[WhatsApp](/products/whatsapp) # WhatsApp guides. Find your next step. Explore practical guides, channel explanations and operating advice. Connect the first message to a useful conversation, a business action and a result you can measure. [Create a WhatsApp workspace](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Fwhatsapp) [Talk to a WhatsApp specialist](/demo?product=whatsapp&source_page=%2Fproducts%2Fwhatsapp%2Fresources) ## Set up with your agent [Read the agent setup guide](/docs/ai/set-up-your-agent) Copy this prompt into your coding agent: ```text Bird connects customer communications, data and automation. Help me build with Bird using my coding agent. 1. Read https://bird.com/docs/ai/set-up-your-agent.md and follow its setup workflow for this client. Use an existing connected Bird MCP server or signed-in CLI when available. 2. Read the product guide for the task I want to complete and inspect my existing integration. Identify the workspace, available operations and required setup. 3. Help me complete a first example for the product and destination I choose. Follow the operation through to its actual result, explain any uncertainty, and help me choose the next step. First task: Choose the WhatsApp guide for my task and use its verified operations to prepare a first example for review. Use this Bird page as the starting context: https://bird.com/products/whatsapp/resources Read its Markdown alternative and linked guides. Keep the first example relevant to this page and the customer outcome I choose. Preserve the supplied campaign context when following Bird signup or sales links. ``` ## Plan a campaign - [The Basics of WhatsApp Marketing](/guides/the-basics-of-whatsapp-marketing-everything-you-need-to-know): Understand campaigns, templates, conversations, native Flows and measurement. Choose the right WhatsApp journey for your customers. - [WhatsApp Marketing Launch Guide](/guides/whatsapp-marketing-launch-guide): Plan your first WhatsApp campaign: audience permission, approved templates, response handling, attribution and a controlled launch. - [How to Grow Your WhatsApp Subscriber List](/guides/how-to-grow-your-whatsapp-subscriber-list): Build a WhatsApp audience with clear opt-ins, useful entry points and source tracking. Improve qualified growth and keep preferences current. - [A WhatsApp Ecommerce Campaign Blueprint](/guides/campaign-in-a-box-whatsapp-marketing-for-e-commerce): Build an ecommerce WhatsApp journey from audience and product data to approved content, customer help, checkout and confirmed order attribution. ## Create a useful customer experience - [How to Write Effective WhatsApp Templates](/guides/how-to-craft-engaging-whatsapp-templates): Design WhatsApp templates with clear copy, accurate categories, useful actions and reliable personalization. Prepare approval and test the complete journey. - [14 Ways to Personalize WhatsApp Marketing](/guides/14-ways-to-personalize-your-whatsapp-marketing): Make WhatsApp messages more useful with customer preferences, relevant triggers, accurate product data, helpful AI and connected destinations. - [12 Practical WhatsApp Campaign Examples](/guides/whatsapp-marketing-12-practical-campaign-examples): Use twelve WhatsApp campaign briefs for discovery, purchase and retention, with sample copy, appropriate destinations and measurable outcomes. - [Practical AI Tactics for Email, SMS and WhatsApp](/guides/ai-tactics-for-email-sms-and-whatsapp-marketing-that-actually-work): Use AI for campaign briefs, creative variants, analysis and customer assistance, with accurate source data and measurable outcomes. ## Measure and grow - [How to Benchmark WhatsApp Marketing Performance](/guides/measure-whatsapp-performance-against-benchmarks): Define delivery, read, click, reply and conversion rates correctly. Compare similar cohorts and use business outcomes to improve WhatsApp campaigns. - [How to Calculate WhatsApp Marketing ROI](/guides/is-whatsapp-worth-it-the-whatsapp-marketing-statistics-and-how-to-calculate-your-roi): Calculate WhatsApp campaign ROI using published rates, confirmed outcomes, contribution margin and an explicit attribution model. - [How to Scale WhatsApp Marketing](/guides/growing-whatsapp-as-a-marketing-channel): Scale WhatsApp campaigns through relevant audiences, connected commerce, AI assistance, quality monitoring and measured business outcomes. - [How to Choose a WhatsApp Marketing Platform](/guides/choosing-the-right-whatsapp-marketing-vendor-a-comprehensive-guide): Evaluate WhatsApp platforms through a real campaign, including account ownership, templates, AI handoff, attribution, pricing and migration. ## Coordinate channels and seasons - [How to Coordinate Email and WhatsApp Marketing](/guides/email-and-whatsapp-a-guide-for-marketers): Plan email and WhatsApp around one customer journey, with channel-specific consent, matched content, shared stop conditions and honest attribution. - [Email Lessons for SMS and WhatsApp Marketing](/guides/email-lessons-for-sms-and-whatsapp-marketing): Adapt email practices for SMS and WhatsApp: clear permission, relevant audiences, concise creative, controlled automation and comparable measurement. - [How to Build a WhatsApp Campaign Calendar](/guides/most-important-dates-for-your-whatsapp-calendar): Plan WhatsApp