Meta WhatsApp Business: connecting, inbox, templates and automation

Meta WhatsApp Business integration brings the messages your customers send on WhatsApp into a shared inbox inside Piyzi. Your team replies from there and matches the conversation with a customer record; your automations and campaigns send approved template messages from the same number.

Prerequisites

• A Piyzi account with an active subscription.

• Being the business owner, or having the “Entegrasyonları yapabilir” (manage integrations) permission in your role. The “Entegrasyonları görebilir” (view integrations) permission is enough to open Pi Store, but without “Entegrasyonları yapabilir” clicking a card opens nothing.

• A Facebook (Meta) Business Manager account and the phone number you want to connect. Whether the number stays in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone depends on the path you choose (see below).

• Staff who will use the inbox need the “WhatsApp mesajlarını görebilir” (view WhatsApp messages) permission, and also “WhatsApp mesajı gönderebilir” (send WhatsApp messages) if they will reply. Among the built-in roles, Yönetici (Manager) has these permissions; Personel (Staff) and Muhasebe (Accounting) do not. Built-in roles cannot be changed: in My Business → Settings → Roles & Permissions, use Copy in the three-dot menu on the role's row, add these permissions to the copy and assign the copy to the staff member (on the role form these permissions are listed under groups named “Other”).

Two ways to connect

When you open the card you are asked “How do you want to connect your number?” with two options; Connect the WhatsApp Business number I already use is selected by default. Your choice decides whether the number stays in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone.

• Connect the WhatsApp Business number I already use — you keep using the app on your phone; messages appear both there and in Piyzi.

• Set up with a new number — the number is used only through Piyzi and leaves the WhatsApp Business app on your phone; you can no longer use WhatsApp with that number on the phone.

The Requirements list under the options changes with the path you choose:

• Connect the number I already use: the number must be registered in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone (not regular WhatsApp); Meta requires it to have been used with real conversations in the app for a while, so newly registered numbers can fail the eligibility check; the number must not be connected to another WhatsApp API provider.

• Set up with a new number: the number must not be registered to any WhatsApp account (if it is, you have to delete that account first) and must be able to receive a verification code by SMS or voice call.

• Both paths: a Facebook Business Manager account and an approved WhatsApp Business number.

Connecting the integration

1. 1

   Open the Pi Store card

   In the left menu, open My Business → Pi Store and click the Meta WhatsApp Business card under the Messaging heading. The “Meta WhatsApp Business Integration” dialog opens.

2. 2

   Choose the path

   Under “How do you want to connect your number?”, choose one of the two paths and check the Requirements list below it.

3. 3

   Connect with Facebook

   Click Connect with Facebook. If the button says “Loading...”, wait for the Facebook connection to load; if it stays like that, disable your ad blocker and refresh the page.

4. 4

   Complete the Meta window

   In the Meta window that opens, sign in to your Facebook account. On both paths the window then shows a phone number screen; even if it says “Enter a new phone number”, you are on the right screen.

   • Connect the number I already use: enter the number you use in the WhatsApp Business app and tap Next. Meta recognises the number, shows your business details from the app and asks you to scan a QR code with the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. Meta also sends a message with a link to the QR code to the same number.

   • Set up with a new number: enter the number you want to connect and type in the verification code sent to it.

   Then choose your business and your WhatsApp account and approve the requested permissions.

5. 5

   Check the result

   When it finishes, the Piyzi dialog shows “Connected!” with the connected number and a “Connected as …” line. Close the dialog with Close.

6. 6

   Refresh the page

   The card badge and the left menu update when the page is refreshed: the badge changes to “Connected” and a Messaging section appears in the left menu. When you open the card again, the dialog shows the “WhatsApp Connected” heading with the number and the verified business name.

Requested permissions

• Sending and receiving messages: so the inbox works and your replies reach the customer.

• Reading number and account info: to resolve which number the message is sent from and to show the verified business name.

• Template management: to list, create, edit and delete your templates.

• Reading and updating the business profile: so you can edit the profile card the customer sees on WhatsApp.

• Notification subscription: so customer messages reach Piyzi immediately.

Conversations, message content and the files sent are stored in Piyzi so they can be displayed in the inbox, and they are only visible to staff who have permission to view messages.

The inbox

1. In the left menu, open Messaging → Inbox.

2. Select a conversation from the list on the left.

3. Write and send your reply from the conversation area on the right.

• The inbox shows every connected messaging channel together. If more than one channel is connected, All / WhatsApp / Instagram DM tabs appear above the conversation list; the search box above the list searches names, numbers and the text of the last message.

