Connecting your clinic's own WhatsApp Business account
A WhatsApp reminder lands where patients already talk. The automatic messages go from the clinic's own WhatsApp Business account, and connecting it means a few steps at Meta. This guide walks through them as the screens show them: what to prepare, the two ways in, what comes after, and what to do when a step fails.
For many clinics in the region, WhatsApp is already where patients talk to them. The automatic messages — the appointment reminder with Confirm and Reschedule buttons, the booking confirmation, the pay link and the rest — go from the clinic's own WhatsApp Business account, which the clinic connects once and Meta bills directly.
One thing first: the «Send on WhatsApp» buttons, which open a ready message on the staff member's own device, need no setup at all. This guide is about the automatic messages only, and describes the screens as they are in Settings → Notifications → WhatsApp. Only the clinic's owner connects it; a manager can see the page and follow along.
What you need before you start
- The Facebook account you use for the clinic's business: its Facebook page or its Meta business portfolio.
- The clinic's phone number, able to receive an SMS or a call for the verification code. A new number works, as does one not on WhatsApp, or one in the WhatsApp Business app on the clinic's phone, where it can stay. A number on the ordinary WhatsApp app moves to the WhatsApp Business app first.
- A bank card to add at Meta for the WhatsApp Business account, because Meta charges the clinic for the messages directly.
- The owner's password, and two-factor code if it is on: both are asked for before any connection or change.
- Enough time: about ten minutes for one-click, about half an hour for the guided setup.
No card, nothing sent
Meta refuses every message from a WhatsApp Business account with no payment method. The checklist's «Payment method at Meta» step reminds you and opens Meta's billing page; add the card before you wait for the first reminder, then press «Check again».
Which way in to choose
If the page shows a «Connect WhatsApp» button, it is the easiest way: you sign in with Facebook in a window, finish Meta's steps, and we do the rest. If the «Guided setup» card says one-click isn't available on this platform yet, use the guided setup: you create a Meta app for the clinic and copy a few values from it, and we check each one as you type.
Way one: «Connect WhatsApp» in one click
1. Say where the number is today
Press «Connect WhatsApp», then answer «Where is the clinic's WhatsApp number today?». «In the WhatsApp Business app on the clinic's phone» keeps it in the app, with its chats; «A new number, or one not on WhatsApp at all» moves it onto WhatsApp's business platform, so it can't be used in an app afterwards; «In the ordinary WhatsApp app» asks you to move it to the WhatsApp Business app first, then choose the first answer.
2. Confirm you are the owner
Enter your current password, and your two-factor code if asked, then press «Confirm and continue». Your answer then shows as a sentence with «Change» beside it, which opens the question again and asks for your password again.
3. Finish Facebook's window
Press «Continue with Facebook» and allow pop-ups. In the window, choose or create the clinic's business portfolio, then the WhatsApp Business account, add the clinic's number and enter the code you receive, type the display name as it appears on the clinic's sign, then allow access. You have 30 minutes from «Confirm and continue» to finish it, so don't close it half-way.
4. Let the checklist run
Back on the page, the «Setup checklist» runs by itself: we register the number, subscribe to your account, submit the message templates to Meta and check the «Payment method at Meta». The status turns «Connected — waiting for Meta to approve the messages», then «Connected», and a «What happens next» box says what is left.
5. Send a test message
Optional: type your own mobile in international form and press «Send a test message»; Meta's sample message «Hello World» arrives, in English, from the clinic's number.
Way two: the guided setup with the clinic's own Meta app
1. Create the app
On Meta's developer site, create an app with the use case for connecting with customers through WhatsApp, and choose the clinic's business portfolio.
2. Add the clinic's number
In WhatsApp Manager, add the number and the display name, and enter the code sent by SMS or call.
3. Make a permanent access token
In Business settings → System users, add a system user with the Admin role, assign it the app and the WhatsApp Business account, then generate a token that never expires with the permissions to manage the account and send messages. The token shown on the app's API Setup page is temporary: don't use it.
4. Copy the two IDs and the app secret
From the app's API Setup page, with the clinic's number selected, copy the Phone number ID and the WhatsApp Business Account ID — not the phone number itself — each into its own box, then the app secret from the app's basic settings.
5. Paste them and confirm
Paste the four values into the guided setup; we check them with Meta as you type and say what is wrong if anything is. Then your password and «Connect».
6. Finish what the checklist asks
You may be asked for a six-digit PIN to register the number; choose one and write it down. If the «Delivery reports and replies» step isn't green, paste the callback URL and verify token shown on it into your app's settings, and subscribe to messages and template status updates. Then add the card from the «Payment method at Meta» step.
7. The test message
As in way one. If you are trying it with Meta's test number, first add your mobile to the app's list of allowed numbers.
After connecting: review, the card, and patients' agreement
- Meta reviews the message templates: each shows «Waiting for Meta's review», then «Approved». Until a template is approved in a patient's language, that patient gets the message by email or notification as before, and you can press «Check again» whenever you like.
- Add the card from the «Payment method at Meta» step, which opens Meta's billing page for the WhatsApp Business account, if you haven't yet, then press «Check again». The «What happens next» box counts the patients who have agreed.
- WhatsApp messages go only to patients who agreed: record it on the patient's file by reading them the sentence shown, or the patient ticks it when booking online, at the check-in kiosk or in the patient portal. Existing patients start without agreement, and replying STOP ends the messages.
- Choose what goes on WhatsApp: the reminder is on by default; booking confirmations, video-visit links, pay links and forms links when you switch them on.
- Watch the health panel: the number's quality, its daily messaging limit, the last update received from WhatsApp, and each template's status.
What it costs, and who pays
The account is the clinic's, and the bill comes from Meta directly, not from the software subscription. Meta charges for the messages it delivers, at a rate that depends on the message's category and the patient's country, and publishes its rates on its pricing page. Our templates are service messages about the patient's own appointments and bills, not marketing; if Meta re-classes one as marketing, we stop sending it on WhatsApp and it goes by email. You decide what is sent, and only to patients who agreed.
When a step fails
| What the screen says | What to do |
|---|---|
| That took more than 30 minutes | Enter your password again, «Confirm and continue», then «Continue with Facebook» and pick the account and number you just set up |
| The browser blocked the Facebook window | Allow pop-ups for the site and press again |
| This is a temporary token | Make a system-user token that never expires |
| You pasted the WhatsApp Business Account ID in the Phone number ID box | Copy each ID from the API Setup page into its own box |
| This Phone number ID isn't in that WhatsApp Business account | Copy both IDs from the same page, with the clinic's number chosen |
| This number already has a different two-step verification PIN | Enter that PIN, or change it in WhatsApp Manager |
| Meta refused to send: there is no valid payment method | Add a card on Meta's billing page, then «Check again» |
| Meta cancelled our access, or Facebook's window finished without a number | The owner presses «Connect again» in the status box |
| Meta rejected one of our message wordings | The reason is beside it; tell support so we send a new wording — meanwhile those patients get email |
| The patient hasn't agreed to WhatsApp messages | Record their agreement on their file; until then they get email |
The system's built-in assistant walks you through these steps in Arabic, English or French and, for the owner and managers, checks what is missing on the clinic's own WhatsApp Business account and names the step that is stuck. For more answers see the FAQ, and for cutting no-shows with reminders read our guide to patient no-shows.
WhatsApp from the clinic's own number
Reminders and confirmations sent automatically from the clinic's own WhatsApp Business account to patients who agreed, in each patient's language, with Meta billing the clinic directly; anyone who hasn't agreed keeps getting email.
See the features