WhatsApp

WhatsApp is usually the busiest channel in Sela. Customers message your business number, the conversation lands in the inbox, and the AI assistant or your team replies. This page explains which connection path your workspace gets, how to connect, and the rules Meta enforces on WhatsApp conversations.

Which connection path you get#

Sela supports several ways to attach a WhatsApp number. Which ones appear in your workspace depends on what Sela has enabled for your workspace, so the catalog only shows the options you can actually use. Open Settings, Workspace setup, Integrations, then choose Add channel to see them.

If you do not see the card you expect, ask your Sela contact to check the WhatsApp connection paths for your workspace.

Before you start#

• You must be a workspace admin (the manage settings permission). See Team, roles and permissions.
• The workspace must not be read-only.
• You need a Meta Business account and a phone number that can receive the verification. A number that is still active in the regular WhatsApp app or the WhatsApp Business app cannot be registered to the Cloud API directly. Use a coexistence path instead, or migrate the number.
• For the AI to answer, the workspace needs an AI add-on with credits and an assistant profile with a brand name. See How the AI works.

Connect a number#

Our Partner (Cloud API)#

1. Open Integrations, choose Add channel, then WhatsApp API · Our Partner and Connect. This opens a page headed Connect WhatsApp.
2. Wait for "Preparing secure WhatsApp signup...", then select Connect WhatsApp. Meta's signup opens in a frame titled "Connect WhatsApp with Meta".
3. Choose your WhatsApp Business account and phone number and approve access.
4. Stay on the page. Sela links the account, checks that the phone shows as connected and that the sending account is funded, and confirms the webhook. It rechecks about every 5 seconds, up to 12 times. If you reload, the saved attempt resumes.
5. When everything matches, Sela opens the WhatsApp management page.

Recovery options appear on the same page when needed:

• Enable connection or Connect a different WhatsApp account with Meta, when a saved connection exists but is not enabled.
• Restart WhatsApp signup, after a failed attempt.
• Disconnect previous connection and continue, when a newer Meta authorization exists while an older binding is active.
• Unlink account (admin only), which disconnects the channel and removes the credential. Existing chats are kept.

Sela & Meta (direct)#

1. Open Integrations, Add channel, WhatsApp API · Sela & Meta, Connect.
2. Run Meta's Embedded Signup in the dialog and approve the account and number.
3. Sela configures the webhook automatically. If the dialog says "Facebook SDK not loaded. Please refresh and try again.", refresh the page and retry, and check that no blocker is stopping Facebook scripts.

A manual mode (Phone Number ID, Business Account ID and a verify token) exists as a fallback, but it is refused for workspaces that were not admitted to the direct signup.

Once connected, the dialog shows your synced message templates and lets you send a test message.

Link code#

1. In the OTP platform dashboard, generate a link code for your approved WhatsApp sender.
2. In Sela, open Integrations, Add channel, Connect WhatsApp with a link code, Connect.
3. In the panel Connect via OTP Platform, paste the code (it looks like ABCD-1234) into Link code and choose Link. Confirm if Sela warns that it will replace an existing WhatsApp connection.

The alternative is a link of the form /connect/arqam?ticket=<code>. It shows the sender, the business name and whether you can connect, then Confirm and connect.

The subscription check works like this:

The connected panel shows the link status, sender ID, project ID, the WhatsApp balance (or "Unavailable"), an AI automation switch, Open WhatsApp Marketing and Disconnect WhatsApp. If the link was revoked, you see "The OTP Platform link was revoked. Generate a new link code to reconnect." with Re-link via OTP Platform.

Coexistence connections are covered in Use the WhatsApp Business app alongside Sela.

The 24-hour window and templates#

WhatsApp only lets a business send free-form messages within 24 hours of the customer's last message. Every new customer message reopens the 24 hours.

• The conversation's details panel in the inbox shows a Service window countdown.
• When the window has ended, a free-form reply is refused with "The 24-hour Meta reply window has ended." The same applies to scheduled messages.
• Outside the window you can only reach the customer with an approved template message, or by sending a broadcast (below).
• The inbox conversation itself has no template composer. Templates are sent from the WhatsApp page test form and from marketing campaigns.
• A conversation also becomes read-only for sending when it is closed, the WhatsApp number is disconnected or inactive, or it is an imported archive thread.

The WhatsApp management page#

Workspace admins on the Our Partner path get a WhatsApp page ("Templates, balance and message charges") with two tabs. The link appears in the sidebar only when the partner connection is ready.

Templates

1. Choose Create template.
2. Enter the template name, category (Marketing, Authentication or Utility), language code and message body. Use {{1}}-style variables and give an example for each. A footer is optional.
3. Choose Submit for approval.

Meta reviews the content and may change the category. Creating a template does not charge your balance. Header, media and button authoring is not included here beyond the authentication copy-code text. Test template sends an approved text template without variables to a number you enter, with country code.

