GrowthPains Client Onboarding

Connect Your WhatsApp Business Account

This is the first technical step in building your WhatsApp-based system. This page sets out what to have ready and what happens at each stage.

Choosing Which Number to Use

There are two routes. Decide before you start, because they need different things ready. Speak to your GrowthPains delivery lead if you are unsure.

A. Keep the number you use today. The number already running your WhatsApp Business app. It carries on working as it does now, and the system we build runs alongside it on the same number.

B. Use a different number. Your current WhatsApp is untouched. The new number is used only by the system we build. It must not be on WhatsApp at all, neither the WhatsApp Business app nor ordinary personal WhatsApp. A number already on WhatsApp has to be removed from it first.

What to Have Ready

For both routes:

• Your Facebook or Meta business login
• Your business name, business email address, and country
• Your website address. Meta requires this and uses it to confirm your business is genuine. If you do not have a website, tell us before you start and we will agree what to use instead.

If you already have a Meta Business Portfolio set up, you select it during the process rather than entering these details again.

If you are keeping your existing number (route A), you also need:

• The phone running your WhatsApp Business app
• The WhatsApp Business app must be the most updated version (v2.24.17 or newer)

If you are using a different number (route B), you need the phone or SIM for it, so you can receive a text message or a call while you are on the screen.

What Meta Will Ask You

The button at the bottom of this page opens a window run by Meta. You will be taken through six stages:

1. Sign in with your Facebook or Meta business login
2. Review what you are giving GrowthPains access to
3. Select your existing Meta business portfolio and WhatsApp Business account, or create them (route A or route B)
4. Add your phone number and choose whether the verification code comes by text message or phone call
5. Enter the code
6. Review the permissions, then click Finish

If You Keep Your Existing Number (route A)

At the number stage, Meta offers you the choice of connecting the WhatsApp Business app you already use.

When you choose it, WhatsApp sends a message to your business number containing a verification code. You tap Connect, then Connect to the Business Platform, then Confirm, which is where you decide about chat history (see below). You then paste the code back into the window and carry on.

The changes below happen as soon as you connect, not when the system goes live.

• Your team carries on as normal. Messages sent from the phone and messages sent by the system stay in step with each other. Nobody has to change how they work.
• Link your devices again. Anything currently linked to the account is disconnected when you connect. You re-link from the app in the usual way afterwards. Tell us what your team uses before you connect and we will confirm what works and help with anything that needs changing.
• Broadcast lists become read only. Existing lists stay visible. New ones cannot be created on the phone. Sending to many customers at once is handled through the Cloud API instead, so speak to your GrowthPains delivery lead if your team uses broadcast lists or expects to.
• Three chat features are turned off. Disappearing messages, view once, and live location stop working on individual chats. Group chats keep working on the phone, but they stay outside the Cloud API system.
• Meta may notify your customers. Meta says it will tell people who message you that the handling of their conversation has changed. Anything they receive comes from Meta rather than from you or GrowthPains. This is effectively a privacy notice from Meta.
• You can disconnect whenever you want. In your WhatsApp Business app: Settings, then Account, then Business Platform.

The Chat History Question

If you are keeping your existing number, Meta asks once whether you want GrowthPains to have access to your recent conversations in WhatsApp.

Saying yes means those past conversations are copied across to the system we are building for you. Saying no means the system starts from your next message.

Speak to your GrowthPains delivery lead before you answer. Some of what we agreed to build for you needs that history and some does not.

Two things to know. The answer is set once, and changing it later means disconnecting and starting again. Only attachments from the last two weeks come across in full. Anything older shows up as a note that a photograph or file was sent, without the file itself.

Before Anything Can Be Sent

Meta requires a payment method on your WhatsApp Business account. You add it yourself, and nothing sends until it is there.

Messages your team sends from the WhatsApp Business app stay free. Messages sent by the Cloud API system are charged by Meta at their rates, on your payment method. GrowthPains does not bill you for messaging. Speak to your GrowthPains delivery lead if you are unclear about pricing.

After You Click Finish

Leave this page open for a moment. Our setup begins the second you finish, and there is a short window for it.

If you are keeping your existing number, please also leave the WhatsApp Business app open for a while afterwards, because your information transfers during that time. How long it takes depends on how much there is and if you select to share your chat history with us.

We will confirm when the connection is live. If something goes wrong during the transfer, we will ask you to come back to this page and start again.