, the Publish & go live button turns on. Click it and your assistant starts talking to customers. Your home screen switches to your normal dashboard.

🎉 You're live!

Need a hand?

PranaLabs can set this up for you, including Meta verification — see Assisted Onboarding (an optional professional service).

Meta occasionally changes the layout/addresses of its tools. If a link doesn't open what you expect, search the Meta Business Help Center.