Connect your WhatsApp number

Most brokerages start with WhatsApp on one phone. That works until the person holding it takes a day off. Connecting on the official Cloud API puts every conversation into a shared inbox instead, with history, assignment and automation — and nobody takes the SIM home.

What you need first

• A phone number that is not currently active on the WhatsApp consumer app or WhatsApp Business app. Migrating an active number is possible but ends the app session on that handset.
• Access to receive a verification code on that number.
• A Meta Business account, or someone in your firm who can create one.
• A payment method (a card) for WhatsApp in Meta Business Suite. Meta bills your WhatsApp Business account for each message. Darbase adds no fee.

Steps

1. Open Settings → Channels. On the WhatsApp card, select Connect WhatsApp.
2. Sign in to Meta and pick the business account the number should sit under.
3. Enter the number and complete the verification code.
4. Choose a display name. Meta reviews it, so use the brokerage's trading name rather than a slogan — review rejections are almost always a name problem.
5. Add a payment method for WhatsApp in Meta Business Suite: open Billing & payments, select your WhatsApp Business account and add a card. Without it, Meta stops your messages. Since 1 October 2026, Meta also charges for replies inside the 24-hour window, including the AI's replies, at its utility rate.
6. Send yourself a test message from another phone to confirm it lands in the inbox.

After it is connected

Set your lead routing before you tell clients about the number. Open CRM → Leads, and select Routing. A rule sends a new lead from your lead forms, the AI concierge or an automation to the agent for its area. See Set up your workspace.

If you want replies outside working hours, connect the AI concierge next.