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Connect WhatsApp

Customer messages from WhatsApp land in the same inbox as everything else. The AI answers immediately, a person takes over when needed. Here are the prerequisites, Meta's rules, and what it costs.

What you get

When a customer writes to your WhatsApp number, the message appears in your Alpheris inbox — next to email, Instagram and the chat on your website. The AI answers from your knowledge base. When it reaches its limit, or the customer explicitly asks for a person, it hands the conversation to your team — in the same thread, without the customer switching channels.

What you need first

A phone number that is not yet registered with WhatsApp. This is the most common obstacle. A number already in use in the regular WhatsApp app or in WhatsApp Business cannot be used unless you delete it there first.
A Facebook account with two-factor authentication. You sign in with it when connecting.
A payment method at Meta. From 1 October 2026, Meta bills every message your business sends directly to you — not to us.

What Meta charges

Until 30 September 2026, your replies inside the customer service window are free. From 1 October, Meta charges for each message your business sends — roughly 4.6 cents at the German rate. This applies whether the AI or a person wrote it.

That fee goes from Meta directly to you and is not part of your Alpheris plan. Check the current rates in your Meta account; Meta adjusts them several times a year.

One lever that genuinely matters: billing is per message, not per conversation. One complete answer in a single message costs a third of the same information split across three short ones.

The 24-hour window

This is Meta's rule, not ours, and it surprises almost everyone: freely written replies are only allowed within 24 hours of the customer's last message. After that, WhatsApp only lets pre-approved templates through.

For support this is rarely a problem — the customer writes first, the clock starts with their message, and the AI answers within seconds. It bites in exactly one place: a message arrives at 10 pm and a person replies the day after tomorrow. By then the window has closed.

Alpheris warns you before an open conversation closes. And you can set a template to go out in that case to bring the customer back — once they reply, the window reopens and your actual answer can follow.

Templates

A template is a text Meta has reviewed and approved in advance. Review takes one to two days. Only such texts may be sent outside the window.

Create them in the WhatsApp Manager, category Utility, in your language. A workable text for the reopen case:

We replied to you but could not deliver the message — WhatsApp only allows this within 24 hours of your last message. Write back briefly and we will continue right away.

Important: no offer, no advertising in the text. Otherwise Meta classifies it as marketing — that costs more and requires the customer's consent.

Meta's bundled examples (hello_world, the jaspers_market series) are English demo texts. Do not send them to a real customer.

Who answers, and when a person takes over

Under Channels → WhatsApp you decide what should happen:

When the AI does not know. It says so openly and puts the conversation in the team inbox instead of guessing.
When the customer wants a person. Including in spirit — "is anyone there" counts, not just the word agent.
For cancellations, refunds, address changes. Anything that moves money is never decided by the AI alone.
When nobody on the team is online. A ticket is created instead of a promise nobody keeps.

When something does not arrive

Messages arrive, replies do not. Usually the number is not registered with Meta, or Alpheris is not subscribed to the WhatsApp account. You can see both under Channels → WhatsApp → Connection.
Nothing arrives at all. Then the webhook subscription for the messages field is missing.
"Access ends today". Access from Meta's test interface lives only 24 hours. For continuous operation you need system user access — that one does not expire.