The WhatsApp Business API,
without the developer project.
The API itself has no screen. Meta gives you an endpoint; what a business actually needs is the software in front of it — an inbox, templates, automations and a customer record. That is what TicAte is, and it connects to your number in a few minutes without anyone opening a developer console.
What is the WhatsApp Business API?
The WhatsApp Business API is Meta’s official channel for businesses to send and receive WhatsApp messages programmatically. It has no app or interface of its own, so you use it through a platform like TicAte: the platform holds the inbox, the templates, the automations and the reporting, and talks to Meta’s Cloud API underneath. Connecting takes minutes through Meta Embedded Signup, an existing number can keep working on the WhatsApp Business app through Coexistence, and Meta charges for conversations separately, directly to your own WhatsApp Business Account.
An endpoint is not a product
Everything below is the part Meta does not give you — and the reason most businesses never touch the raw API at all.
A shared team inbox
Every conversation in one queue, live over websockets. Assign, tag, add notes, quote-reply and react — the whole team on one number, instead of one handset passed around.
Connected in minutes
Meta Embedded Signup runs inside a popup: sign in, pick or create the WhatsApp Business Account, verify the number. No developer dashboard, and no access token ever pasted by hand.
Keep the number you already use
Coexistence runs the WhatsApp Business app on the phone and the API on the same number at once. Your chat history and contacts come across; nothing on the handset stops working.
Templates and broadcasts
Write, submit and track Meta templates from inside the app, then broadcast to a segment with per-recipient delivery, read and failure reporting — throttled to respect your messaging tier.
Chatbots and automations
A visual builder for keyword bots, button and list menus, questions, an AI step and handover to a human. Triggers, conditions and actions, with a run history for each one.
Tokens you never see
Access and verify tokens are encrypted with AES-256-GCM before they reach the database, every inbound Meta webhook is HMAC-verified, and every query is scoped to your workspace server-side.
From nothing to a live number, in about a week
Check the number and the business
We confirm the number is eligible, whether it should come across with Coexistence, and that you hold admin on the Facebook Business account behind it.
Run Embedded Signup
A Meta popup handles sign-in, WhatsApp Business Account selection, number verification and the webhook subscription. It takes a few minutes and you never leave the app.
Name and verify the business
Your display name goes to Meta for approval, and we walk you through business verification — the step that raises your messaging limits and unlocks flows.
Load templates and invite the team
We write and submit your first templates, import contacts, set up the pipeline and automations, and add your agents. Then you send.
Business app, raw API, or a platform
Three ways to run WhatsApp for a business. The middle column is what you get if you build on Meta’s Cloud API yourself.
| WhatsApp Business app | Raw Cloud API, built in-house | TicAte | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Agents on one number | A few linked devices | Unlimited, if you build it | Unlimited, with assignment |
| Time to first message | Minutes | Weeks of engineering | Minutes to connect |
| Keep your existing number | Yes | Only if you handle Coexistence | Yes, with Coexistence |
| Broadcasts | 256 saved contacts | You write the throttling | Segments, scheduled, reported |
| Chatbot and AI | Canned replies | You build it | Visual builder, bring your own model |
| Catalogue and orders | On the phone only | Commerce API, by hand | Managed and synced from the app |
| CRM and pipeline | No | A separate project | Built in, or joined to TicAte CRM |
| Who you pay | Nobody | Meta, plus your engineers | Meta for conversations, TicAte for the software |
WhatsApp Business API questions
Is the WhatsApp Business API free?
How long does it take to go live?
Can I keep the number I already use?
Do I need Meta business verification?
Is this the official API or an unofficial workaround?
What is the 24-hour window?
The rest of the WhatsApp platform
WhatsApp Coexistence
Keep the app on your phone and give the team the same number. How it works, and what is imported.
Read moreWhatsApp chatbot
A visual builder for keyword bots, button menus, questions and handover to a human — no code.
Read morePricing
Four plans, what each includes, and exactly which charges are Meta’s rather than ours.
Read more