WhatsApp numbers

Every number on your WhatsApp Business Account is listed on WhatsApp → Settings → WhatsApp numbers, with what it needs next. Several numbers can be live at once - for example a sales number and a support number, or one per brand or branch - and each live number is answered by its own WhatsApp agent. Everyone can see the list; only admins can change it.

Number statuses

Status	What it means	What to do
Live	Your workspace answers and sends on this number. Answered by shows the agent that replies.	Nothing. To have an agent answer it, choose it in the agent’s Settings → WhatsApp.
Default (shown next to Live)	Messages that are not part of a conversation go from this number - see Which number sends.	Nothing. Make default on another live number to change it.
Needs verifying	The number is on your account but WhatsApp hasn’t confirmed you own it.	Verify - we send a 6-digit code by text or voice call.
Ready to register	Verified, not yet able to send.	Register and choose a 6-digit PIN.
Not live	Registered with WhatsApp, but your workspace doesn’t answer it (it was never made live, or it was stopped).	Make live.
Finishing setup	Connect with Meta is still finishing (registration or linking).	Wait, or follow the step on the connect card.
Not registered	WhatsApp says the number is no longer registered.	Register it again from this list.
Restricted by WhatsApp	WhatsApp limited or blocked the number.	Check the number in WhatsApp Manager.

Add a number

1. Click Add number.
2. Choose the country, type the number without the country code, and enter the display name customers will see (your business name - no web addresses or generic words; WhatsApp reviews it).
3. Verify it with the code WhatsApp sends by text or voice call.
4. Register it: choose a 6-digit two-step verification PIN and type it twice - you need it to move the number later. We keep it encrypted, so a workspace admin can see it again with Show PIN. If the number already had a PIN, enter that one. A new number is live as soon as it is registered (your other live numbers keep working); a number you had stopped stays Not live until you Make live.
5. Open the WhatsApp agent that should answer it and choose the number in its Settings → WhatsApp.

The number must be one you own that can receive a text or call, and it can’t be on the WhatsApp app or another WhatsApp Business account at the same time (delete that account first).

Which number sends

Customers always get replies from the number they wrote to:

• Chats (the agent’s replies, your team’s inbox replies, templates sent from the inbox, idle reminders, follow-ups from the outcome board) go from the number the conversation is on.
• Campaigns send from the number chosen in the campaign’s Send from (you can change it while the campaign is a draft).
• Starting a conversation with the API (POST /v1/whatsapp/conversations) uses the agent’s own number.
• Single messages with the API (POST /v1/whatsapp/messages) go from the number in from, or from the default number when you leave it out.
• Everything else that is not part of a conversation - a voice agent’s Send WhatsApp tool during a call, team alerts - goes from the default number.

Stop a number

Stop turns a live number off for your workspace without removing it from WhatsApp, so you can make it live again later. When you stop a number:

• open chats on it end, and its agent is unassigned;
• campaigns sending from it pause (the sending number was stopped) - make it live again and resume, or duplicate the campaign on another number;
• outcome-board WhatsApp follow-ups for conversations on it are skipped, never sent from another number;
• new messages to it still arrive in the inbox’s Unassigned tab so nothing is lost, but nobody can reply from it until it is live again.

The default number can’t be stopped: make another number the default first, or disconnect WhatsApp.

Release a number

Release takes a number off WhatsApp Cloud API, so you can use it with another provider or the WhatsApp app. You’ll need its PIN there. A live number is stopped first (its chats end and its campaigns pause). To release the default number, make another number the default first, or disconnect WhatsApp (tick Also release the number). Note the PIN with Show PIN before you disconnect: disconnecting deletes the stored PINs.

Quality, messaging limit and display name

• Quality (high, medium, low) is WhatsApp’s view of how customers react to your messages. Medium or low means customers blocked or reported you recently: send fewer promotional messages and review your templates. At low quality WhatsApp can limit the number, and campaigns pause themselves. We check each number’s quality (and your messaging limit) once a day: when it changes, the workspace owners and admins get an email (with what to do), and your systems get a whatsapp.number_quality_changed webhook. If Meta restricts or flags your WhatsApp account, owners and admins are emailed too (once a day at most) and a whatsapp.account_restricted webhook is sent.
• Messaging limit is how many different customers you can start conversations with in 24 hours (for example “Up to 1,000 new customers a day”). It belongs to your business, so all your numbers share it. Replies to customers who wrote first don’t count. WhatsApp raises it as you send good-quality messages.
• Sending speed is per number: up to 80 messages a second (WhatsApp raises busy numbers to 1,000), or 20 for a number that is also on the WhatsApp Business app.
• Display name shows as approved, in review, declined or expired. A declined or expired name is changed in WhatsApp Manager; until a name is approved WhatsApp may not deliver messages from the number.
• Data stored in India shows when WhatsApp keeps the number’s messages at rest in India (set when the number is first registered).

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