campaigns around relevant local events, customer needs and operational deadlines. Use a reusable calendar brief and launch sequence. - [Build Customer Loyalty on WhatsApp During Peak Season](/guides/whatsapp-customer-loyalty): Plan useful holiday WhatsApp journeys for gift advice, order updates, returns and repeat purchases, with accurate promises and coordinated frequency. ## Build and operate WhatsApp - [Prepare a WhatsApp AI agent and handoff](/docs/guides/whatsapp/ai-agents): Connect trusted knowledge, authorized actions, evaluation and a clear human continuation. - [Authoring WhatsApp templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/authoring-templates): Create a WhatsApp template of your own, by duplicating one from Bird's catalog or starting from scratch, then write each language, submit it for review, and send it. - [Business-scoped user IDs](/docs/guides/whatsapp/business-scoped-user-ids): Why WhatsApp contacts reach you without a phone number, what a business-scoped user ID is, and how to ask a contact to share their number. - [Design a WhatsApp calling journey](/docs/guides/whatsapp/calling): Prepare calling eligibility, permission, routing, context and follow-up. - [Connect click-to-WhatsApp ads to business outcomes](/docs/guides/whatsapp/click-to-whatsapp-attribution): Preserve supported ad source, qualify the conversation and join confirmed outcomes. - [Connect a WhatsApp commerce journey](/docs/guides/whatsapp/commerce): Link product discovery, checkout and confirmed orders to the customer conversation. - [WhatsApp events](/docs/guides/whatsapp/events): Read WhatsApp message timelines through the events API and subscribe to public outbound delivery events through webhooks. - [WhatsApp groups](/docs/guides/whatsapp/groups): Run a conversation with several customers at once in one WhatsApp chat: what groups are for, who can create them, and how people join by invite link. - [Launch a useful WhatsApp campaign](/docs/guides/whatsapp/marketing-campaigns): Prepare an eligible audience, approved message, response handling and measurable business outcome. - [WhatsApp log](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-log): Browse, filter, and inspect every WhatsApp message your workspace sends from the Messages page: statuses, the per-message event timeline, and delivery detail. - [WhatsApp service messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types): The nine content arms a WhatsApp service message can carry, the customer service window that gates delivery, sending media by URL, and what a failed fetch costs. - [WhatsApp audio messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/audio): Send a voice note or audio clip by URL on WhatsApp, its size limit, the voice flag, and how to read an inbound audio message. - [WhatsApp contact cards](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/contact-cards): Send up to five contact cards on WhatsApp, the name and length limits Bird enforces, what earns a card a tappable button, and how a card reads back. - [WhatsApp document messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/documents): Send a PDF, spreadsheet, or other file by URL on WhatsApp, its size and filename limits, and how to read an inbound document. - [WhatsApp image messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/images): Send a photo or graphic by URL on WhatsApp, its size and caption limits, and how to read an inbound image a contact sent you. - [WhatsApp interactive messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive): Send reply buttons, list menus, link buttons, media carousels, and location or contact requests inside an open customer service window. - [WhatsApp media carousels](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive/carousels): Send two to ten swipeable WhatsApp cards, each with its own image or video and buttons, and read which card the recipient acted on. - [WhatsApp contact info requests](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive/contact-info-requests): Ask a WhatsApp recipient to share a phone number with a single button, and read the contact card they send back. - [WhatsApp link buttons](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive/cta-url-buttons): Send a WhatsApp message with one call-to-action button that opens a URL, and see what a tap does and does not report back. - [WhatsApp list menus](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive/list-menus): Send a WhatsApp list menu of up to ten rows across its sections, and read which row slug the recipient tapped from the reply. - [WhatsApp location requests](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive/location-requests): Ask a WhatsApp recipient to share their location with a single button, and read the coordinates that come back as an inbound message. - [WhatsApp reply buttons](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/interactive/reply-buttons): Send up to three tappable quick-reply buttons on a WhatsApp message and read which one the recipient chose from the reply. - [WhatsApp location messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/location): Send a pin with a latitude and longitude on WhatsApp, its coordinate and text limits, and how an inbound location shared by a contact reads back. - [WhatsApp