WhatsApp

What the WhatsApp channel is

WhatsApp is Meta's consumer messaging product, and its business side runs on the WhatsApp Business Platform. IcloneU integrates with the Platform (API-based) — not the WhatsApp Business phone app, which is a separate, manual, phone-only product that can't be connected. A few consequences are worth knowing up front:

• You connect through Meta, not a form. Unlike Email, there are no server addresses to paste — you're redirected into Meta's embedded signup, log in with Facebook, pick or create a WhatsApp Business Account, and register/verify your phone number.
• Inbound routes through Meta's webhooks. Every message a customer sends to your business number arrives in IcloneU's Messages surface tagged with the channel; your Clone reads it, retrieves from Knowledge, and replies.
• Meta's 24-hour window applies. Your Clone can send free-form replies only within 24 hours of the customer's most recent message; outside that, it needs a pre-approved template. This is enforced by Meta, not IcloneU — see The 24-hour window.
• Messaging volume scales on a tier ladder. New numbers start able to message a capped number of unique customers per day and graduate automatically as the account builds a good reputation — see Frequently asked.

WhatsApp is one of the channels you add from the Connections page. Once active, it shows up there as a row identified by the phone number, and incoming messages appear in the Messages surface tagged with the channel.

What you need first

Before you start the connect flow, line up three things. Getting these ready first is what turns a 30-minute setup into a 10-minute one.

• A Meta Business Account (also called Business Manager) — the same umbrella object used for Facebook Pages and Instagram business accounts. If you don't have one, create it free at business.facebook.com. You need to be its owner, or a user with permission to authorize apps and register WhatsApp numbers.
• A phone number for WhatsApp Business that can receive an SMS or voice call for verification, and that is not currently active on the consumer WhatsApp app or the WhatsApp Business app under the same identity.
• An IcloneU account with a free Connection slot on your current plan. Each channel you connect (WhatsApp, Facebook, etc.) counts against your plan's Connection cap.

No pre-existing WhatsApp business presence is otherwise required — Meta's embedded signup will create the WhatsApp Business Account record, register the number, and set up the webhook for you. For the full prep-by-scenario walkthrough (personal-app number, WABA number, other-provider number), IcloneU shows a scenario guide right inside the permissions step.

Connecting a WhatsApp number

The flow starts in IcloneU, hands off to Meta's embedded signup for the login, business-account pick, and phone verification, then returns you to IcloneU. Most of the elapsed time is on Meta's side and largely outside IcloneU's control — budget 10 to 30 minutes.

1. Start a new WhatsApp connection

   Open Connections in the left sidebar, click New connection, and pick WhatsApp. IcloneU shows a short intro that explains you'll click a button to open the WhatsApp signup flow, notes that if you already use the WhatsApp Business app on your phone you may be offered the option to keep using it alongside IcloneU (Coexistence mode), and says that otherwise the flow guides you to register or migrate your number. It links out to this guide for the detail. On Meta's side, the embedded signup grants IcloneU the WhatsApp business messaging and management permissions.

2. Log in with Facebook

   Click through and IcloneU redirects you to Meta's login. Sign in with the Facebook account that owns (or can manage) your Meta Business Account, and approve the permissions Meta presents.

   Note

   If your Facebook account isn't linked to a Meta Business Account yet, Meta walks you through creating one before continuing.

3. Select or create the WhatsApp Business Account

   Meta asks which WhatsApp Business Account this connection should attach to. Pick the right one (most people have only one), or let Meta create one.

4. Register and verify the phone number

   Enter the phone number to use for this connection, including the country code — double-check the country selector, since Meta's default is sometimes wrong. Meta sends a 6-digit code by SMS or voice call; enter it to verify ownership. If the number is already on the Business Platform under your account, pick it from the existing-numbers list instead.

   Tip

   No code arriving? SMS can be filtered on VoIP numbers — wait a couple of minutes, then request a fresh code and try the voice option. If Meta says the number is "already in use," it's still active on a WhatsApp app somewhere: delete that account (or use a different number) and retry.

5. Let Meta finish its review (first-time only)

   For accounts new to WhatsApp Business, Meta runs a brief review of your business (display name, category, legal info). This often completes instantly; occasionally it takes a few hours. You can proceed — the connection becomes active once Meta clears the review.

6. Choose which numbers IcloneU connects

   Back in IcloneU on the WhatsApp Phones step, the subtitle confirms "Your account was successfully authenticated. Choose the WhatsApp phone numbers that you want IcloneU to connect to." Select your number and finish. It now appears on the Connections page as a row identified by the phone number, with an active status indicator.

