How to implement chatbot on WhatsApp?

Before you begin, make sure you have the prerequisites to get started.

1. A phone number that is not already linked to any WhatsApp account.
You can get your own number on Twillio , Exotel , Messagebird , etc.

2. A Facebook account.

  To begin, let's detail the steps you need to follow to deploy your chatbot on WhatsApp:

1. Step 1 - Creating an app through Facebook Meta Developer account.

2. Step 2 - Setting up your Whatsapp account.

3. Step 3 - Registering the phone number for sending messages.

4. Step 4 - Generating Phone Number ID and Whatsapp Business Account ID.

5. Step 5 - Configuring the WhatsApp webhook endpoint for your application.

6. Step 6 - Generating permanent token for your application.

7. Step 7 - Adding assets and their permissions.

Now, let's look at each of these steps in more detail:

Step 1 - Creating an App via Facebook Meta Developer Account

Go to   https://developers.facebook.com

Sign in using your own Facebook account or Facebook business account. If you don't have an existing account, you can create one using the green button as shown in the screenshot below.

Create an app for your business account by clicking the “ Get Started ” button or if you already have an app, click My Apps.


Click “Create App” to begin the process of creating an app.

Select " Other " as the use case you will use for your application.

Select the application type, as this cannot be changed later, and click the Next button.

        

 

Step 2 - Setting up your Whatsapp account

In this section, you will need to select the product you want to be related to your app. Scroll down to whatsapp and click on setting.

After clicking on setup, a WhatsApp section will be created on the left panel and you will need to create or select a Meta Business Account. After selecting a Meta Business Account, click on the “Continue” button.

 

 

Step 3 - Registering the phone number for sending messages.

You will need to add a Permanent Phone Number to start sending messages on any WhatsApp Number. To do this, simply click on Add Phone Number as illustrated in the screenshot below.

 

Once you click on Add Phone Number, you will need to fill in the required details to create your WhatsApp Business Profile. Use the Display Name Guidelines to learn more about the display name guidelines for your phone number. This is the name that will be displayed for your business number after approval.

 

Enter the phone number in the next pop-up and choose your preferred method to verify the number.

 

After verification, the phone number will appear in the form dropdown in the Send and Receive Messages section of the dashboard.

Now, you will need to add a payment method to be able to send messages through the API. You can check the pricing at Whatsapp Business Conversation Pricing .

 

After clicking on Add Payment Method, you will be asked to select Debit and Credit Card as your default payment method. Click on Next and then enter your card details and click on " Save ".

Step 4 – Generating Phone Number ID and Whatsapp Business Account ID

After successfully creating a Meta Business account, you will be automatically redirected to the “ Getting Started ” section. If not, go to your app dashboard, click on your app and navigate to “ Getting Started ” where you can find “ Phone Number ID” and “WhatsApp Business Account ID” .



Now, copy the Phone Number ID and WhatsApp Business Account ID and paste them on your chatbot screen for deployment on WhatsApp.



Step 5 - Configuring the WhatsApp webhook endpoint for your application.

You will need to go to the Configuration section in the left panel under WhatsApp to add the token and callback URL to configure the webhook endpoint for your application.

Callback URL: https://us-central1-chatbot-production-d6ea3.cloudfunctions.net/whatsapp/webhook

Verification Token: Appypie_Chatbot

Click “ Verify & Save” to successfully save the “Callback URL” and “Verification Token”




Navigate to the webhooks section on the left panel above WhatsApp and select “WhatsApp Business Account” from the drop-down menu. Sometimes it asks you to verify the Callback URL and Verification Token before you can edit the signature. Enter the same Callback URL and Token as provided earlier and click verify and save.

Now, subscribe to the messages in this section. You will get a pop-up alert that “you have successfully subscribed to the messages”.



After the above process is completed, you will need to create a permanent token for your App. Follow the steps below to create a permanent token.

Step 6 - Generating permanent token for your application.

Click on “My Apps” in the top header section, then go to the app you created and click on the Business hyperlink text.



After clicking on the Business hyperlink text, you will be redirected to the business settings page of your application. Now, navigate to the System Users under the Users section on the left panel and create a system user if you haven’t created one already and assign it the System User Role of “ Admin ”.



Note: The maximum number of system administrator users you can have is 1.

Now, you will need to add assets to your admin user. Select the asset type as “ Apps ” and select the app name in the next field. In the last field (App), enable the trigger for “ Manage App ” so that the admin can manage functions, change app settings, test the app, and view analytics.

Click the “Save Changes” button to save the changes you have made.

 

Step 7 - Adding assets and their permissions.

 

To add an asset, click on the “Add Assets” button, a pop-up will appear to assign assets to your app.

 

Here you will need to select an application, select the desired application and enable the button in the third section under Full Control and click save changes.

 

After successfully adding the assets, you will need to generate the permanent token by clicking on the “ Generate Token ” button and selecting the application for which you want to generate the token.



After selecting the app, you will need to choose the time period for token expiration, where you will need to select Permanent. Now, you will need to scroll down to “ Available Permissions ” and click on the checkbox next to whatsapp_business_messaging and whatsapp_business_management . Now, click on generate token.



You will see a pop-up stating that “ An access token has been generated for Test Business as follows”   Before clicking the “ OK ” button, make sure to “ Copy and Save” this token as it will not be stored on Facebook.



Paste this token in the requested field on Appy Pie's WhatsApp deployment screen and click enable to activate WhatsApp deployment.



You have now successfully deployed your chatbot on WhatsApp. Your number is now linked to WhatsApp and a person who messages that number through WhatsApp will receive automated responses as defined in your Nodes in Appy Pie Editor.

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If you face any issues during deployment, please email us at [email protected]   and we will be happy to help you implement the chatbot on WhatsApp.