# Set up WhatsApp for your business

Source: https://pozy.ai/help/messaging/whatsapp-setup

## Do it in the dashboard

1. Open **WhatsApp** and choose **Connect WhatsApp**.
2. Pick where the number comes from:
   - **Use a Pozy number**: a number you [bought in Pozy](https://pozy.ai/help/messaging/buy-a-number). It is already verified with Meta, so no code is asked.
   - **Use my own number**: you sign in with Meta, pick or create a WhatsApp Business Account and choose the number.
   - **Connect with Meta credentials**: for teams that already manage the number inside Meta. Skip it if that is not you.
3. Pick the **Profile** (the project) the number belongs to.
4. Answer **How should the number run?** (see the table below).
5. Choose **Continue to Meta**, finish in Meta's window, and the number shows up in your list of senders.

## Cloud API only, or keep the app?

| Choice | What you get |
|---|---|
| **Cloud API only** | Everything works: groups, calling and full speed. The number leaves the WhatsApp Business app. |
| **Keep it in the WhatsApp Business app** | You scan a QR code with the app, and messages sync both ways. Sending is capped at 20 a second, and groups and calling are off. |

Pozy numbers always connect as Cloud API only.

## Test first with the sandbox

The sandbox is a shared Pozy number for trying WhatsApp with your own phone. It is free.

1. On the **WhatsApp** page, choose **Sandbox**.
2. Type **Your WhatsApp number** and choose **Activate**.
3. A test message arrives on your phone. Reply to it.
4. For the next 7 days, your phone is a normal chat in the [Inbox](https://pozy.ai/help/inbox/dms).

The sandbox has limits: one test phone at a time, 50 messages and 5 people a day, and one locked template. It is for testing, not for customers.

## Or ask your AI

> Check my WhatsApp number. Tell me its quality rating, how many people it can message a day, and whether Meta flagged anything.

## Good to know

- Only WhatsApp Business numbers can connect. A personal WhatsApp account cannot.
- **The 24-hour window.** After a customer writes, you can reply with anything for 24 hours. After that, your first message must be an approved [template](https://pozy.ai/help/messaging/whatsapp-templates).
- **Daily limit.** A new number can start chats with 250 people a day. Meta raises the limit as the number builds a good history.
- **Pozy number or your own?** A Pozy number can also take phone calls and send SMS. Your own number works for WhatsApp messages and WhatsApp calls only.
- A Pozy number stays on the profile you bought it for. You can move it with **Move to another profile** in its settings.
- To leave the WhatsApp Business app mode later, disconnect in the app (**Settings > Account > Business Platform > Disconnect**), then connect again as Cloud API only.
- **What it costs in Pozy.** The number counts as one connected channel. Messages are included up to 10,000 a month, then $1 per 10,000.
- **What Meta bills.** Meta charges template messages to your WhatsApp Business Account, not to Pozy. Add a payment method in Meta Business Suite.

**Next:** [Templates and the 24-hour window](https://pozy.ai/help/messaging/whatsapp-templates)