FAQ - Documentation

Business Approval
What are the requirements for a business to be approved for WhatsApp?
Compliance with WhatsApp policies and use cases that respect WhatsApp guidelines. WhatsApp requires compliance with their:
​WhatsApp Business Solution Terms​
​WhatsApp Business Solution Policy​
​Commerce Policy​
What are possible reasons why my business might not get pre-approval?
a) You offer or sell
Illegal, prescription or recreation drugs, including marijuana
Tobacco products and related paraphernalia
Unsafe supplements
Weapons, ammunition or explosives
Animals
Adult items or services
Alcohol
Adult health items
Real money gambling services
Goods, items, or posts that we determine may be or are fraudulent, misleading, deceptive or offensive
Items or products with overtly sexualized positioning
Products or items that facilitate or encourage unauthorized access to digital media which do not comply with Facebook's policies.
b) Your audience might be younger than 16.
c) You request a phone number for countries or regions where WhatsApp/Facebook do not operate. See the Blocked Countries list below. 
Phone numbers
Can I migrate from another Business Solution Provider?
Yes! Number Porting to 360dialog is becoming available starting July 20, 2021. If you have a WhatsApp Business API number that is already set up and running with another BSP, you can migrate it to us. Contact our Sales team for more information.
Can I upgrade from a mobile WhatsApp consumer number or a mobile/landline WhatsApp Business client number?
Yes, sure! Just read our blog article.
Technically we can set up existing numbers if they are linked to the WhatsApp Business client (or, with some more effort, numbers linked to a regular WhatsApp consumer client), BUT we cannot migrate numbers that have been set up by another Business Solution Provider. This is not possible from a technical perspective.
What are possible reasons for a number registration to fail?
a) A client is installed (WhatsApp consumer client or WhatsApp Business client)
b) The WhatsApp Business profile is still linked to the WhatsApp Business client. Make sure that your profile gets deleted first which might require that you reinstall an already uninstalled WhatsApp for Business client before you can delete the profile.
Can I change my phone number?
This can be achieved by setting up a new phone number, and by phasing out the old phone number. New phone numbers will start again at the lowest quality tier and will be automatically upgraded to higher tiers as more messages with a high quality are sent.
How can I tell the difference between a WhatsApp Business client and a WhatsApp Business API-setup?
WhatsApp doesn't have many differentiators to distinguish a WhatsApp Business API-integration from a WhatsApp Business client. It's difficult to impossible for a user to find out that the integration is with the WhatsApp Business API. The only visual way is the green badge for an Official Business Account.

Consent
Where can I obtain user opt-in for WhatsApp?
During the online transaction process
While setting up user profile and preferences
Via email, SMS, or within the mobile app
Via phone interactive voice response (IVR)
What's required to get the opt-in?
In short:
User action, such as entering a phone number, checking an "I agree" box
Explicit language containing "I agree to receive [noun], [logo and name], on [number]
Visual indication next to the WhatsApp name and log, such as a checkbox
Check out the WhatsApp guidelines and consider the WhatsApp branding guideline.
Hosting & Deployment
The WhatsApp stack consists of
a message gateway which represents the encrypted endpoint (aka WACORE),
an API-gateway that is used to configure settings and to send and receive messages and (aka WAWEB)
a database to store messages and files.
Default deployment will happen to Google's Cloud Platform hosting centre in Frankfurt, Germany.
Please go to Help and Support for more deployment options and locations.

Various
How long do you store 
Can I access the profile picture (=avatar) of the WhatsApp user?
No, there is no such feature.
Can I use location sharing?
WhatsApp Business API supports location sharing, but real-time location sharing is currently unsupported and will result in “Message type is unsupported”.
Does the server need to access the internet through 80/443 port?
Our servers are working only in HTTP SSL connection on port 443 (standard for HTTPS).
Communication to us is always realised by address IP 35.242.231.92.
Communication from us is always realised from one of those IPs:
35.198.146.146
34.107.11.70
35.198.149.42
34.107.127.141
34.107.46.228
35.246.233.206
34.107.83.191
35.246.191.205
35.242.238.177
35.246.218.172
35.234.98.51
34.89.217.102
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Human Escalation Path
What are acceptable methods of direct human escalation if a client is using automation in user-initiated messages?
Examples of direct channels supported include: human agent hand-off in chat, phone number, email, web support, support form and in-store visits. Escalation channels to social media accounts (Facebook, Messenger, Twitter, Telegram, etc.) are not supported because they require a user to have a login and account on another service. Furthermore, indirect channels such as a help center webpage or a link to an app do not meet this requirement.
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Blocked Countries
There are some countries that WhatsApp excludes from communicating with WhatsApp for Business numbers. Phone numbers from the following countries are blocked:
Crimea (+7978)
Cuba (+53)
Iran (+98)
North Korea (+850)
Syria (+963)