• Conversations start automatically when a customer writes to you; on WhatsApp you can also start one yourself with “Start Chat” (see below). New messages arrive without reloading the page: the inbox refreshes every 10 seconds while the conversation is active and less often when it is quiet. Refreshing pauses while the browser tab is in the background and catches up as soon as you return to the tab.

• Conversations whose phone number matches your records are linked to the customer card automatically; the Customer Card button at the top of the conversation takes you to the card. An unmatched conversation can be linked from the Conversation Management panel with Match with an existing customer, or saved with Add as a new customer by entering a first and last name; adding a new customer requires the “Müşteri oluşturabilir” (create customers) permission. If the number already belongs to a customer, no new record is created and the conversation is linked to that customer.

• From the “Staff member handling the conversation” field in the Conversation Management panel you can assign the conversation to a staff member; from then on, notifications for new messages in that conversation go only to the assignee. Assignment and closing appear in the thread as lines only your team sees, and they require the “WhatsApp mesajı gönderebilir” permission.

• “Close Conversation” asks for confirmation and closes the conversation without notifying the customer; if the same person writes again, a separate conversation opens.

• Use the paper clip to the left of the composer to send a photo, video, audio file or document; any text in the box becomes the file's caption. Enter sends the message, Shift+Enter starts a new line.

• Hover over a message to reveal buttons for replying to that message or leaving a reaction.

• When you open an unread conversation, the customer sees that their messages have been read (blue ticks on WhatsApp, “seen” on Instagram). An information strip above the conversation list reminds you of this once; after you close it with the cross (Got it, hide), it doesn't come back in that browser.

Start Chat: opening a conversation from Piyzi

With the Start Chat button above the conversation list you can start a WhatsApp conversation even if the customer has never written to you. The button only appears while WhatsApp is connected and your role has the “WhatsApp mesajı gönderebilir” permission.

1. 1

   Choose the recipient

   The “Recipient” section has two options. Select customer (the default) searches your customers by name or phone; type at least 2 characters. Enter phone lets you type the number yourself (e.g. 05xx xxx xx xx).

2. 2

   Choose the message type

   In the “Message” section, Write message sends free-form text and Send template lets you choose an approved template.

3. 3

   Fill in the template

   If you chose a template, fill in its header and body variables (such as {{1}}, {{2}} or {{customer_name}}); if the template has a link button that takes a variable, fill that in too. If the template header has an image, video or PDF, upload the file in the “Header media” field, or paste a public link and click Use link. The preview area shows the final message.

4. 4

   Send

   With Send now selected under “Send time”, click Send; the message is delivered and the conversation opens in the inbox. The Send button stays disabled until the required fields are filled.

• With Select customer, the message goes to the phone number on the customer card and the conversation is linked to that customer. For a linked customer without a phone (such as a child), the responsible person's (guardian's) number is used; if neither has a number you see “A valid phone number is required to start a conversation.”

• With Enter phone, +90 is added automatically to Turkish numbers starting with 0 or 5; type foreign numbers with their country code. The Send button becomes active once the number has at least 10 digits. If the number matches a customer record, the conversation is linked to that customer automatically.

• If there is already an open conversation with that number, the message is added to it; no new conversation is created.

• Free-form text can only be sent while the 24-hour service window is open (see the next section). In a brand-new conversation the window is closed, so the send is rejected with “The 24-hour reply window has closed…” and the dialog switches you to Send template — business-initiated conversations must start with an approved template, per Meta's rules.

• Unapproved templates and templates with a location header are not listed; the number of templates left out is shown under the template field. A template with a media header cannot be sent without the media.

• The “Choose a Template and Send” dialog inside an open conversation lists only templates without variables and without media. To send a template with variables or a media header to an existing conversation, use Start Chat as well; the message lands in the same conversation.

• Instagram does not allow business-initiated conversations; Start Chat is for WhatsApp only.

Scheduled sending

In the Send time section of the Start Chat dialog, choose Schedule and enter a date and time: the message is then sent automatically at that moment instead of right away. The button at the bottom of the dialog also becomes “Schedule”, and clicking it shows “Message scheduled.”

• The scheduled time must be at least 3 minutes and at most 1 year ahead. If you pick an earlier time, “The scheduled time must be at least 3 minutes from now.” appears and the button stays disabled.