plain text messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/plain-text): Send a WhatsApp message that carries only a body and an optional link preview, its length limit, and how an inbound reply reads back. - [WhatsApp sticker messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/stickers): Send a WebP sticker by URL on WhatsApp, its size limits for static and animated stickers, and how to read an inbound sticker. - [WhatsApp video messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-types/video): Send a video clip by URL on WhatsApp, its size and caption limits, and how to read an inbound video a contact sent you. - [Plan a WhatsApp migration from 360dialog to Bird](/docs/guides/whatsapp/migrate-from-360dialog): Inventory the 360dialog integration, prepare the supported sender transition and verify the complete WhatsApp journey in Bird. - [Plan a WhatsApp migration from Infobip to Bird](/docs/guides/whatsapp/migrate-from-infobip): Inventory the Infobip integration, prepare the supported sender transition and verify the complete WhatsApp journey in Bird. - [Plan a WhatsApp migration from Twilio to Bird](/docs/guides/whatsapp/migrate-from-twilio): Inventory the Twilio integration, prepare the supported sender transition and verify the complete WhatsApp journey in Bird. - [Plan a WhatsApp migration from Wati to Bird](/docs/guides/whatsapp/migrate-from-wati): Inventory the Wati integration, prepare the supported sender transition and verify the complete WhatsApp journey in Bird. - [Build a focused WhatsApp Flow](/docs/guides/whatsapp/native-flows): Design a native form, connect live choices and validate the submitted result. - [Opt-outs](/docs/guides/whatsapp/opt-outs): How a WhatsApp suppression blocks one business account or your workspace, how a person-level opt-out preference differs, and how to record, read, or end each. - [WhatsApp overview](/docs/guides/whatsapp/overview): How Bird WhatsApp works: send templates from a Bird-managed or your own number, receive messages, track delivery, and find each guide. - [WhatsApp phone numbers](/docs/guides/whatsapp/phone-number-setup): The two kinds of WhatsApp sender: Bird-managed numbers that need no setup, and a number of your own connected through Embedded Signup. - [Use read acknowledgements, typing and reactions](/docs/guides/whatsapp/read-typing-and-reactions): Make service exchanges responsive while preserving message and reaction semantics. - [Receiving WhatsApp messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp): Read inbound WhatsApp messages over the API or the dashboard, fetch the media a contact sent, and subscribe to the whatsapp.received webhook event. - [Receiving WhatsApp audio](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/audio): Read an inbound WhatsApp audio message, tell a recorded voice note from an attached file, and fetch the audio a contact sent you. - [Receiving WhatsApp contact cards](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/contact-cards): Read a contact card a WhatsApp contact shared or a phone number they disclosed by tapping your request, and tell the two apart with origin. - [Receiving WhatsApp documents](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/documents): Read an inbound WhatsApp document, its filename and caption, and fetch the file a contact sent you without trusting the name they gave it. - [Receiving WhatsApp images](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/images): Read an inbound WhatsApp image, its stored media reference and caption, and fetch the bytes a contact sent you with your API key. - [Receiving WhatsApp interactive replies](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/interactive-replies): Read what a WhatsApp contact tapped: a reply button, a list row, or a template quick reply, and the two taps that answer on other arms. - [Receiving WhatsApp locations](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/location): Read an inbound WhatsApp location, the place name and address it sometimes carries, and the pin that answers a location request you sent. - [Receiving WhatsApp text messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/plain-text): Read the text a WhatsApp contact typed, on the API and on the whatsapp.received webhook, including a message they sent as a quoted reply. - [Receiving WhatsApp stickers](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/stickers): Read an inbound WhatsApp sticker, tell an animated one from a static one, and fetch the WebP file a contact sent you. - [Unsupported WhatsApp message types](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/unsupported): Read an inbound WhatsApp message whose content the API does not model, including catalog orders and system notices, and handle a content type added later. - [Receiving WhatsApp video](/docs/guides/whatsapp/receiving-whatsapp/video): Read an inbound WhatsApp video message, its stored media reference and caption, and fetch the clip a contact sent before it expires. - [Sending WhatsApp messages](/docs/guides/whatsapp/sending-whatsapp): Send a WhatsApp template or service message with POST /v1/whatsapp/messages: the request envelope, the customer service window, the async 202 model, and cost. - [Resolve a WhatsApp customer-service