Two WhatsApp Cards
Open Configurations → Channels in the dashboard sidebar. WhatsApp appears as two cards, because they are two different things:
- WhatsApp (Bridge), button Pair. Links a WhatsApp number you already use, by scanning a QR code, the same way WhatsApp Web does. Works today, in any country, with no Meta account.
- WhatsApp (Meta), button Authorize. The official WhatsApp Business route, run through Meta.
The bridge is unofficial: WhatsApp can unlink the device at any time, and the dialog says so. It is the quick way to get going and fine for smaller operations. Choose the official route when WhatsApp is something your business cannot afford to lose.
Pair a Number with the Bridge
- On the WhatsApp (Bridge) card choose Pair.
- Choose Connect. A QR code appears.
- On the phone that owns the number: Android, WhatsApp menu → Linked devices; iPhone, Settings → Linked devices.
- Choose Link a device and scan the code on screen.
- The panel changes to Connected as +<your number>. Choose Save.
The panel updates by itself while you scan, nothing to refresh.
- Restart Pairing gives you a fresh code when the one on screen expires or the scan fails.
- Unpair Device disconnects the number. Removing ProxyAI from the phone's own Linked devices list does the same.
- Bridge unreachable means the pairing service is temporarily unavailable. Nothing is wrong with your number or settings, try again shortly.
Keep the phone online and charged. As with WhatsApp Web, a linked device stops working when the phone stays offline too long.
WhatsApp (Meta), the Official Route
The dialog opens with Connect your WhatsApp number and a Connect WhatsApp button. That is a single popup run by Meta: sign in, choose or create your business and WhatsApp Business account, verify the number, pick the name customers see. ProxyAI finishes the rest for you, nothing to copy anywhere.
The button currently reads Coming soon. ProxyAI's own Meta application is still going through Meta's business verification and review, which is a Meta decision, not a setting in your account.
While it says Coming soon
Under Advanced, manual setup the dialog still shows Phone Number ID, WhatsApp Business Account ID and Permanent Access Token, with a Webhook Status badge. These are from the older do-it-yourself route and are kept for merchants who used it. What matters for you:
- Filling them in lets the bot send messages.
- It does not let customer messages reach the bot, and Webhook Status stays PENDING.
So filling in those three fields does not give you a working two-way WhatsApp channel yet. Use the Bridge card until the one-click connect is live.
Once the official route opens
Your WhatsApp Business account stays yours, in your own Meta business, and Meta bills message fees to the card on that account, ProxyAI is never in the middle of that payment. Meta caps a business that has not verified itself at 250 conversations a day that the business starts; verifying with Meta later lifts the cap. You do not need to verify anything to begin.
Test It
Message the connected number from a different phone and confirm the bot answers. Then test your add-ons one at a time, asking for a human, or the abuse limits, rather than changing several things at once. If something breaks, one change at a time is what tells you which one did it.