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Getting Started

How Wably Works with Meta

The building blocks behind every WhatsApp automation — your Facebook login, Business Portfolio, WhatsApp Business Account, phone number and the Cloud API — and how Wably connects them.

WhatsApp is owned by Meta, the same company behind Facebook and Instagram. When a business wants to automate WhatsApp, Meta needs to know who the business is and which number it is using. That's why setting up Wably asks you to log in with Facebook — even if you never post on Facebook.

The five pieces#

Think of it like a building: each piece sits inside the one above it.

  1. Your personal Facebook profile — the login that proves a real person is setting things up. Nobody sees this profile; it is only used to sign in.
  2. Meta Business Portfolio (sometimes still called Business Manager) — the container for your company. It holds your Pages, ad accounts and WhatsApp accounts, and it is where business verification happens.
  3. WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) — lives inside your Business Portfolio. It holds your message templates, your payment method for WhatsApp charges, and one or more phone numbers.
  4. Phone number — the number your customers actually chat with. It has a display name, profile photo and a quality rating.
  5. WhatsApp Cloud API — Meta's official, Meta-hosted system for sending and receiving messages. Wably talks to the Cloud API on your behalf.
Facebook login
  └── Meta Business Portfolio  (your company)
        └── WhatsApp Business Account  (templates, billing)
              └── Phone number  (+91 …)  ⇄  Cloud API  ⇄  Wably

What Wably adds on top#

Meta's Cloud API only sends and receives messages. Everything else you see in Wably — chatbots, broadcasts, the shared inbox, AI agents, labels, follow-up sequences and integrations — is built by Wably around that connection.

Note

Because the WhatsApp Business Account belongs to your Business Portfolio, you always own your number, your templates and your quality history. Wably is connected to it; it doesn't take ownership of it.

Common words you'll see#

  • Cloud API — Meta's official API for WhatsApp. No servers to run; Meta hosts it.
  • Business Portfolio / Business Manager — the same thing. Meta renamed it.
  • WABA — WhatsApp Business Account.
  • Template — a pre-approved message you can send to customers outside the 24-hour chat window.
  • Customer service window — the 24 hours after a customer last messaged you, during which you can reply freely.
  • Subscriber — any contact who has chatted with your Wably number or been imported into it.
Need help? Email support@wably.in with a screenshot and your WhatsApp number — we're happy to help.