request](/docs/guides/whatsapp/service-conversations): Handle replies, service windows, identity, assignment and a useful outcome. - [WhatsApp templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/templates): Browse the WhatsApp templates a workspace can send, inspect each one's category, languages, and variables, then send it by slug. - [WhatsApp authentication templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/templates/authentication): Send a one-time passcode over WhatsApp with an authentication template, including the copy-code button and the business verification gate. - [WhatsApp marketing templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/templates/marketing): Send a promotional WhatsApp message with a marketing template, including the business account you need and the opt-out expectation. - [WhatsApp utility templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/templates/utility): Send order updates, appointment reminders, and account notices over WhatsApp with a utility template, and fill its variables correctly. - [WhatsApp metrics](/docs/guides/whatsapp/tracking-and-metrics): How to read the WhatsApp Metrics page in the Bird dashboard: delivery and failure rates, accepted volume, latency, and the per-dimension breakdowns. ## WhatsApp explained - [How do click-to-WhatsApp ads differ from WhatsApp campaigns?](/explained/whatsapp/click-to-whatsapp-vs-whatsapp-marketing): A click-to-WhatsApp ad attracts a customer into a conversation. A WhatsApp campaign sends eligible messages to an existing audience. - [Do I need Meta verification before connecting a WhatsApp number?](/explained/whatsapp/do-i-need-meta-verification-before-connecting-a-whatsapp-number): You can connect and send from your own WhatsApp number before Meta verifies your business, but the number itself must complete phone verification during setup. - [How do I change my WhatsApp business display name?](/explained/whatsapp/how-do-i-change-my-whatsapp-display-name): Send the new name on the number's profile and wait. The old name keeps showing until WhatsApp decides, and a requested change cannot be withdrawn. - [How do I check whether WhatsApp will accept a phone number?](/explained/whatsapp/how-do-i-check-whether-whatsapp-will-accept-a-phone-number): Run Bird's WhatsApp number precheck before buying a candidate. Interpret available and unavailable, preserve retry keys, and understand what the check changes. - [How do I choose a WhatsApp Business API provider?](/explained/whatsapp/how-do-i-choose-a-whatsapp-business-api-provider): Compare WhatsApp providers on account access, total fees, programmable setup, delivery events and migration support, with Meta's channel rules kept separate. - [How does WhatsApp Embedded Signup work?](/explained/whatsapp/how-does-whatsapp-embedded-signup-work): See what Embedded Signup connects, who must complete it, which assets stay with your business and what remains after the dialog closes. - [How is WhatsApp Business API messaging billed?](/explained/whatsapp/how-is-whatsapp-business-api-messaging-billed): Understand Meta's delivered-message charges, category rules, free entry points and provider fees before estimating a WhatsApp API bill. - [What are WhatsApp interactive messages, and which one should I use?](/explained/whatsapp/what-are-whatsapp-interactive-messages): Buttons, list menus and link buttons are separate message types with different limits. The choice follows how many options you have and where the answer lives. - [What is a WhatsApp click-to-chat link, and how do I build one?](/explained/whatsapp/what-is-a-whatsapp-click-to-chat-link): Build a WhatsApp link with your international number and optional encoded text, or create a short link whose prefilled message can change after publishing. - [What is a WhatsApp message template?](/explained/whatsapp/what-is-a-whatsapp-message-template): Use approved WhatsApp content outside the service window, check which language can send, and create a fresh draft when you need to change a submitted version. - [What is the 24-hour customer service window on WhatsApp?](/explained/whatsapp/what-is-the-24-hour-customer-service-window): Reply with free-form WhatsApp content within 24 hours of the customer's message or call, and use an approved template when that conversation window closes. - [What is WhatsApp opt-in?](/explained/whatsapp/what-is-whatsapp-opt-in): Learn what Meta requires a WhatsApp opt-in to say, how to keep permission evidence, and why an open service window is not consent. - [Is a WhatsApp AI agent the same as MCP access?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-ai-agents-vs-mcp): A customer-facing AI agent handles a conversation. MCP access lets an authorized agent or tool operate Bird resources. - [WhatsApp Business app vs API: which do I need?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-business-app-vs-api-which-do-i-need): Choose the WhatsApp Business app for hands-on conversations or the API for software-driven messaging, delivery events and team workflows. - [Is WhatsApp calling the same as a telephone call?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-calling-vs-telephone-voice): WhatsApp Business Calling uses WhatsApp’s calling experience and permission model. It is distinct from ordinary telephone voice. - [Is a WhatsApp campaign the same as a group?