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Connect WhatsApp with the number you already use

The two ways to connect WhatsApp, what details you need, and what happens to the history on the phone.

Channels

WhatsApp is connected from Connections → Channels. There are two cards, and it pays to know which one you need before starting, because the path is different.

Which of the two

WhatsApp Hybrid is the short path. The number keeps working in the WhatsApp Business app on the phone and also arrives in meruma: whatever someone answers from the phone shows up here, and the other way round. It is what almost every business already answering from a mobile wants.

WhatsApp (Meta’s official API) is for those who already have a Meta app set up with the Cloud API. The number stops working in the phone app and is answered only from meruma.

In both cases the number and the WhatsApp Business account belong to your business, not to us: if you ever leave, the number leaves with you.

Connect WhatsApp Hybrid

  1. In Channels, click Connect on the WhatsApp Hybrid card.
  2. Read the preparation step and click Continue with Facebook.
  3. A Meta window opens. Sign in, choose or create the WhatsApp Business account, and follow the steps to the end.
  4. When you finish, the window closes on its own and the connection is created. The screen shows WhatsApp Hybrid connected.

If you close the Meta window before finishing, meruma tells you the linking was cancelled and you can start over with nothing left half done.

Connect WhatsApp through the official API

You need three details from your Meta app dashboard, under your app → WhatsApp → API Setup:

  1. In Channels, click Connect on the WhatsApp card.
  2. Fill in the WhatsApp Business Account ID (WABA ID) and the Phone Number ID. Careful with the second one: it is the identifier of the number, not the phone number.
  3. Paste the Access token. It is stored encrypted on the server and never shown again.
  4. Click Validate credentials. Meta answers with the number’s details.
  5. Confirm that this is the number you want to connect.

What happens to old conversations

They are not imported. Meta does not hand over history from before the connection, on either path. In meruma, history starts with the first message that arrives once connected.

If the number was in the WhatsApp Business app, that history stays on the phone.

Reconnecting when the token expires

If the access token expires, the channel stops receiving. In that case, Reconnect on the connection asks only for a new token: the number and the account stay fixed and the conversation history is kept.

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