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Set Up Your WhatsApp Channel with WhatsApp Cloud API

Hoory supports the official WhatsApp Business API. You can connect the phone number and start managing your WhatsApp customer queries from Hoory. Follow the steps given below to enable your WhatsApp inbox with WhatsApp Cloud API.

Prerequisites

1. Configure your Facebook Developer App

First, you need to create your Facebook Developer app, with WhatsApp Product enabled. Go to the WhatsApp Cloud API Guide and navigate to section called Set up Developer Assets and Platform Access and follow the steps.

Once you finish this step, you can now configure your phone numbers in the WhatsApp section of your Facebook developer app. If you complete the steps successfully, you should be able to obtain the Phone Number Id and Whatsapp Bussiness Account ID as shown in the below screenshot. Hoory will require these values for creating the WhatsApp Inbox.

Whatsapp Section Developer App

2. Configure a System User for Your Facebook Business Manager

Create a system user in your Business Manager with access to the WhatsApp. Generate an access token for the user, which will be required as the API key for setting up an inbox in Hoory.

When generating the access token, make sure the whatsapp_business_management, and whatsapp_business_messaging permissions are selected.

Step 1. Create a system user in the System Users tab of Business Manager.

Step 2. Add the system user. Under the WhatsApp Accounts tab, select “Add People” and select the system user to grant access to the WhatsApp Business account.

Add System user

Step 3. Generate the access token and request permissions.

Generate Token

Refer this video for detailed steps.

Setup WhatsApp Inbox in Hoory

Step 1. Open your Hoory dashboard. Go to Settings → Inboxes → Add Inbox.

Add Inbox

Step 2. Click the "WhatsApp" icon.

Select Channel

Step 3. Choose "WhatsApp Cloud" as the API provider. Fill in the appropriate details.

Choose Provider

ValuesDescription
NameChoose a name for your Inbox. E.g. Your Business Name.
Phone NumberFill in the phone number you have configured in Facebook Developer App.
Phone Number IDThe phone number ID for the number as obtained in prerequisites
Bussiness Account IDThe Business Account ID for the number as obtained in prerequisites.
API KeyThe Business Account User's access token for the number as obtained in prerequisites.
Webhook Verify TokenThis token is required while configuring Webhook in Facebook Developer App. Fill in a secure alphanumeric string that you wish.

Finish the steps to obtain your Whatsapp Webhook Callback URL.

Enable the Webhook

Configure the webhook in Facebook Developer App.

Head back to the WhatsApp section in the Facebook Developer App. Navigate to the Configuration subsection and set up the Callback URL.

  • The value for the URL should be the same URL you obtained at the end of your Hoory inbox creation and will look like https://app.hoory.com/webhooks/whatsapp/+{phone_number}.
  • The value for the verify token should be the same value you configured for the Webhook Verify Token during inbox creation.

You should also subscribe to message fields events under Webhooks Fields on your Facebook Developer app.

Once you finish all the steps, the section should look like the following screenshot.

Webhook Section

FAQ

How to configure multiple numbers under a single Facebook app?

Facebook App allows configuring only a single Webhook endpoint. So, create inboxes in Hoory for all the numbers, as required. You will need to configure the Webhook URL provided for only one of these inboxes in the Facebook app so that all the other inboxes work.

Additional Inbox Settings

Your freshly configured WhatsApp inbox should now appear in your list of inboxes. To see this and to make additional settings in your WhatsApp inbox, go to Settings → Inboxes → click the gear icon on the associated WhatsApp inbox.

All the Additional Settings available are the same as those in your Twitter inbox. We recommend going through this link to understand the same.

Supported media types

Supported extensionsEnd userAgent Dashoard
Audio
audio/aacSupportedSupported
audio/mp4SupportedSupported
audio/mpegSupportedSupported
audio/amrSupportedSupported
audio/oggSupportedSupported
Document
text/plainSupportedSupported
application/pdfSupportedSupported
application/vnd.ms-powerpointSupportedSupported
application/mswordSupportedSupported
application/vnd.ms-excelSupportedSupported
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.wordprocessingml.documentSupportedSupported
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.presentationml.presentationSupportedSupported
application/vnd.openxmlformats-officedocument.spreadsheetml.sheetSupportedSupported
Image
image/jpegSupportedSupported
image/pngSupportedSupported
Video
video/mp4SupportedSupported
video/3gpSupportedNot Supported
Sticker
image/webpSupportedNot Supported

If you need help with any of the steps described in this document, please reach out to us on our GitHub discussions or Discord channel.