Attaching a Clone and enabling it

A connected number does nothing on its own — incoming messages will queue in Messages but won't be auto-replied until a Clone is attached. Open the WhatsApp connection's settings panel from the Connections page to wire it up.

• Clone — pick the Clone that answers on this number from the dropdown ("The clone that will reply on behalf of this integration."). On a fresh connect it may auto-populate your Clone, but you must Save for it to persist.
• Enabled — the master switch. "When off, incoming messages and comments for this account are ignored. Tokens are kept so you can re-enable without reconnecting."
• Reply timing — "Inherit the team's reply schedule and delay, or customize them for this account." Use this to hold replies to business hours or add a human-like delay.

For the full attach-and-enable walkthrough that applies across every channel, see Assigning a Clone to a platform. To confirm it works, have someone message your business number from a different phone — the inbound should land in Messages within seconds, and if a Clone is attached, its reply follows within seconds too.

The 24-hour window and message templates

This is the single most important WhatsApp rule to understand, because it decides whether your Clone can reply at all. It's Meta's anti-spam mechanism, enforced at the platform level — IcloneU cannot bypass it.

When a customer messages your business number, a 24-hour customer-service window opens. Inside it, your Clone can send free-form replies — plain or formatted text, images, audio, video, documents, stickers, contacts, locations. Every new message from the customer resets the clock, so a back-and-forth conversation stays inside the window naturally. The window starts on the customer's message timestamp and resets on inbound — your Clone replying does not extend it.

The window is per-customer, not per-account: Customer A's window and Customer B's window are independent, and inbound messages from customers are always delivered no matter how long it's been. So in practice, an actively-replying Clone rarely hits the wall — the window only bites when a customer goes silent for 24+ hours and you want to follow up.

Disconnecting a WhatsApp number

To remove a WhatsApp connection, select its row on the Connections page and click Remove in the toolbar, then confirm. Disconnecting in IcloneU stops the message pipeline — incoming WhatsApp messages stop reaching IcloneU within minutes, and the attached Clone stops auto-replying.

What disconnecting does not do: it doesn't delete the phone number from the WhatsApp Business Platform (it stays registered under your Meta Business Account, so you can reconnect it later), and it doesn't automatically revoke IcloneU's access grant on Meta's side. For a security disconnect, also revoke the integration in Meta Business Manager → Business Settings → Integrations (or Apps / System Users, depending on your setup). And note that disconnect can't recall replies the Clone already sent — WhatsApp is fire-and-forget once Meta accepts a message.

Troubleshooting

Two symptoms cover almost everything: a customer's message never reaches IcloneU, or it arrives but the Clone doesn't reply. Diagnose by looking at the conversation in the Messages surface first — whether the inbound message shows up tells you which side the problem is on.

The inbound message never appears in Messages. That points at the webhook side (Meta isn't delivering to IcloneU):

• The connection status is amber/red — an authentication or permission issue on Meta's side. Try Reconnect from the Connections toolbar to refresh the grant.
• Meta's first-time review is still pending — a brand-new WhatsApp Business Account can show amber until Meta clears its review. Check the connection's detail for the specific pending step and wait.
• The webhook isn't registered or points at the wrong place — in Meta Business Manager → WhatsApp Manager, confirm the webhook is subscribed to the messages event and shows no recent 4xx/5xx failures to IcloneU's endpoint. If it's out of sync, disconnecting and reconnecting re-registers it.
• Meta restricted the number — a low quality rating or policy issue can make Meta stop delivering. Check Meta Business Manager for any health notice on the number.

The inbound appears, but no reply goes out. That's the Clone side. Work down this list:

• No Clone is attached — open the connection's settings, pick a Clone, and Save.
• The connection is Enabled off — the master switch ignores all incoming messages while off. Turn it on.
• The 24-hour window has closed — the most common cause. If the customer's last message is more than 24 hours old, free-form replies are blocked and only a template will send. Check the customer's most recent inbound timestamp in Messages.
• The Clone's Knowledge library is set to refuse — "Answer from library only" on with no matching content, or lookup strictness set too tight, can silence the Clone. Loosen strictness or confirm the library covers the question.
• The Clone tried and the send failed — look for a failed outbound entry against the customer. A window-related or template-required failure means you're outside the window; other failures are worth reporting to support.

If you've worked through all of the above and a fresh test message from a different phone still doesn't get answered, escalate to support with: the connection's phone number, the affected customer's number, the timestamp of an inbound that wasn't replied to, and screenshots of the Connections page (showing status), the Messages surface (showing the inbound), and the Clone's Knowledge tab.

Frequently asked