Connect a WhatsApp number

Connecting a WhatsApp Business number lets your AI agent answer customers on WhatsApp and lets you send campaigns and templates from that number. You connect it once through Meta’s sign-up window; Popcorn handles the registration and keeps the number’s message limit in sync afterwards.

​

Before you start

• A Meta login that can manage your business. The sign-up runs in Meta’s own window.
• A phone number for the business. Meta verifies it during sign-up. If the number is already in use on the WhatsApp Business app and you want to keep using the app, follow Use Popcorn with the WhatsApp Business app instead.
• A role with edit access to Integrations. See Team and roles.
• Optional: a Meta catalog, if you want customers to receive product cards on WhatsApp. You can also set this up later from the Account tab. See Products in WhatsApp.

​

Connect the number

While the number connects, Popcorn registers it with Meta using a two-step verification PIN that Popcorn generates and stores for you, links the number to your workspace, reads the number’s message limit from Meta, and, if it is your first number, makes it the default. If the WhatsApp Business account you picked contains several numbers, all of them are connected. A number that Meta reports as being on the WhatsApp Business app skips the registration step and is connected as a coexistence number instead. If you chose to include your catalog, the catalog connection starts automatically once the number is connected.

​

If the connection fails

Popcorn shows the reason in the error notification. The most common ones: More cases are covered in Channel troubleshooting.

​

The Account tab

Connected Numbers lists every number in your workspace. The menu at the end of each row offers Make default (for numbers that are not the default), and Delete or, for coexistence numbers, How to disconnect. Connect another number below the table starts the sign-up again.

​

Message limits

Meta limits how many customers a number can start a conversation with in a 24-hour period. The limit belongs to your Meta business portfolio, so every number in the same WhatsApp Business account shares it. Popcorn reads it from Meta when you connect, refreshes it every 24 hours, and applies updates Meta sends when the limit changes. The tiers Meta uses are 250, 1K, 2K, 10K, 100K and Unlimited, shown as 250 messages/day up to Unlimited messages/day.

• Syncing with Meta… means Popcorn does not have a confirmed limit for this number. Campaign messages from it are held and retried every minute until the limit is known; if it is still unknown after about an hour, those messages are marked as failed. If the column stays on Syncing with Meta… for more than a day, Meta no longer accepts Popcorn’s access to the number: connect it again with Login with Facebook, which refreshes the access and starts the sync again.
• Limit unavailable means Meta returned a temporary error. Popcorn retries automatically, starting 15 minutes later and spacing retries out to once a day.

Campaign sending stays within the limit and marks recipients that cannot be reached; see Delivery and reachability.

​

Make a number the default

The default number is preselected as the sender for campaigns and templates and is the number the Profile tab opens on. See what the default number means. Make default only appears if your role can edit Integrations. If you see Could not update the default WhatsApp number, reload the page and try again.

​

Delete a number

If you delete the default number, the most recently updated remaining number becomes the default. Numbers connected through the WhatsApp Business app cannot be deleted from Popcorn; use How to disconnect and follow disconnecting a coexistence number.

​

Settings on the Account tab

Below the table, the Settings section holds workspace-wide WhatsApp options:

• Products in WhatsApp: connect a Meta catalog so customers can browse your products and receive product cards. The button reads Set up products, Continue setup when a previous setup is incomplete (with an Action required badge), or Connected. Once connected, Meta catalog health shows how many products are live, and the Product Sharing and Cart Checkout toggles appear. See Products in WhatsApp.
• WhatsApp app message behavior: appears only when at least one number is a coexistence number. See Use Popcorn with the WhatsApp Business app.

Toggles are not saved immediately: a bar with Save changes and Discard appears while you have Unsaved changes. Popcorn confirms with Settings Updated.

​

Related