How to Create a WhatsApp Business Account: App Setup, Profile and the API Route

Start with the app if one person can handle your chats. Move to the API when you need several people on one number, campaigns to a big list, or automation. The full comparison is in WhatsApp vs WhatsApp Business.

1. Install WhatsApp Business from the Google Play Store or Apple App Store. It is a separate app from WhatsApp Messenger, with a "Business" icon.
2. Agree to the terms and enter the phone number you want customers to use. It can be a mobile or landline number that can receive an SMS or call.
3. Verify the number with the six-digit code WhatsApp sends.
4. Enter your business name exactly as customers know you — it is what they see at the top of the chat.
5. Choose a business category (restaurant, clinic, retail and so on) and add a profile photo — usually your logo.
6. Complete the profile (next section) and you are ready to chat.

The number you register cannot be used on personal WhatsApp at the same time. If it is already your personal WhatsApp number, read the section on moving from personal WhatsApp first.

The profile is what a customer checks before they trust a message or a payment link from you. Fill in every field:

• Description — one or two lines on what you do and for whom. Ideas in WhatsApp business description examples.
• Address — with a map pin, if customers visit you.
• Business hours — so customers know when to expect a reply.
• Email and website — another way to check you are real.
• Catalogue — products or services with prices, so customers can browse before asking.

Then set up the three tools that save the most time: a greeting message for first-time chats, an away message for closed hours, and quick replies for the questions you answer every day. Starting points: greeting messages and auto-reply messages.

A catalogue lets customers browse what you sell without asking for a price list every time. In the WhatsApp Business app, open the business tools, choose Catalogue, and add items one by one: a photo, a name, a price and a short description. Group items into collections — "Haircuts", "Colour", "Packages" — so customers can find them quickly.

Keep it current: a catalogue with old prices does more harm than none. Share a single item in a chat when a customer asks about it, or share the whole catalogue link in your profile and on social media.

The Business app lets you link a few extra devices — a computer through WhatsApp Web or the desktop app, or another phone — to the same account. That helps a small team share the load: one person at the counter, another at a laptop. Open Linked devices in settings, choose Link a device and scan the QR code on the other device; see how to scan the WhatsApp Web QR code.

Linked devices share one inbox but there is no assignment, so two people can answer the same customer or both miss them. When that starts happening, a shared team inbox on the API is the fix — see WhatsApp team inbox.

If customers already message your personal WhatsApp number, you can switch it to the Business app and keep your chats:

1. Back up your chats in personal WhatsApp first (Settings → Chats → Chat backup).
2. Install WhatsApp Business on the same phone and enter the same number.
3. Accept the offer to move your account and chat history when the app detects your existing WhatsApp.
4. Set up the business profile as above.

Your personal WhatsApp then stops working on that number. Many owners keep their personal number personal and use a second number — a second SIM, a dual-SIM phone or a landline — for the business. That also makes a later move to the API easier, because the business number is not tied up with family chats.

An API account is not created in an app. It is a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) inside your Meta business portfolio, with one or more phone numbers registered to it. The steps:

1. Create a Meta business portfolio at business.facebook.com with your legal business name and website.
2. Verify the business with Meta — in India usually with a GST certificate, certificate of incorporation or Udyam registration.
3. Choose a number that is not active on the WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app.
4. Connect through a platform or directly — a platform such as Reputoo uses Meta's own sign-up, which creates the WABA inside your portfolio and registers the number.
5. Get your first message templates approved and start messaging customers who opted in.

Details, with each screen, are in how to get the WhatsApp Business API, and what a WABA is in what is a WABA.

The WhatsApp Business app is free — no subscription and no charge per message.

On the WhatsApp Business API, creating the account and registering numbers is free; Meta charges per delivered message. For Indian numbers on the October 1, 2026 rate card, before GST, a marketing message costs ₹0.8631 and a utility or authentication message ₹0.115. Since 1 October 2026, replies inside the 24-hour window are charged at the utility rate too. A platform adds its own subscription — Reputoo plans start at ₹999 a month with no markup on Meta's rates. Estimate your bill with the WhatsApp API cost calculator.

Creating an account does not give you a verified badge. On the API, verifying your business with Meta raises your messaging limit and shows your display name; the separate verified badge (the "green tick") is granted by Meta to notable brands, and applying does not guarantee it. What it takes and how to apply: WhatsApp verified badge (green tick).

For most small businesses, a complete profile, a recognisable name and logo, and consistent, useful messages build more trust than a badge.

• "This number is already registered." The number is active on another WhatsApp app. Move or delete that account first.
• Verification code not arriving. Wait for the timer, then choose the voice call option; check the number has signal and is entered with the right country code.
• Landline number. Choose "Call me" during verification, since a landline cannot receive the SMS.
• Business name rejected on the API. The display name must match your business; generic names and names with extra keywords get rejected.
• Account banned. Usually caused by bulk messaging people who did not opt in, or using unofficial "bulk sender" tools. See how to unblock a WhatsApp account.

1. Profile complete: logo, description, address, hours, website.
2. Greeting message, away message and five quick replies saved.
3. Catalogue with your top ten products or services and current prices.
4. Labels for the stages you care about: new enquiry, quoted, paid, follow up.
5. Your WhatsApp number on your bills, shop sign, website and social profiles — with "Save us on WhatsApp".
6. A wa.me link or website chat button so customers can start a chat in one tap.
7. A rule for the team: every new chat answered the same day.

The app is enough until one of these happens:

• More than one or two people need to answer customers from the same number.
• You want to send offers or updates to hundreds or thousands of customers, not just those who saved your number — see WhatsApp bulk message sender.
• Customers message at night and you want an AI agent to answer and book.
• You want messages triggered automatically by orders, bookings or payments.

Then it is time for the WhatsApp Business API. You can keep the same number — it just moves from the app to the API.