WhatsApp Business is Meta's set of products for companies that talk to customers on WhatsApp. Agent builders use the Business Platform, whose Cloud API sends and receives messages programmatically and, with the Calling API, carries voice and video calls to and from a single verified business number so that calls and chat share one conversation thread.
Calls are either user-initiated, where a customer calls the business from WhatsApp, or business-initiated, where the business calls a customer after obtaining permission; the second type is unavailable in some countries, including the US and Canada. Signaling runs through the Graph API with webhooks by default, and media flows over WebRTC (ICE, DTLS, SRTP); SIP variants with WebRTC or SDES media can be enabled. Integration requires a Cloud API phone number, a webhook subscription to the calls field, the whatsappbusinessmessaging permission, and calling enabled on the number.
Features
- Cloud API messaging: template, interactive, and free-form messages plus WhatsApp Flows for in-chat forms
- Message categories: marketing, authentication, utility, and service messages with separate pricing
- Calling API: VoIP voice and video over WebRTC from the business number, with call deflection from messages
- SIP option: TLS signaling with WebRTC or SDES SRTP media for contact-centre stacks
- Codecs: Opus, with PCMA and PCMU also supported
- Call permissions: production accounts get one permission per user per day and two per week; four consecutive unanswered calls revoke it
- Sandbox limits: 25 daily and 100 weekly permissions for testing
- Business App: a phone app for small businesses, alongside ads that click to WhatsApp