• You can view scheduled messages via the clock icon (Scheduled Messages) above the conversation list; the list can be filtered by Scheduled / Sent / Failed / Cancelled. A message that has not been sent yet can be cancelled with “Cancel” on its row; a Failed row shows the reason.

• The 24-hour window rule is evaluated AT SEND TIME: scheduled free-form text fails if the window is closed at that moment and is marked Failed. For guaranteed delivery at a specific time, schedule a template.

The 24-hour service window

WhatsApp does not let businesses send free-form messages whenever they like. Every new message the customer sends you opens a 24-hour reply window; while it is open you can write freely. Once it closes, only previously approved template messages can be sent.

• While the window is open, the time left is shown under the composer, such as “Time left for free replies: 5 h 12 min”.

• When the window closes, the composer is replaced by a “The 24-hour reply window has closed” notice and a “Choose a Template and Send” button.

• The moment the customer writes to you again, the window reopens and the countdown starts over.

• If the customer has never written to you, the window is closed; you have to make first contact with a template.

• If the conversation started from an ad or a business page button, the window is 72 hours instead of 24.

Message templates

A template is a ready-made message pattern that Meta has reviewed in advance. It is the only kind of message you can send while the reply window is closed; automation and campaign messages also go out as templates.

1. Open My Business → Pi Store → the Meta WhatsApp Business card.

2. Click the “Template Management” button at the bottom of the dialog; the WhatsApp Template Management list opens. You can search template names and filter the list by status.

3. Click “New Template” to open the form, then choose the template name, the language (Turkish by default) and the category: Marketing, Utility (the default) or Authentication.

4. Write the message body; optionally add a header (text, image, video, document or location), a footer and buttons. In the Authentication category Meta sets the text; you only choose the code validity (1–90 minutes) and the button label.

5. If you used variables in the text, enter a sample for each one under “Sample values”; for an image, video or document header, upload a sample file too.

6. Click “Submit for Approval” — the template goes to Meta for review and its status becomes “Under review”; once accepted it changes to “Approved”. Approval usually takes a few minutes, sometimes up to 24 hours.

• Template names can only contain lowercase letters, digits and underscores: uppercase letters you type are lowercased, spaces become underscores, and Turkish characters and other symbols are removed.

• Variables are numbered in order starting from 1, such as {{1}}, {{2}}, or written as a lowercase name such as {{customer_name}}; the two styles cannot be mixed in one text. A variable cannot sit at the very start or end of the text, two variables cannot be placed side by side, and a sample value is required for each one. A header can contain at most 1 variable.

• The body is limited to 1024 characters and the header and footer to 60; footers cannot contain variables. You can add up to 10 buttons; at most 2 of them can be website links and 1 a phone call, and a button label can be at most 25 characters.

• If you put an image, video or PDF in the header, the file you upload while creating the template is only for Meta's review. You add the file to send separately, in the “Header media” field of the Start Chat dialog, the campaign template and the automation step; without it the message cannot be sent.

• Only approved, rejected or paused templates can be changed with “Edit”; a template's name and language can never be changed.

• “Delete” removes only that language version of the template; you are asked to confirm and it cannot be undone.

• Creating, editing and deleting templates requires the “Entegrasyonları yapabilir” permission. Staff without it who have automation permissions can open the list from “Manage templates” in an automation, read-only.

• Templates whose names start with “piyzi_oto_” are created by the ready-made WhatsApp Notification Package (Automations → Ready-made Automations); staff with permission to create automations can also send the package's templates for approval. If you edit one of them here, the package shows “Text differs” for it; “Update text” in the package switches it back to the package text.

The WhatsApp business profile

The business profile is the card your customers see when they tap your business name on WhatsApp. It is edited at the bottom of the Pi Store card's dialog while the connection is active.

1. Open My Business → Pi Store → the Meta WhatsApp Business card.

2. Scroll down to the “Business Profile” section.

3. Fill in the Profile photo, About, Business description, Industry, Email, Address and Websites fields, then click “Save Profile”.

• The phone number and the verified business name cannot be changed here; they are only updated through Meta Business Manager and are shown read-only in this form.

• The “About” field cannot be left empty; if you clear it, the existing text is kept.

• Once an industry has been selected it cannot be reset to “Not specified”.

• At most two websites can be added and they must start with http:// or https://; the profile photo must be a JPEG or a PNG.

• If your number is also used in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, the profile is synced with the app and changes made here may be reverted by it.

