Connect your WhatsApp Business number

By default, Adnab sends your attendees WhatsApp messages from a shared Adnab number. That works with no setup at all. Connecting your own WhatsApp Business number means those messages arrive from your business name instead, and replies come back to you.

This is the longest piece of setup in Adnab, and most of the waiting is Meta's rather than ours.

1. 1

   Check you have what you need

   Before you start: a Facebook Business Manager account, and a phone number that is not already on WhatsApp.

   • A Facebook Business Manager account for your organisation.
   • A payment method added to your Meta Business Manager account. Meta bills you directly for messages sent — nothing goes out until this is in place.
   • A phone number that is NOT currently registered on WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business. This is the most common thing that stops people. If the number is in use on someone's phone, delete the account from the WhatsApp app first and wait a few minutes.
   • The ability to receive an SMS or a phone call on that number, to confirm it.
   • Your business documents to hand, in case Meta asks you to verify.

   Use a dedicated number

   Once a number sends through the WhatsApp Business Platform it is reserved for that purpose and can no longer be used in the ordinary WhatsApp app. Do not use a number anyone relies on day to day.
2. 2

   Start the connection

   In Account, open the WhatsApp tab and choose Connect WhatsApp. A Meta popup opens and walks you through creating or choosing your WhatsApp Business Account.

   The popup belongs to Meta, not Adnab. Work through it there, and it will hand you back to Adnab when it is done. Adnab then subscribes to your account and registers the number for you.

   Your access token is stored on Adnab's servers and is never exposed to your browser.

   If you connect your number while an event is already running, messages for that event will switch to your number immediately. Attendees who already received a message from Adnab's shared number will receive future messages from your number instead.

   If the number does not register

   Occasionally Meta rejects the automatic number registration, usually because of a PIN left over from a previous setup. Your account is still connected and subscribed. Finish the registration in Meta's WhatsApp Manager and everything else keeps working. It is not a dead end.
3. 3

   Set the business name attendees see

   Your display name is what appears above your messages instead of a phone number. Meta reviews it, and an approved name does not reach attendees on its own.

   When you connect, Meta asks for the business name you want shown. It reviews that name separately from everything else, so approval often lands after you have finished connecting and started sending.

   An approved name needs one more step from you

   WhatsApp only applies an approved name to your number when the number is registered again. Until that happens your attendees keep seeing the previous name, or the number itself, even though Meta shows the new name as approved. On the WhatsApp tab, choose Refresh number to apply it. It takes a few seconds and changes nothing else about your setup.

   The same applies if you change your display name later. Submit the new name in Meta's WhatsApp Manager, wait for it to be approved, then come back and choose Refresh number.

   If your business is not verified with Meta

   People who do not have your number saved in their contacts will see the number rather than your business name, whatever name has been approved. Completing Meta business verification is what changes that, and it is done in Meta Business Manager rather than in Adnab.

   • Numbers assigned by Meta during signup often start with a country code that is not your own. That is normal and does not stop anything working.
   • The name shown on the WhatsApp tab is what Adnab last read from Meta. Choosing Refresh number updates it.
   • Moving to a different phone number is a separate job: disconnect, then connect again with the number you want.
4. 4

   Understand message templates

   WhatsApp does not let a business message someone out of the blue in free text. Every proactive message uses a template Meta approved beforehand.

   You can build and submit templates from the Templates tab here, so you do not have to use Meta's own tooling.

   • Names use lowercase letters, numbers and underscores only. No spaces or hyphens.
   • You do not type variables yourself. Click a value like First Name or Event Name and it drops into your message, numbered for you. Example values are filled in for Meta's review automatically.
   • A template moves through PENDING to APPROVED, or comes back REJECTED. It can later be PAUSED or DISABLED if recipients react badly to it.
   • You can edit the wording later. Open the template and choose Edit Template. Meta reviews the change and usually keeps the template sendable while it does.
   • The name and the language are permanent, so choose them carefully. Meta allows one edit a day per template, and ten a month.

   The values you pick decide where the template can be used

   A template that uses Event Name can only be sent from an event. One that uses only the attendee's name, or nothing at all, can be sent from anywhere including a company-wide message. Adnab works this out from the values you chose, and tells you as you build.

   Category is the biggest lever on your bill

   Utility templates (confirmations, reminders, receipts) cost a fraction of marketing templates. The same message classified as marketing rather than utility can cost five to six times more. Write transactional templates so they read as transactional, and check the category Meta assigns.
5. 5

   Set up templates you already have at Meta

   A template created in Meta's own tooling arrives here with no idea what its slots mean. Tell Adnab once and it is ready to send.

   The Templates tab shows two things for every template: what Meta thinks of it, and whether it is ready to send. They are different questions. A template Meta has approved still cannot be sent until you have said what fills each of its slots.