Balance & usage

• Shows Available WhatsApp balance and Reserved for pending messages.
• Top up balance offers $5, $10 or $20, paid through Wayl in Iraqi dinar. The balance is credited only after the signed payment confirmation arrives, once.
• A Message prices table lists prices by recipient market. The page states that charges start October 1, 2026.
• Funds are reserved before a message is sent, deducted once per billable delivered message, and released if the send fails. Inbound messages do not charge.
• This balance is separate from your subscription and AI credits. Only admins can top up. See Plans and billing.

WhatsApp Marketing and broadcasts#

WhatsApp Marketing is available only on the link code path, on a plan with the Inbox tier or higher and an AI plan of Lite or above. If you do not see it in the sidebar, your workspace does not meet those conditions. It has four tabs: Campaigns, Audience, Templates and Channel.

Audience. Create groups and add contacts one by one, from existing contacts, or by importing a CSV or XLSX file. Sela detects the phone and name columns from headers in English or Arabic, normalizes the phone numbers and reports created, added, duplicate and invalid rows. One import handles up to 50,000 rows.

Templates. Sync templates from your sender or create one. Only approved templates can be used in a campaign.

Create a broadcast.

1. Start a new campaign ("Create WhatsApp Broadcast") and pick the template.
2. Map the template variables, including link button variables.
3. Select audience groups and read the Reach & Delivery Estimate.
4. Review and choose Save Campaign.

A campaign supports 1 to 5,000 recipients after Sela removes duplicates across your chosen groups and contacts. From the campaign page you can start, pause, resume, stop and refresh metrics (sent, delivered, read rate, failed, per-recipient logs).

Replies to a broadcast arrive in the inbox, and the AI receives the campaign context (template name, text and send time) so it can answer sensibly.

Use the WhatsApp Business app alongside Sela#

Coexistence lets you keep the WhatsApp Business app on your phone while Sela handles the same number through the API. Two providers exist and they are mutually exclusive.

Prerequisites for both: your workspace is enabled for coexistence, the number is active in the WhatsApp Business app (version 2.24.17 or newer), and you have backed up your chats.

Native connection. Choose the card, Connect, run the signup, then approve on your phone in the Business app (a message and QR prompt appears). Sela requests contacts and history once. Progress shows on Chat sync status: phases, counts, media availability and the last error. A sync is complete when history has arrived and delivery has been quiet for 30 minutes. Then you see "Sync complete. History is available in the Imported archive."

• Imported-only conversations are closed and read-only, live in the imported WhatsApp archive, and create no notifications, AI turns or metrics.
• The first new customer message reopens the same thread, so you keep one continuous chat per number.
• Media older than roughly 14 days may show "Media not available from WhatsApp".
• Groups are not imported.
• If consent was declined on the phone, disconnect and onboard again. If the result is ambiguous, Sela does not resend automatically; contact support.

Partner connection. Choose the card, Connect, continue in Meta, approve in the Business app and scan the QR. You enter no credentials. The sync page shows "Not reported" for history because the partner path does not import it.

Switching providers. Back up chats, disconnect the current channel in Sela, then on your phone open WhatsApp Business app, Settings, Account, Business Platform and disconnect the current partner. This stops API messaging until you reconnect. To carry history into the partner path, import through the native path first, disconnect it, and ask your Sela contact to switch you. The next live message reuses each imported conversation when the phone number matches.

To reconnect a native number after disconnecting, use Reconnect original number. It only works for the same account and phone.

Calls on WhatsApp#

Operators can call customers on WhatsApp from the inbox conversation menu. This is available only on the Our Partner path when the connection is ready. See Calls for the flow and limits.

Flows and reactions#

• Reactions. Emoji reactions you add in the inbox are mirrored to the customer on WhatsApp.
• Flows (in-chat forms). WhatsApp Flows are authored by Sela's platform team and assigned to your connection. There is no Flow editor in the dashboard. While a customer is filling in a Flow, the AI does not reply, and replies resume when the Flow ends. Ask your Sela contact if you want a Flow set up.

How the AI behaves on WhatsApp#

• The AI replies under the usual gate: AI add-on, credits, an assistant profile with a brand name, an open conversation, and no human assigned. See How the AI works and Conversation control.
• Replies stay inside the 24-hour window. The AI can use link buttons and option lists, and avoids tables and headings, because WhatsApp shows plain text.
• Long replies are split at 4,000 characters, up to 4 messages.
• Voice notes are transcribed and images are read only when Media Understanding is on under Widget settings. That switch applies to every channel. When off, the assistant says it cannot read media.
• On the link code path only, the AI automation switch turns AI off for the whole number. On the other paths, pause the AI for one conversation from the inbox status control.
• Stale messages that arrive late from a delayed delivery stay in history but do not trigger an AI reply.

Limits#

Troubleshooting#

For send errors with a reference number, see Delivery troubleshooting.