Meta provides a set of developer tools through their Facebook Developer's portal to easily build around the Meta ecosystem.
In this guide, we are going to see how to create a Facebook Developer's Account and configure a new App for WhatsApp communication
- Login to your Facebook's Developer account and navigate to My Apps
{% hint style="info" %} You will be required to verify your account before proceeding if it is your first time accessing Facebook for developers. {% endhint %}
- Click on Create App to create a new app
Facebook Developer Create App
- Select Business as the App type and fill in the details
Facebook Developers new app
- Details
- App name: The name you want to call your app
- Contact address: Your email to use when contacting you
- Business Account: Select a business account if you have one. A new account can be created automatically if none is selected
- On your dashboard, scroll down and click on Setup against WhatsApp in the list of products to add displayed
Facebook Developer WhatsApp setup
- A WhatsApp section is added to the left panel of your Facebook Developer's dashboard
- Navigate to WhatsApp > Getting Started you see a set of credentials that we will use latter in setting up the WhatsApp Cloud App in Rocket.Chat
- Verify any existing WhatsApp number to receive messages while in Test Mode
Facebook Developer WhatsApp credentials
{% hint style="info" %} The access token provided is temporary, see this guide on how to create a permanent token. {% endhint %}
To link your Original WhatsApp Business number to the App,
- Navigate to WhatsApp > Getting Started and click on Add phone number
Adding WhatsApp phone number to Facebook App
See more details on how to add a WhatsApp production number here
{% embed url="https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/cloud-api/get-started/add-a-phone-number/" %}
{% embed url="https://youtu.be/CEt_KMMv3V8?t=388" %}