To connect WhatsApp, go to Settings → WhatsApp and enter your Phone Number ID and an access token from Meta's WhatsApp Business Cloud API. Once connected and set to Active, logging a WhatsApp activity on a lead actually sends the message through your business number, instead of only recording a note that you sent it manually elsewhere.
What you need before you start
A Meta Business Account with WhatsApp Business Platform (Cloud API) set up, and a phone number registered to it — this can't be a number already active on the regular consumer WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app; the Cloud API requires its own dedicated number. If you haven't set this up with Meta yet, that's the first step, done entirely on Meta's side before anything here.
Finding your credentials
In Meta for Developers, open your app and go to WhatsApp → API Setup. You'll find:
- Phone number ID — not your actual phone number, but the numeric ID Meta assigns to it internally. It's shown directly on this screen next to your registered number.
- Temporary access token — the API Setup screen generates one that lasts 24 hours,
meant for quick testing. For a connection that keeps working, generate a
permanent token instead from System Users in Meta Business Settings,
assigned to your WhatsApp Business app with the
whatsapp_business_messagingpermission. - Business account ID — optional in the CRM's form, but worth entering; it's your WhatsApp Business Account ID, shown on the same API Setup screen.
Paste the Phone Number ID and access token into the CRM's settings, set Status to Active, and save.
The one real limitation, worth knowing before you rely on this: WhatsApp's Cloud API restricts free-form text messages to a 24-hour customer service window — you can only send a plain message like this if the customer has messaged your business number within the last 24 hours. Outside that window, WhatsApp requires a pre-approved message template instead, which this integration does not currently send — only plain text. In practice, this means the connection works well for replying to an inbound WhatsApp enquiry quickly, but won't reliably re-open a conversation with a lead who went quiet more than a day ago. That's a genuine constraint of WhatsApp's own platform, not something specific to this CRM.
Using it once connected
Open any lead, log a new activity, and choose WhatsApp as the type. With the integration active, this sends the message through your connected number in addition to recording it in the lead's activity timeline — your team sees a single accurate history either way, whether the message actually sent or (outside the 24-hour window, or if credentials lapse) only got logged.
If messages aren't sending
Check Settings → WhatsApp first — Status has to be Active, and both the Phone Number ID and access token have to be present. If those look right and messages still fail, the most common cause outside credentials is the 24-hour window explained above; the second most common is a temporary access token that has expired (they last 24 hours) — regenerate a permanent one via System Users, as described above, rather than repeatedly pasting in a new temporary token.