WhatsApp phone numbers
A WhatsApp message leaves from one of two kinds of number: one Bird operates on your behalf, or one your own workspace owns. Which one you have decides what you can send and whether a send names its sender at all.
The Numbers page lists both. The from field in the send response and the message log identifies the number a given message used.
Bird-managed numbers
Bird's own numbers need no setup, and carry the pre-approved templates whose slugs begin with bird_. Bird selects one by the template's category and your region: authentication templates use a dedicated authentication number, utility templates a notification number. A managed-template send therefore has no from field, and setting one is rejected.
These numbers use Bird-managed sending infrastructure, so the sender your recipient sees is Bird's rather than yours, and free-form content cannot go out on them. They are marked Bird-managed in the WABA column.
Your own number
Connecting a number of your own is what unlocks sending as your own brand: your own templates, and free-form content inside an open customer service window. Every send from it names the number in from.
You connect it from the Numbers page, in Meta's Embedded Signup popup. There are two ways in, and they differ in who reads the verification code Meta sends the number:
- I have my own number. You receive Meta's code by SMS or voice call and type it into the Embedded Signup window yourself. The number cannot be active on the WhatsApp consumer or Business app while you connect it, so delete that account first, and set a Phone registration PIN only if the number already carries one on WhatsApp.
- A number your workspace holds at Bird. Pick it from the Number list instead. Bird receives the code and clears Meta's verification for you, so the number arrives pre-verified and you only select it in the Embedded Signup window.
Verification on a number Bird holds
Choosing a held number starts the verification before the Embedded Signup popup opens. Bird asks Meta to text the number, then reads the code back on your behalf.
This usually takes under a minute. You do not have to wait in the dialog: Continue in background closes it and the row on the Numbers page tracks the same progress.
Once the code is read, the number is verified with Meta and waiting for you to finish in Embedded Signup. Finish setting up opens Meta's popup, where you select the number and the business account it should join.
What a number's status means
A number moves through several states before it can send, and the Status column names the one it is in:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Preparing | Bird is clearing Meta's verification for a number your workspace holds. |
| Pre-verified | Bird cleared Meta's verification. Finish the number in Embedded Signup. |
| Pending | Embedded Signup is done and Bird is registering the number with Meta. |
| Connected | The number can send. |
| Failed | Setup stopped. The row carries the reason. |
Either path can fail part-way, at Meta's verification or in the popup. Recover by disconnecting that number from its row actions and connecting it again: the failed row keeps the number claimed, so a second attempt without removing it is rejected.
Can I send WhatsApp without buying a phone number? walks through the choice.
What a connected number shows
A number's page shows what WhatsApp currently allows it to do, plus an Activity section covering how it has been sending.
Quality rating, Messaging limit, and Send rate are WhatsApp's numbers, not Bird's. The messaging limit is the number of business-initiated conversations WhatsApp allows in 24 hours, and it rises as the number sends well. Quality rating reads Not rated until WhatsApp has enough delivery history to score it.
The Business profile tab holds what recipients see about you in WhatsApp: the display name, description, address, and profile picture.
The business account behind a number
Every connected number belongs to a WhatsApp Business Account, and the WABA column links to it. Its sheet reports Meta's reviews of the business itself, not of the number.
These states gate what the account can do. Business verification in particular gates authentication templates: an unverified business cannot author one. Marketing Messages API reads Onboarded once Meta has accepted the account. Marketing sends do not wait on it. Onboarding gates Meta's delivery optimizations, and a gif header, which fails at WhatsApp on an account that is not onboarded. A workspace holds one business account, so every number in it shares these verdicts.
Bird reads these from Meta on a schedule rather than continuously, so Last read from WhatsApp dates the verdicts above it.
Inbound messages
Inbound messages reach your workspace on your own numbers only. Bird records them in the WhatsApp log, and the Inbound tab on the Metrics page reports received volume by number. Each one also opens the 24-hour window that free-form content needs. Bird-managed numbers do not receive messages for your workspace.
Next steps
- Sending WhatsApp messages: the send call these numbers carry, and when from is required
- WhatsApp templates: the managed catalog and your own templates
- The WhatsApp customer service window: when free-form content is deliverable
- WhatsApp log: see which number a message went out on