Verify and send your first message
Confirm the connection works, send a real test, and understand what you are seeing in the inbox.
The setup wizard's last step already checked your token. This page proves the whole round trip — out to Meta, to a real phone, and back into your inbox.
Check the connection status
Go to Settings → Connections. Your connection should show a green token status. If it shows amber or red, connection troubleshooting has the fix for each state.
Message yourself first
Have the customer message you, not the other way round
The 24-hour service window means you can only send free-form text to someone who has messaged you in the last 24 hours. So the easiest first test is to message in from a personal phone. Sending out cold requires an approved template.
From a personal phone, send a WhatsApp message to your business number
Anything — "test" is fine.
Watch it arrive in the inbox
Open the app and go to the inbox. The conversation should appear within a second or two, in real time, without refreshing.
Reply from the inbox
Type a reply and send. It should land on the personal phone almost instantly.
Check the delivery ticks
The message in the inbox shows its delivery status. If it stays on "sent" and never delivers, that points at the recipient, not your setup.
If you have not confirmed your email address, sending is blocked and you will see a 403. Click the link in your welcome email first — see Create your account.
What you are looking at
Once that first conversation exists, a few things happen automatically:
- A contact is created from the number, ready to be named, tagged and put on the funnel. See Contacts, tags and the funnel.
- A 24-hour timer starts on the conversation. The inbox shows how long you have left to reply with free-form text.
- The AI agent replies, if you have configured and enabled one. By default it is off. See Setting up your AI agent.
Sending to someone who has not messaged you
That needs an approved message template. Templates are pre-written messages that Meta reviews once, after which you can send them to anyone at any time — that is what broadcast campaigns use. See The 24-hour window and templates.
Next
You are connected. Good places to go from here: