Before you connect WhatsApp

What you need

• A Facebook account with admin access to your Meta business portfolio (Business Suite). Meta lets you create a portfolio during the sign-in if you have none. Everything created — the WhatsApp Business Account, the number, the templates — belongs to you, in that portfolio; doTask only gets permission to send and receive for you.
• A business phone number that is not on the personal WhatsApp app. If it is, delete the account from that app first (Settings → Account → Delete my account); the chat history does not carry over. A number already on the WhatsApp Business app can stay there: choose to keep the app in the Meta window (Meta calls this Coexistence) and doTask joins it — the app’s contacts and the last six months of chats are copied in, replies typed in the app show in the inbox and hand the conversation to you, and the AI Agent, reminders and broadcasts work on the same number. The app must be version 2.24.17 or newer; disappearing and view-once messages, live location and new broadcast lists stop working in the app, and WhatsApp for Windows cannot stay linked. To leave, the business presses Disconnect in the app (Settings → Account → Business platform). You must be able to receive an SMS or a call on the number during sign-in.
• A display name Meta will accept: your business name or a clear variation of it, normal capitalization, no emoji or slogans, matching your website or registration. A declined name is changed and re-reviewed in WhatsApp Manager.
• A payment method on your WhatsApp Business Account. Meta charges for conversations your business starts (templates: broadcasts, reminders) and bills your account directly; replies within 24 hours of a customer’s message are free for the first 1,000 a month per number (from 1 October 2026), then charged at Meta’s utility rate (RM 0.0564 in Malaysia). doTask is a Meta Tech Provider, which means Meta does not let doTask pay on your behalf — the card must be on your own account and doTask never sees it. Once connected, Settings → WhatsApp shows whether a card is on file and has a button to Meta’s Billing & payments page: Payment methods → WhatsApp Business accounts tab → Add payment method → card → save. Without one, Meta refuses business-initiated messages once the free allowance is used.

Do I need business verification?

Not to start. You can connect, answer customers and take bookings unverified. Until verified, your business may start at most 250 conversations in any 24 hours (the limit is per Meta business portfolio, shared by all its numbers; broadcasts and reminders count), the top of the chat shows your number rather than your name until Meta verifies the display name (which happens once the limit rises), and the portfolio may register only 2 numbers. A verified business moves to 2,000 a day and Meta raises it on its own from there — 10,000, 100,000, unlimited — while quality stays good and at least half the limit is used each week. The other route to 2,000 is 2,000 delivered template messages to different people in 30 days with high quality.

1. Meta Business Suite → Settings → Security Center → Start verification.
2. Enter the legal name, address, phone and website exactly as on your registration.
3. Upload your business registration (SSM in Malaysia) and a document showing the same name and address — a utility bill, a bank statement or a tax letter.
4. Confirm the business phone or email Meta calls or writes to. A decision usually takes a few days; if declined, Meta says which document to fix.

The rules you agree to

Meta holds doTask, as the Tech Provider, responsible for how every connected number is used. So every business agrees to these before the Meta sign-in, and doTask records the agreement with the connection. Most are enforced in the product; the rest are yours to keep.

• Consent before you write first — a broadcast or template goes only to people who agreed to hear from your business on WhatsApp. Never a bought list or a scraped number. doTask records consent per contact and refuses a marketing send without it.
• STOP is final — a customer who replies STOP hears nothing more until they come back; enforced on every send, reminders included.
• Only what you are allowed to sell — Meta forbids messaging for illegal drugs and paraphernalia, tobacco and vaping, weapons and explosives, adult content and services, unlicensed gambling and betting, unsafe supplements, live animals and animal parts, prescription medicines without authorization, and anything illegal where you or the customer are. Regulated services (alcohol, healthcare, finance) need the licences your country requires.
• Be who you say you are — the display name and profile describe the real business; no impersonation, no misleading claims.
• No spam, no scraping — no mass messages to people who did not ask, no repeated messages to someone who does not answer, no harvesting numbers or data from WhatsApp.
• Sensitive data stays out of the chat — no card numbers, passwords, ID numbers or health records over WhatsApp; use a secure link. doTask masks card numbers the AI Agent sees.
• A person is always reachable — doTask hands over on “talk to a person”, complaints, refunds and anything the AI Agent is unsure of.
• Your local law applies too — PDPA in Malaysia, GDPR for EU customers: keep records of consent, honor deletion requests, message adults only.

What happens if a rule is broken

Meta acts on the number, not on the message: a quality flag, paused templates, a restriction on business-initiated messages, and for repeated or serious cases a disabled WhatsApp Business Account. Because doTask is the Tech Provider for every connected number, one business’s violations can restrict all the others. So doTask watches too: a number Meta rates Low has its marketing sends held automatically until the rating recovers; every alert Meta sends about the number is shown under Settings → WhatsApp and emailed to the owners and admins; and if a number is used against these rules, doTask disconnects it and says why.

Connect WhatsApp →