Connect a client's WhatsApp number

For agencies, and anyone running WhatsApp for a client, a brand or a development. What your client needs before you connect their number, so it works from the first message.

Send this page to your client before you start.

Who owns what

Your client owns everything. The Sonar account is in their name, with their email as the owner. The WhatsApp account sits in their own Meta business, and the customers are theirs.
You get access, not ownership. Once they've created the Sonar account, they invite you under Settings → Team as an admin. Admins can do everything except delete the account.
If you part ways, they remove you from the team and carry on. Nothing needs moving.

What your client needs

What a client needs before their number is connected
Item	Why
A Meta business portfolio	Free, at business.facebook.com. The WhatsApp account is created in it. Someone with admin access to it signs in with Facebook when the number is connected: your client, or you if they've made you an admin of their portfolio.
The number	Either their WhatsApp Business app number, which keeps working on their phone (see Sonar with the WhatsApp Business app), or a number that isn't on WhatsApp yet and can receive an SMS or call for a code.
A card on the WhatsApp account in Meta	WhatsApp's own per-message charges are paid to Meta directly (about R0.62 for a marketing message and nothing for replies until you pass 1,000 a month). Without a card, Meta stops delivering messages, replies first. Sonar shows a red notice if it's missing.
A business name that matches	The name customers see on WhatsApp has to match the business, for example as it appears on its website. Meta reviews it, usually within a day or two.
Business verification (to grow)	Not needed to start. Until Meta verifies the business, it can start conversations with up to 250 people a day across all its numbers. Verifying, with company registration documents and a website that matches, lifts that.
Consent for marketing	Customers need to have agreed to WhatsApp marketing from your client. See POPIA and WhatsApp marketing.

One WhatsApp account per brand

If your client runs several brands, products or developments, give each its own WhatsApp account in their Meta business, with its own number. Meta's warnings and blocks for spam land on the whole WhatsApp account, so keeping them separate means a problem with one brand can't stop the others. The daily limit on new conversations is still shared across the whole business until it's verified.

In Sonar, give each number its own tag under WhatsApp numbers, and the bot uses that brand's own instructions for everyone who messages it. See AI Agent and Copilot.

If they used another provider before

If your client's WhatsApp ran on another platform before, check before you connect. In their Meta business, go to Settings → Partners. If another provider is listed, open the WhatsApp account under Settings → WhatsApp accounts and look at Conversation routing: it decides which provider gets customers' replies. If it points at the old provider, messages can send from Sonar while replies never arrive.

Simplest fix: connect the number in its own new WhatsApp account through Sonar, so routing and billing are Sonar's alone. Email us if you're not sure what you're looking at, and we'll check it with you.

Step by step

Your client signs up for Sonar with their own email, in the business's name.
They invite you under Settings → Team as an admin.
Go to WhatsApp numbers → + Add a number and connect the number, signing in with the Facebook account that's an admin of their Meta business.
When Sonar asks, send the number a WhatsApp from your phone. Sonar shows it arriving, so you know replies will reach you.
Add a card to the WhatsApp account in Meta. The checklist on the dashboard links straight to the right page and ticks itself once it's done.
Import the customer list, with their categories as tags, and record consent. See Import your contacts.
Write your first template and send a test to yourself before the whole list.

Checks after you connect

No red notices at the top of the dashboard. A red one means messages can't arrive or can't be paid for, and says what to do.
A test message arrives in the Inbox, using Test incoming messages on the number.
The business name shows as approved on the number.
The bot is ready if you use it: try it from the AI Agent page before switching it on.

More guides

Need a hand?

Email support@whats-hub.co.za before you connect and we'll check your client's setup with you.

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