WhatsApp in automations

When an automation is triggered, the customer's reply window is most likely closed. That is why the WhatsApp step sends approved templates only; free-form text cannot be sent.

1. Open an automation from the Automations section, or create a new one.

2. Add a WhatsApp step to the flow.

3. Choose the recipient: the customer, the business owner, or the staff member providing the service (the staff option is not offered for new-customer, package and visit-rhythm triggers).

4. Pick a template from the list; if needed you can also create one right there with “New template”.

5. If the template header has an image, video or document, upload the file in the “Header media” field or paste a public link (image JPEG/PNG up to 5 MB, video MP4 up to 16 MB, document PDF up to 20 MB).

6. In the variable mapping section, choose which Piyzi value fills each template variable, then save the automation.

• An automation that uses an unapproved template cannot be saved as active or turned on; if you try, you see “The WhatsApp template you chose hasn't been approved yet…”. If the “Put the automation live?” dialog opens when you save, choose “Save as inactive”, then turn the automation on once the template is “Approved”.

• A step that uses a template with a media header cannot be saved without the media.

• The template is read live from Meta at send time; if it was later rejected, paused or deleted, nothing is sent.

• Quick setup with ready-made scenarios: Automations → Ready-made Automations → WhatsApp Notification Package sends ready-made templates for appointment, class, event, package and payment notifications, written to Meta's rules, for approval in one click, and installs the approved ones as automations to customers, staff or the business owner. See the “Setting up automations” article for details.

• Variables you leave unmapped are sent as “-”.

• If the recipient has no phone number the step is skipped and the flow continues; if the WhatsApp connection has been removed, the message cannot be sent. The reason for both is shown in the Run history tab.

• An automation that sends WhatsApp to the customer right away (with no wait step before it) replaces Piyzi's fixed SMS to the customer, so the customer does not get a second SMS for the same event. This applies to appointments created by staff (when “Notify by SMS” is selected), to moving and cancelling appointments, and to approving, cancelling and moving facility bookings. The confirmation SMS for a booking made on the online booking page is not affected; for a Meet or Zoom appointment, if your mapping does not use {gorusmeLinki}, the information SMS is still sent so the meeting link is not lost.

• The approval status of the selected template is shown under the template field; if the status changed on Meta's side, refresh the list with the refresh button. The “Manage templates” link opens the template list without leaving the automation.

• The template preview shows your mapped variables with sample values. Use “Send test message” at the bottom of the step settings to send the template to a test number (your account's phone number by default), and follow every message sent in the automation's Run history tab.

Message delivery status

When Meta accepts a template message it only gives Piyzi a message ID; a few seconds later it reports separately whether the message was actually delivered. Piyzi stores that report and shows it wherever the send appears:

• Accepted by Meta: Meta accepted the message but hasn't reported the result yet.

• Sent: the message went out on WhatsApp (one tick).

• Delivered: the message reached the recipient's phone (two ticks).

• Read: the recipient opened the message. If the recipient has turned off read receipts, the status stays at “Delivered”.

• Not delivered: Meta couldn't deliver the message; the reason, what to do and Meta's own explanation are shown.

You can see the delivery status in the automation's Run history, in the automation test window and in the report of WhatsApp campaigns. It is kept for automation sends made after this feature was released.

Notification settings

• The gear-icon “Notification Settings” button above the conversation list decides who receives push notifications in the mobile app when new messages and comments arrive. The button is only shown to staff whose role has the “Mesajlaşma bildirim ayarlarını yönetebilir” (manage messaging notification settings) permission.

• For each staff member the WhatsApp, IG Message, IG Comment and Google Review switches are toggled separately; clicking a person's name turns all four on or off together. Changes apply when you click “Save”.

• If a conversation is assigned to a staff member, the notification goes to that person only — even if they are not on the list.

• If nothing has been configured, only the business owner receives notifications; once you save the list, only the people whose switch is on receive them.

• At most 1 notification per 2 minutes is sent for the same conversation. Staff who have never signed in to the mobile app are flagged with “Not signed in to the app — notifications won't arrive”, and anyone who has turned on Do Not Disturb in their own account (My Account → Notifications) receives no notifications either.

Deleting a conversation

1. Open the conversation in the inbox.

2. Scroll to the bottom of the Conversation Management panel on the right (see the warning above for the screen width the panel needs).

