Skip to main content
Connect a WhatsApp number by linking your phone the same way as WhatsApp Web, then set the message and new-chat limits it works within.
Where
Integrations→Integrations→WhatsApp Accounts
Your role needs
Read access to WhatsApp Accounts read-whatsapp-accounts. Admin, Member and Viewer have it by default.
To create or change
create-whatsapp-accounts to add one, update-whatsapp-accounts to change one, on top of the permission above.
Your plan
Needs at least one seat for WhatsApp numbers.
If you cannot find this in your sidebar, your workspace may have a custom menu configuration. Contact support and we will check it for you.

​
Before you begin

  • Have the phone nearby, with WhatsApp installed and signed in. You link it the way you add a linked device to WhatsApp Web, so you never type your WhatsApp password here.
  • Decide whether you want to scan a QR code or type a pairing code. Both are offered on the first screen of the dialog, and you can switch between them until you generate one.

​
Steps

The dialog runs three steps, shown across the top: Start, Link device and Configure.
1

Start the connection

Go to and press Connect Account: in the toolbar if this workspace already has a number, in the middle of the screen if this is the first one.You can pick a Tag here, and it is optional. Leads created from this account’s conversations are tagged with it automatically, so you can filter and organize them later.Press Generate QR code. To type a code instead, press Use a pairing code instead first: a phone field appears, it takes the country code and number as digits (anything else is dropped as you type), and the button becomes Get pairing code.
2

Link your phone

On the phone, open WhatsApp and go to Linked devices. Then link a device and scan the code, or link with a phone number and type the code, whichever one you generated.The dialog waits, re-checking every few seconds, and moves on by itself once your phone confirms the link. If WhatsApp rotates the code while you wait, the dialog swaps in the new one and restarts the countdown. Refresh code counts down next to the code and only becomes pressable once that countdown reaches zero. After a few minutes with nothing linked, it stops checking and says “Timed out. Refresh the code and try again.”Ask for a fresh code rather than closing the dialog and starting the connection again. Linking and unlinking the same number repeatedly is itself one of the things WhatsApp restricts numbers for.
3

Set limits and delays

Once your phone confirms the link, the dialog moves to Configure on its own, headed by the linked account’s WhatsApp profile name, or its number if there is no profile name yet.Daily messages and Weekly messages are the total this number may send. New chats per day and New chats per week are a separate, much lower budget, and they cover only conversations this number opens with someone who has never messaged it. Writing to a stranger is the riskiest thing a WhatsApp number can do. Replying to someone who wrote to you never counts against that budget. It does count against the message limit, which covers everything the number sends. Where a field has a ceiling, it is printed next to its label.Min delay and Max delay are the gap, in seconds, the number leaves between one action and the next. Anything below 10 seconds is raised to 10 when you save.
WhatsApp can restrict a number that sends too fast, so keep the limits conservative and the delays generous. Active hours default to weekday business hours.
Press Save. The dialog closes and the list reloads.

​
What happens next

The number is on the WhatsApp Accounts page with an Active chip, and its Sending Today column shows how much of today’s message and new-chat budget it has used.
The 24-hour cooldown starts when your phone confirms the link, not when you press Save. For that first day the number opens no new conversations at all, while replies to people who message you send as normal. After it, the new-chat allowance climbs day by day until it reaches the number you set: see WhatsApp daily limits, new-chat budget and warm-up for how that ramp is paced. Clicking the row, or its Edit icon, opens that number’s own settings page, where you can change any of this later.

​
Troubleshooting

Every WhatsApp seat on your plan is in use. Hover the button and it says “You have reached your WhatsApp accounts limit. Upgrade your plan to connect more accounts.” Deleting a number you no longer use frees its seat, or change your plan.
That is what a newly linked number does. It waits 24 hours before opening any new conversation, then works up to the limit you set over its first several days. Replies are never held back by that. See WhatsApp daily limits, new-chat budget and warm-up for the whole ramp.

WhatsApp limits and warm-up

Why a number can send messages but not start a new chat, and how the ramp is paced.

WhatsApp Chat

Work two-way conversations with leads who have a phone number, from one list.

How your channel credentials are handled

What gets stored when you connect a channel, and how to disconnect.

Get a phone number for a lead

Reveal a lead’s phone number so you have something to message.