Bring WhatsApp into Konvo
Connect a new or existing number, keep your history, and let your agent answer at eleven at night.
People message at eleven at night, on Sundays, and expect an answer in minutes. Connect a number, new or existing, and your agent works it: it answers, it resolves, and it comes to you only when it needs something it cannot get on its own.
What you'll need
- Admin access to your company's Meta Business account. The setup runs inside Meta's own window and only an admin can finish it.
- A phone number you can receive a code on. Meta verifies it by SMS or call during the flow.
- A payment method on your WhatsApp Business account in Meta. This one is Meta's requirement, not ours. Add it while you are already in there.
- Your business details. Legal name, address, website and category, for the profile customers see.
- The WhatsApp Business App open on your phone, if you are keeping a number you already use with customers.
Set up WhatsApp as a channel
Go to Settings > Channels > WhatsApp and click Add WhatsApp number. Then pick the one that describes you.
If you already chat with customers on WhatsApp
You keep your number, your history comes across, and your phone keeps working. Meta calls this coexistence.
Keep the app open on your phone
Keep the WhatsApp Business App open on your phone through the whole flow. That is what carries your past chats over, and there is no second chance at it.
Choose I have a WhatsApp Business number.
Complete Meta's signup in the window that opens. When it asks how you want to be identified, choose Use a new or existing WhatsApp number, not display name only.
Konvo imports your history: up to 180 days of text. Photos, video and audio only come across from the last 14 days, so anything older arrives as the message without its attachment.
You are connected, and your phone app still works. Anything you send from the phone also appears in Konvo, marked so you can tell it apart.
If you are starting fresh
Free the number first
If your phone number is signed in to WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business on a phone, delete the account there first, then connect the number in Konvo.
Choose Set up a new number. Meta's signup opens in a new window.
Sign in to Meta, and again choose Use a new or existing WhatsApp number.
Pick or create your business and WhatsApp Business account, then verify the number.
Meta returns you to Konvo, connected.
Most teams take this route. Pick coexistence only if you genuinely have customer history on the WhatsApp Business App worth keeping.
Add a payment method in Meta
Go to your WhatsApp Business account in Meta and add a payment method. Meta will not send template messages without it, and templates are how Konvo reaches a customer after the 24-hour window has closed. Miss this and those replies simply do not go out.
The 24-hour window
WhatsApp has a unique constraint that doesn't apply to other channels: the 24-hour messaging window.
How it works. When a customer sends you a message on WhatsApp, a 24-hour window opens. During that window, you can reply freely with any message. Once the window closes (24 hours after the customer's first message), you can no longer send replies. Instead, you must use a Meta-approved template to re-initiate the conversation.
Using templates. Templates are created and submitted for Meta's approval.
Template types. There are two main categories. Utility templates are for informational messages (order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders). Marketing templates are for promotional content (product launches, sales announcements, re-engagement campaigns).
When templates aren't needed. If the customer messaged you within the last 24 hours, you can reply freely without a template. Templates only become necessary after the window expires.
Turning your agent on for WhatsApp
Connecting the number does not put your AI on it. Open your agent, and in its settings tick the WhatsApp channel in the list, then check that Agent is live.
WhatsApp is the channel where this matters most, because people expect a WhatsApp reply in minutes and will happily message you at eleven at night. It is the clearest case for letting your agent take first contact and hand you what it cannot finish.
Reopening
A customer reply within 72 hours of a closed chat continues the same conversation rather than starting a new one. That window is Konvo's, and it is fixed.
Your profile
Edit your about, description, address, email, website, category and photo from Konvo. Your display name is the exception: Meta owns it, so it is read-only here and changed on their side.
If you brought an existing number, a display name you change on the phone will not appear here, so make that change in Meta.