> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.minidesk.ai/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # WhatsApp > Messages to your WhatsApp Business number become conversations in your inbox. Customers message your WhatsApp Business number; it becomes a conversation in your inbox; your reply goes back to them on WhatsApp. They never leave WhatsApp, and you never leave your inbox. ## What you need * A number you already use in the **WhatsApp Business app** on your phone. * Admin access to the **Meta Business account** behind that number. Nothing to host, nothing to install, and no code. Only an Owner can connect it. Your phone keeps working. You can still answer from the WhatsApp Business app, and those replies show up in your inbox too. > [!NOTE] > > Only numbers that stay in the WhatsApp Business app can be connected for now. > A number that is not on WhatsApp yet, or one already connected to another > provider through the WhatsApp Cloud API, cannot. ## Set it up **1. Add the channel** In the dashboard, go to **Channels** and pick **WhatsApp**. **2. Press Connect WhatsApp, then Continue on Meta** The first button gets Meta's window ready. The second opens it. Meta's window opens over the dashboard, so keep popups allowed for it. **3. Log in on Meta and pick your account** Log in with the Facebook account that admins your Meta Business account, and pick the WhatsApp Business account behind your number. When Meta is done, the window closes and the number appears in the dashboard. Send the number a message from a different phone to confirm it works. It should appear in your inbox within a few seconds. ### If it does not connect * **"This Meta Business account has more than one WhatsApp number."** Connect a business account that holds only the number you use in the WhatsApp Business app. * **"Meta stopped the signup"** followed by Meta's reason. Meta decided the number cannot be connected. The WhatsApp Business app needs to be up to date on your phone. * **"Meta's window could not load."** Something in your browser, often an ad blocker, is blocking facebook.com. Allow it, then press **Connect WhatsApp** again. ## One number per workspace A workspace connects one WhatsApp number. To switch to a different number, disconnect the first. ## Only messages from now on Messages sent after you connect become conversations. Chats from before are not imported, so a customer you were already talking to starts a new conversation the next time they write. ## What arrives Messages, and what comes with them. Photos and PDFs are stored alongside the message, up to 10MB each, the same as everywhere else in the product. Videos, voice messages and other files are not stored. An internal note names each one, so your team knows something was sent and can look in WhatsApp. A message with no words, like a photo on its own, still becomes a conversation. It gets a short placeholder line, like "(sent a photo)", so the thread is not blank. ## Which conversation a message joins A chat has no threads, just one continuous stream. So a new message joins the customer's open conversation if they have one. If every conversation with them is resolved or closed, it starts a new one. ## Their name The name the customer set in WhatsApp is used as their name in your inbox. If WhatsApp does not give one, their phone number is used instead. WhatsApp does not share profile pictures, so everyone keeps the initials circle. ## Replying Your reply goes back on WhatsApp. Three things are worth knowing. **WhatsApp only lets businesses reply within 24 hours of the customer's last message.** There is no longer window for replies written by a person, as there is on Messenger. Once the 24 hours have passed, nothing reaches the customer until they write again. The AI answers within minutes, so it is not affected. **Long replies are split.** WhatsApp caps a message at 4096 characters, so a longer reply arrives as several messages, broken at a line or a space. **Only the text goes.** Files you attach to a reply stay on the conversation in miniDesk. If the customer needs one, send a link. ### A reply that did not arrive says so If WhatsApp refuses a reply, you get an internal note on the conversation saying it was not delivered, and why: the 24 hours have passed, the number cannot receive WhatsApp messages, the number needs reconnecting, or WhatsApp did not accept it. WhatsApp sometimes accepts a reply and reports a few seconds later that it could not deliver it. The note arrives then. It is there so nobody on your team believes the customer has an answer they never got. ## Replies sent from the WhatsApp Business app You can still answer from the app on your phone. That reply is added to the conversation, labelled **WhatsApp app**, so the thread in your inbox stays complete. It is not sent a second time. A chat you start yourself from the app does not become a ticket. It is not a support request. ## Automated replies If you have AI auto-reply switched on, WhatsApp follows it like any other channel. Once the number is connected, the **Reply automatically on** list under **AI Agent → Settings** gets a **WhatsApp** switch. It starts on, so you can turn it off for WhatsApp and leave it on for email, or the reverse. ## The confirmation message When the AI is not answering a new conversation, the customer hears nothing until someone on your team replies. Switch on **Confirmation message** in **Channels → WhatsApp** to send them one line straight away, so they know it arrived. It goes once, when a conversation starts, and only if the AI did not reply on its own. Leave the text as it is to send ours: "Thanks for your message! We'll get back to you as soon as we can." Or write your own, up to 500 characters. Clear the field to go back to ours. > [!WARNING] > > If a greeting message is also on in the WhatsApp Business app, customers get > both. Switch one of them off. ## On the free plan On the free plan, the first message we send in each conversation ends with the line "Sent from miniDesk.ai". That is the confirmation message if one went out, or the first reply if not. Paid plans never add it. See [Branding and white labeling](https://docs.minidesk.ai/channels/branding.md) for everything a paid plan removes. ## The states The Channels screen shows which one you are in: | State | Meaning | | - | - | | **Waiting for the first message** | Connected, but nobody has messaged the number since | | **Live** | At least one message has arrived and become a conversation | | **Paused** | You switched it off | | **Reconnect needed** | Meta stopped sending this number's messages to us | **Reconnect needed** means access was removed, or Meta stopped serving the number. Open **Channels → WhatsApp** and press **Reconnect**, then **Continue on Meta**. If Meta has banned the number, reconnecting cannot help until Meta lifts the ban on appeal, and the dashboard says so. ## Pausing and disconnecting **Pausing** is the **Accept new conversations** switch. While it is off, nothing customers send is picked up, and nothing is kept for later. The connection is kept, so switching it back on picks up from the next message. **Disconnecting** removes the connection on our side. The number keeps working in the WhatsApp Business app. To stop WhatsApp sharing its messages with us as well, remove the connection in the app's settings. Conversations that already arrived stay in your inbox either way. ## Through the API Conversations that start on WhatsApp have `source: "whatsapp"` in [the REST API](https://docs.minidesk.ai/api-reference/introduction.md). Their requesters are never verified: WhatsApp vouches that a phone number exists, not that it belongs to one of your customers. 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