3. Click “Delete Conversation” and choose “Yes, delete” in the confirmation dialog.

• Deleting is a separate permission, shown on the role screen as “Sohbet silebilir (yalnız Piyzi tarafından)”. The business owner and the built-in Yönetici (Manager) role can delete; the built-in Personel (Staff) and Muhasebe (Accounting) roles do not have this permission.

• The conversation and all of its messages are removed from Piyzi, on every Piyzi device; the action cannot be undone and is written to the audit log.

• Deleting only affects the Piyzi side: the conversation in the customer's own WhatsApp app stays exactly as it is. Meta's interfaces do not allow the other party's copy to be deleted.

• For conversations you do not want to delete, use “Close Conversation” instead; the record stays and only the conversation is closed.

• If a deleted contact writes to you again, the conversation opens from scratch as a new one.

Removing the connection

1. Open the business settings of your Meta Business account.

2. In the WhatsApp accounts section, find the number you connected to Piyzi.

3. Remove the Piyzi app's access to that account.

• The Meta WhatsApp Business card in Pi Store has no disconnect button; removal is done on Meta's side.

• If your number is also used in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, you can break the connection from the app's settings as well.

• Meta tells Piyzi that the connection was removed; the integration is deactivated automatically and any send attempt is rejected.

• Your past conversations and messages stay in Piyzi; only the exchange of new messages stops.

• Once the integration has been deactivated, refresh the page: the card badge shows “Not Connected”, and opening the card brings back the connection screen, so you can connect the same or a different number again.

• If you grant access again on Meta's side, the integration is reactivated automatically.

Warnings when connecting the number you already use

If Meta does not find your number eligible for connecting your existing WhatsApp Business account, its window shows a warning. The most common ones:

• “This number is registered to an existing WhatsApp account”: Meta did not find the number in the WhatsApp Business app. The number may be registered to the regular WhatsApp app; connecting only works with the WhatsApp Business app. If the number is in WhatsApp Business, update the app and try again.

• “Failed to check phone number eligibility” or “number isn't eligible”: the number has not been used long enough in the WhatsApp Business app. Meta wants some real conversation history; use it actively for a few days and try again.

• The number is connected to another business platform: the number was connected to another WhatsApp API provider before. In the WhatsApp Business app, go to Settings → Account → Business Platform, disconnect the existing connection, wait 15 minutes and try again.

• Update the app: your WhatsApp Business app must be version 2.24.17 or later.

If you tap Report Piyzi in Meta's window, the warning text, error code and session number appear in the Piyzi dialog. Send us a screenshot of that dialog and we can find the problem quickly.

Troubleshooting

• The card does not show “Connected”: refresh the page after connecting; the badge and the left menu update on refresh. If the Piyzi dialog showed “Connection Error”, try again with “Try Again”; a pop-up or ad blocker may have interrupted the flow.

• The “Connect with Facebook” button stays on “Loading...”: the Facebook connection cannot load; disable your ad blocker and refresh the page.

• There is no Messaging section in the left menu: the integration is not connected, the page has not been refreshed since connecting, or your role lacks the “WhatsApp mesajlarını görebilir” permission.

• The Conversation Management panel is missing: the panel is hidden when the browser window is narrower than 1400 pixels; zoom out or use the mobile app.

• The composer is hidden: the 24-hour reply window has closed; send an approved template or wait for the customer to write.

• The template list is empty: you have no approved templates yet, or your templates contain variables or media and are therefore not listed in the “Choose a Template and Send” dialog. Send those with Start Chat, or create a new template in Template Management and wait for Meta's approval.

• The automation cannot be put live: the template you selected has not been approved yet; the automation can be turned on once its status is “Approved”.

• A send shows “Sent” but the message never arrived: check the delivery status of that line in the Run history or the campaign report; if it says “Not delivered”, the reason is shown there. If there's a red account warning on the WhatsApp screen in Pi-Store, the problem is with your account, not a single message.

• The red warning tells you to remove the integration and connect it again: as the card has no disconnect button, first remove Piyzi's access on Meta's side (see Removing the connection); once the integration is deactivated, refresh the page, open the card and connect again.

• A “… connection has expired” warning in the inbox: this warning is for the Instagram DM connection; the fix is in the Instagram DM article. Problems with the WhatsApp connection are shown on the WhatsApp screen in Pi-Store.

• Notifications do not arrive: check the channel switches in Notification Settings, whether the conversation is assigned to someone else, whether the staff member has signed in to the mobile app, and whether Do Not Disturb is on in their own account (My Account → Notifications).