   What it says	What it means
   Ready	Approved by Meta, and every slot has a value chosen. It appears in the message picker.
   Needs setup	Approved, but Adnab does not know what goes in the slots yet. Open it and choose.
   In review	Meta has not finished looking at it.
   Cannot send	Meta rejected, paused or disabled it.
   Not at Meta	It is no longer in your WhatsApp account. Usually renamed or deleted at Meta.

   You can change what fills a slot at any time without going back to Meta. Only the wording is fixed.

6. 6

   Map the messages Adnab sends on its own

   Some messages go out when nobody is watching: the confirmation and QR code after someone registers, and the confirmation when they check in. Adnab needs to know which of your templates to use for those.

   An unmapped automatic message will not send

   This is the one place the old warning still applies. Adnab's own templates do not exist inside your WhatsApp account, so if you have not mapped the registration confirmation, the first QR code and the check-in confirmation, those produce no message, no error, and nothing on screen to tell you. Work through the list and map every one you want your attendees to receive.

   Messages you choose yourself need no mapping

   When you write an attendee update you pick a template from a list, and that template already knows what its slots mean. Mappings are only for the messages Adnab sends without you.

   If a template you already set up on the Templates tab is chosen here, its slots are filled in for you and you only have to confirm them.

   If Meta later rejects or pauses a mapped template

   That message stops sending. Adnab does not quietly fall back to its own template, because its template does not exist in your account. If messages stop arriving, check the status of your templates first.
7. 7

   Send a message to your attendees

   On the WhatsApp channel you pick a template rather than a message type. The template decides what you are asked for.

   Open an event and choose Send update, or use the Attendees page to message everyone across your events. Choose WhatsApp, then pick your template.

   • Values like the attendee's name, the event name and your contact details are filled in for each recipient automatically.
   • You are asked only for what Adnab cannot work out: a message you type, or an image you attach.
   • A template that needs event details will not appear when you are messaging everyone company-wide, because there is no event to take them from.
   • If a template's picture normally falls back to your event flier, the upload is optional. On an event with no flier it becomes required, and says so.

   If the list is empty

   Nothing has been set up to send yet. Go to the Templates tab: you either have no approved templates, or the approved ones still need their slots filled in.
8. 8

   Know what it costs

   There are two separate bills: Meta's, and Adnab's. They are not the same thing and they do not arrive together.

   Meta bills you directly, to your own Meta account. Adnab is not involved in that payment at all and never handles it. What you pay depends on where the recipient is and what category the template is.

   Recipient	Marketing	Utility	Authentication	Service
   Zimbabwe	$0.0225	$0.0040	$0.0040	Free
   South Africa	$0.0379	$0.0076	$0.0076	Free

   Meta's rates per message, as at July 2026. Meta sets these and reviews them every quarter, so check their pricing page for the current figures. Zimbabwe is not priced individually: it falls under Meta's "Rest of Africa" grouping, which Meta can change. South Africa is included because some organisers message attendees across both markets.

   • Service messages are free. Those are replies within 24 hours of an attendee messaging you.
   • Most of what Adnab sends is utility, so under a cent a message in both markets.
   • South Africa costs noticeably more than Zimbabwe for marketing, so a regional audience is not one flat rate.

   Separately, Adnab charges for broadcasts: $0.05 per message on Pay Per Event and $0.03 on Pro, with a $5 minimum. Event notifications such as registration confirmations, QR codes, check-in confirmations and reminders are not charged. Email is free on every plan.

9. 9

   If something is not working

   The common problems and where to look first.

   • Registration or check-in messages stopped after connecting your number: almost always an unmapped automatic message. Go back to the mappings step and check each one.
   • Nothing to choose from when sending an update: no template is ready. On the Templates tab, look for anything saying Needs setup and fill in its slots.
   • A template is missing from the list on a company-wide send: it uses event details, so it can only be sent from an event.
   • The number will not connect: it is probably still registered in the WhatsApp app. Remove it there first.
   • A template was rejected: Meta gives a reason. Wording that reads as promotional in a utility template is a frequent cause. Open the template and choose Edit Template to fix it, rather than starting again.
   • One kind of message stopped but the rest are fine: check that template's status. A paused or disabled template stops that message only.
   • A template says Not at Meta: it was renamed or deleted in Meta's tooling. Names cannot be changed after approval, so recreate it and set it up again here.
   • Number registration failed but the account connected: finish the registration in Meta's WhatsApp Manager. Everything else continues to work meanwhile.
   • Attendees see a phone number, or an old name, instead of your business name: your approved name has not been applied to the number yet. Choose Refresh number on the WhatsApp tab. If it still shows a number afterwards, your business is not verified with Meta.

   If none of that explains it, get in touch at support@adnab.co and we will look at it with you.