Twilio WhatsApp lets you message contacts on WhatsApp through the same Twilio account you may already use for SMS and voice. Contacts can message your number and reply with photos, videos and documents or by tapping template buttons, and you can reach them at any time with templates you create in Twilio and Meta approves.

Before you start

You'll need a Twilio account with a number registered as a WhatsApp sender. Twilio's guide to registering WhatsApp senders walks you through it.

You'll also need your Twilio account's Account SID and Auth Token, which are under Account Info on the Twilio Console dashboard. Twilio explains where to find your Account SID, including for a subaccount.

Adding the channel

Go to Settings > Channels and click New Channel. Twilio WhatsApp is under Social & Chat, or you can type its name in the search box.

If your workspace isn't connected to a Twilio account yet, enter your Account SID and Auth Token and click Continue. You'll then see the numbers on your Twilio account. Click the one that's registered as your WhatsApp sender, and the channel is added.

Finishing setup

Once the channel is added, its configuration page shows a request URL to add to your WhatsApp sender in Twilio, so that messages reach your workspace. Set it as the webhook for incoming messages on your sender, or on the Messaging Service your sender belongs to. Twilio's WhatsApp sender guide explains where these settings are.

You can come back to the request URL at any time from the channel's page.

Considerations

Contacts can be sent any message within 24 hours of their last message to you. Outside that window, messages have to use one of your approved templates, which you create in Twilio's Content Template Builder and are synced to your workspace.

If your sender belongs to a Messaging Service, open the channel, choose Edit from its menu and enter its Twilio Messaging Service SID.

To learn more about WhatsApp channels in general, see Using WhatsApp.