Migrate a phone number from Classic Signup WABA to Embedded Signup WABA

Historically, WhatsApp Business API accounts could only be created in a BSP's Business Manager and shared with the client's Business Manager. This is what is named Classic Signup.

A much better model was launched in early 2022, named Embedded Signup. With Embedded Signup, a Facebook pop-up is triggered and the client creates the WABA in their own Business Manager, by going through the Integrated Onboarding.

Key differences between WABA types created by the different signup flows

Since an Embedded Signup WABA presents much more features and visibility to clients, it is possible to migrate a number from the old to the new model. Here is how to do this.

Rules

• This migration will only move the phone number from one WABA to another, without changing the Business Manager. Both WABAs need to be in the same Business Manager, otherwise the process will fail.

• The client will need to go through signup themselves to create a new WABA.

• The client must have access to the phone number to receive the OTP.

• All numbers in the Classic Signup WABA will be migrated to the new WABA at the same time. If there are multiple numbers, is not possible to only migrate one.

• The phone number display name, OBA status, message limit and templates will be migrated to the new WABA.

Migration Process

1. Create a new destination WABA

The client will need to go through the signup flow to create a new destination WABA. The signup needs to be triggered via the Integrated Onboarding flow, as if they are a new client. This needs to be done with a new Client Hub Account, so the Client needs to register another user.

As a Partner, you may assist the client during signup, but should never go through it on behalf of the client. The client needs to create their own 360 Client Hub account under their owned email address and use their own Business Manager when registering a WABA.

During the signup process, when the Step 3 is reached (see below), the client can close the pop-up.

The new WABA account will appear in the Business Manager > WhatsApp Accounts.

Please remember to create the new WABA with a different name for better clarity during the migration.

2. Schedule number migration

Now that a new WABA is created, we can move the phone number from the old WABA to this new one.

You should reach out to us (via [email protected] or the Partner Chat) to schedule a time slot for the migration, which will require the client receiving and sharing the OTP. When reaching out, please share:

• Phone number

• Source WABA (old Classic Signup WABA the number is currently on)

• Destination WABA (new Embedded Signup WABA that was just created)

• Desired time slot for receiving the OTP

During this time slot, we will be available in a call or live chat to perform the migration.