Advanced setup (manual flow)

Fallback path

This is not the recommended way to connect WhatsApp anymore.

For almost all customers, Quick Connect is faster, easier, and supports Coexistence with the WhatsApp Business app on a phone. Only follow the manual flow described here if Embedded Signup is unavailable for your business or if you have a very specific reason to provision the integration entirely yourself.

The manual flow is the original way of connecting a WhatsApp Business number to plemeo.ai. It requires creating and configuring everything in the Meta Developer Portal yourself: a Meta App, a verified business, a system user, a permanent access token, a registered phone number, and a webhook subscription. Total setup time can be a few hours to several days, depending on Meta's business verification queue.

When you might need this

• Embedded Signup is not available in your region or for your account.
• You're already running an existing custom integration whose tokens you want to reuse.
• You want to control the WABA and phone number registration entirely yourself, without going through Meta's guided UI.

If none of the above applies, please use Quick Connect instead.

Setup checklist

Complete the steps below in order. Each step links to a dedicated page.

flowchart TB
    A["1. Meta Developer Account"] --> B["2. WhatsApp Business App"]
    B --> C["3. Business Verification"]
    C --> D["4. System User + Permanent Token"]
    D --> E["5. WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)"]
    E --> F["6. Phone Numbers"]
    F --> G["7. API Configuration (Webhook)"]
    G --> H["8. plemeo.ai Configuration"]

1. Meta Developer Account
2. WhatsApp Business App
3. Business Verification
4. System User
5. WhatsApp Account
6. Phone Numbers
7. API Configuration
8. plemeo.ai Configuration

After the manual setup

Once the manual flow is complete, the day-to-day usage is identical to Quick Connect:

• Using WhatsApp in plemeo.ai — sending and reading messages, AI replies, files.
• Message templates — creating and sending approved templates.

Migrating from manual to Quick Connect

If you set up the manual flow first and want to switch to Quick Connect later, you can. In the Apps modal, open the Manual tab, click Disconnect Account, then switch to Quick Connect and complete the embedded signup. The phone number itself stays on Meta's side; only how plemeo.ai authenticates against it changes.