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-campaigns-vs-groups): A campaign sends private messages to individual recipients. A group is a shared conversation with deliberate participant visibility. - [What is the difference between whatsapp.failed and whatsapp.rejected?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-failed-vs-whatsapp-rejected): Separate Bird's uncharged WhatsApp rejections from message failures, inspect the event and error together, and choose recovery from the recorded cause. - [How are WhatsApp Flows different from automation journeys?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-flows-vs-automation-journeys): WhatsApp Flows provides a native form inside the chat. An automation journey coordinates the wider business process. - [Does a WhatsApp read count as a conversion?](/explained/whatsapp/whatsapp-read-vs-conversion): A read is a messaging observation. A conversion is a separately defined and recorded business outcome. - [Why can a WhatsApp Business Account or number stop sending?](/explained/whatsapp/why-can-a-whatsapp-business-account-or-number-stop-sending): A WhatsApp number can be rate limited, restricted or banned. Learn what each state means, where Bird reports it, and which recovery belongs to Meta. - [Why was my WhatsApp template rejected?](/explained/whatsapp/why-was-my-whatsapp-template-rejected): Read the language's status and reason to separate Meta's content rejection from submission failures, then correct a draft or wait for an unknown result. ## Account, policy and delivery help - [WhatsApp account restrictions and appeals](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/account-restrictions-and-appeals): Find WhatsApp quality, restriction and ban states in Meta and Bird, request a review, and understand what Bird support can change. - [WhatsApp authentication-international rates](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/authentication-international-rates): Why authentication codes to some countries cost more, what Meta checks before charging the higher rate, and how you learn your start times for each market. - [WhatsApp business verification](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/business-verification): Understand business verification, number verification and the requirements shown for your account. - [The WhatsApp customer service window](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/customer-service-window): The 24-hour customer service window on WhatsApp: when it opens, when it resets, and why reaching someone outside it takes an approved template. - [Marketing templates](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/marketing-templates): How a marketing template sends over Meta's Marketing Messages API, what the business account's onboarding status means, and where marketing is limited. - [Number quality and messaging limit](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/number-quality-and-messaging-limit): Understand the quality rating and messaging allowance reported for your business, and the steps that protect your ability to reach customers. - [Why pre-verification fails, and when to try again](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/pre-verification-failures): Check the verification route, code lifetime and retry timing when a code does not arrive. - [WhatsApp template guidelines](/docs/knowledge-base/whatsapp/template-guidelines): What Meta allows in a WhatsApp template: per-component character limits, variable rules, the review timeline, and the reasons templates get rejected. ## Choose the task you are working on - [WhatsApp marketing](/products/whatsapp/marketing): Create relevant campaigns and help customers respond. - [WhatsApp API](/products/whatsapp/sending): Connect messages, replies and delivery events to your application. - [WhatsApp conversations](/products/whatsapp/two-way): Bring customer context, AI and your team into one conversation. - [WhatsApp AI agents](/products/whatsapp/ai-agents): Answer questions, take action and hand over to your team. - [WhatsApp Flows](/products/whatsapp/flows): Let customers book, choose and share details inside WhatsApp. - [WhatsApp calling](/products/whatsapp/calling): Continue the conversation with a helpful voice call. ## Keep the next step connected - [WhatsApp platform](/products/whatsapp): Explore the complete product. - [WhatsApp FAQs](/products/whatsapp/faqs): Find concise answers organized by task. - [Compare platforms](/products/whatsapp/compare): Evaluate providers and plan a migration. - [Get started](/products/whatsapp/getting-started): Prepare a controlled first exchange. ## Put the guide into practice. Connect your sender, prepare an approved template and follow the first exchange through to its result. [Create a WhatsApp workspace](/dashboard/signup?returnTo=%2Fdashboard%2Fw%2Fwhatsapp%2Fonboarding) [Follow the setup guide](/products/whatsapp/getting-started) ## Related resources - [Connecting WhatsApp to Bird: from buying a number to a live channel](/learn/whatsapp/connecting-whatsapp-to-bird) (video) - [WhatsApp message builder](/tools/whatsapp-message-builder) (tool) - [Build your first integration](/learn/paths/integration) (course) [Get an implementation brief](/learn/workspace?topic=whatsapp)