Your AI answers WhatsApp — messages, voice notes, and calls (beta) — on your existing number. No porting: your number’s normal phone calls and SMS keep working. It’s the same agent brain as your phone line — same knowledge, actions, booking, and extraction.
Where: open an agent → WhatsApp. Included in all plans.
Setup is white-glove: we connect your number with you during onboarding (one-click connect is coming). This page explains what you’ll need and how the channel behaves once it’s live.
What your customers get
- Texts answered instantly — same answers as your phone agent, grounded in your knowledge.
- Voice notes answered with voice notes — a customer sends a voice note (any language); the agent transcribes it and replies with a voice note in its own call voice (text if a voice reply isn’t possible).
- WhatsApp voice calls (beta) — a call button in your WhatsApp chat; the customer taps it and the same voice pipeline that answers your phone answers the call.
- Continuity — conversation history carries across messages in the same thread, so the agent remembers context and doesn’t make people repeat themselves.
Connecting your number
Before you start
- The number must be registered on the WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) — that’s what we set up with you during onboarding.
- The number must not be active on the consumer WhatsApp app or the WhatsApp Business app. If it is, that app account has to be deleted first — and chat history does not migrate.
- Registering on the Cloud API does not affect the number’s normal phone calls or SMS.
The WhatsApp tab
Enter your Meta identifiers
On the agent’s WhatsApp tab, fill in:
- Meta Phone Number ID — from Meta’s WhatsApp setup page.
- WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) ID — the account the number belongs to.
- Display Number (optional) — the human-readable number, for your own reference.
Paste an Access Token
The token field is write-only — once saved, only a **** hint of it is shown.
Use a permanent system-user token, not the temporary one from Meta’s API-setup page:
- In Meta Business Settings → System users, create (or reuse) a system user.
- Generate a token with the
whatsapp_business_messagingandwhatsapp_business_managementpermissions.
Save
Saving does more than store the fields — it verifies with Meta that the token actually controls that phone number, and auto-subscribes your WABA to Televox’s app so messages start flowing. If anything’s off, you’ll see Meta’s exact reason so it’s fixable on the spot.
Don’t use the temporary token from Meta’s API-setup page — it expires in about 23 hours, and when it does the channel silently stops replying. Always use a permanent system-user token.
Toggles and limits
- Enabled — the master switch. Off means inbound WhatsApp messages are ignored.
- Voice calls (beta) — adds or removes the call button in your customers’ WhatsApp chat (it flips Meta’s per-number calling setting). Meta may refuse to enable calling until the number has some messaging history — if so, the exact reason is shown.
- Daily message limit — defaults to your plan’s messages/day and is capped at it. It counts customer messages the AI answers, and the counter is shared with the web chat widget.
| Plan | Messages/day |
|---|---|
| Trial | 100 |
| Starter — $99 | 500 |
| Growth — $299 | 2,000 |
| Scale — $799 | 5,000 |
| Enterprise | Custom |
WhatsApp numbers draw from the same included-numbers pool as phone numbers (Trial/Starter 1, Growth 3, Scale 10), and WhatsApp call minutes (beta) count against your plan’s included minutes and one concurrency slot — see Plans & billing.
Follow-up templates
The send_whatsapp_template post-call action sends an approved template message after a call —
appointment confirmations, summaries, links. Templates use positional body variables ({{1}}, {{2}}, …)
which you map to {{name}}, {{phone}}, or any {{var.x}} from the call.
Templates are created and approved in Meta Business Manager under your own WABA. Meta bills its conversation fees directly to your WABA — Televox doesn’t mark them up.
Campaigns and opt-in
WhatsApp campaigns require attested, documented opt-in — you confirm it with a checkbox at campaign creation, and it’s enforced in-product. WhatsApp is for people who asked to hear from you, not cold outreach.
- The Do-Not-Call list, calling window, and daily caps all apply.
- If a contact replies asking to stop, the opt-out is honored automatically — zero configuration.
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause |
|---|---|
| Agent stopped replying | The access token expired — you saved a temporary token. Generate a permanent system-user token and save it again. |
| No call button in the chat | The Voice calls (beta) toggle is off, or Meta refused to enable calling for the number (often: not enough messaging history). The tab shows Meta’s exact reason. |
| Messages not arriving at all | The Enabled toggle is off — inbound messages are ignored while it’s off. Also check the daily message limit hasn’t been hit. |
FAQ
What does WhatsApp cost? It’s included in every plan (see the limits table above). Meta’s conversation fees are billed by Meta directly to your WhatsApp Business account — Televox doesn’t mark them up.
Can I use my existing business number? Yes — that’s the point. No porting, and the number’s normal phone calls and SMS keep working. It just can’t be simultaneously registered on the consumer or Business app (see below).
My number is already on the WhatsApp app — can I connect it? Yes, but the app account must be deleted first; a number can’t be on the app and the Cloud API at the same time.
Will my existing WhatsApp chat history move over? No — there’s no chat-history migration from the consumer/Business app to the Cloud API. Save anything you need before deleting the app account.
Can the agent call customers on WhatsApp? Inbound calls (the customer taps the call button) are live in beta. Outbound WhatsApp callbacks are coming soon, and — per Meta’s rules — only to non-US numbers.