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Glossary
WhatsApp Business Platform glossary
The vocabulary every WhatsApp Business API vendor uses and almost none of them define — WABA, Embedded Signup, quality rating, Coexistence and more, in plain English.
The WhatsApp Business Platform (also called the WhatsApp Business API) is Meta's programmatic messaging interface for businesses. It has no app of its own — you access it through a platform such as BotPulsar — and the underlying WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), phone number, message templates and quality rating all stay owned by your business rather than by whichever vendor you use. This page defines every term you will run into while evaluating or running a WhatsApp Business API platform.
- WhatsApp Business Platform (WhatsApp Business API)
- Meta's programmatic interface that lets medium and large businesses send and receive WhatsApp messages at scale. It has no app interface of its own — you access it through a platform such as BotPulsar, and your business owns the underlying WhatsApp Business Account. Full definition →
- WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)
- The asset inside Meta Business Manager that owns your WhatsApp phone numbers, message templates and quality ratings. Because the WABA stays in your name, you can move between providers without losing your number. Full definition →
- Embedded Signup
- Meta's official onboarding flow that connects your WhatsApp Business Account and phone number to a platform without leaving that platform. It replaces manual API key exchange and takes a few minutes. Full definition →
- WhatsApp Coexistence
- A Meta capability that lets an eligible business keep using the WhatsApp Business App while the same phone number is also connected to the API, with message origin tracking and echo de-duplication. Full definition →
- Template message
- A pre-approved message format required to contact a customer outside the 24-hour customer service window. Meta categorises templates as Marketing, Utility or Authentication, and charges a different rate for each. Full definition →
- Customer service window
- The 24-hour window that opens when a customer messages your business. Replies you send inside it are free-form rather than templates — free until 1 October 2026, and charged per message after that. Full definition →
- Green tick (Official Business Account)
- Meta's verified badge for a WhatsApp business profile. It is granted on brand notability — credible third-party news coverage — not on spend or on which provider you use, so no vendor can guarantee it. Full definition →
- Click-to-WhatsApp ads (CTWA)
- Facebook and Instagram ads whose call to action opens a WhatsApp chat with your business, passing a referral payload you can attribute. Full definition →
- Monthly Active Contacts (MAC)
- A pricing model used by some platforms that bills per unique contact messaged in a month, on top of the subscription. BotPulsar does not meter contacts — contacts are unlimited on every plan. Full definition →
- Retrieval-augmented generation (RAG)
- A technique where an AI agent retrieves passages from your own knowledge base before answering, so replies are grounded in your documented policies and product facts rather than invented. Full definition →
- Business Solution Provider (BSP)
- A company authorised by Meta to provide access to the WhatsApp Business Platform. A BSP handles number onboarding, message delivery and billing, while the WhatsApp Business Account itself stays owned by your business. Full definition →
- Message category (Marketing, Utility, Authentication, Service)
- The four buckets Meta sorts WhatsApp conversations into. Marketing, Utility and Authentication are template messages and each carries its own rate; Service messages are free-form replies inside the 24-hour window, free until 1 October 2026 and charged per message after that. Full definition →
- Quality rating
- The health score Meta assigns each WhatsApp phone number, derived from how recipients react to its messages. Blocks and reports push it down, and a low rating restricts the number's messaging limit. Full definition →
- Messaging limit (tier)
- The cap on how many unique customers your WhatsApp number may start conversations with in a rolling 24 hours. Numbers move up tiers — 1,000, 10,000, 100,000, then unlimited — as volume and quality rating hold up. Full definition →
- Opt-in
- The recorded permission a customer gives before a business sends them WhatsApp template messages. Meta requires that you collect it, make clear which business is messaging, and honour opt-outs. Full definition →
- WhatsApp Cloud API
- Meta's own hosted version of the WhatsApp Business Platform. Meta runs the servers, so a business connects through a provider without hosting any messaging infrastructure itself. Full definition →
- On-Premises API
- The original, self-hosted way to run the WhatsApp Business Platform, where the business or its provider ran Meta's messaging client on its own servers. Meta has since deprecated it in favour of the Cloud API. Full definition →
- Phone Number ID
- The numeric identifier Meta assigns to each phone number registered on a WhatsApp Business Account. API calls send messages from a Phone Number ID, not from the human-readable number itself. Full definition →
- Access token
- The credential a platform uses to call the WhatsApp Cloud API on your behalf. It is issued during Embedded Signup and scoped to the specific WhatsApp assets you granted access to. Full definition →
- System user
- A non-human account inside Meta Business Manager that owns programmatic access to business assets. System users hold long-lived tokens so API access does not break when an employee leaves. Full definition →
- Webhook
- An HTTP callback Meta sends to your platform whenever something happens on your WhatsApp number — an inbound message, a delivery status change, or a template approval decision. Full definition →
- Graph API
- Meta's overarching HTTP API, of which the WhatsApp Cloud API is one part. WhatsApp endpoints are addressed as Graph API paths and versioned on Meta's platform-wide release schedule. Full definition →
- Message ID (wamid)
- The unique identifier WhatsApp assigns to every message. It begins with 'wamid.' and is how delivery receipts, read receipts and replies are matched back to the original message. Full definition →
- Conversation-based pricing
- Meta's earlier WhatsApp billing model, which charged for a 24-hour conversation window rather than per individual message. Meta has since moved to per-message pricing for template messages. Full definition →
- Per-message pricing
- Meta's current WhatsApp billing model for template messages, where each delivered template message is charged individually at a rate set by its category and the recipient's country. Full definition →
- Service conversation
- A WhatsApp conversation the customer starts, handled inside the 24-hour customer service window. Service replies are not charged per template message. Full definition →
- Marketing template
- A WhatsApp template category covering promotional content — offers, product launches, re-engagement. It carries the highest per-message rate and the strictest opt-in expectations. Full definition →
- Utility template
- A WhatsApp template category for transactional updates tied to a specific order, account or appointment — confirmations, shipping updates, reminders. Rates are lower than marketing. Full definition →
- Authentication template
- A WhatsApp template category reserved for one-time passcodes and login verification. Content is tightly constrained — the message carries the code and nothing promotional. Full definition →
- Free entry point conversation
- A WhatsApp conversation started when a customer taps a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action. Meta gives these an extended free window to encourage ad-driven chat. Full definition →
- Template header
- The optional top section of a WhatsApp template. It can hold a short line of text or a single media item — an image, video, document or location. Full definition →
- Template body
- The main text of a WhatsApp template and the only required section. It carries the message content and any variables that get filled in per recipient at send time. Full definition →
- Template buttons
- Tappable actions attached to a WhatsApp template. They come in two families: quick replies that send a preset response, and call-to-action buttons that open a URL or dial a number. Full definition →
- Template variables
- Placeholders inside a WhatsApp template that get replaced with per-recipient values at send time. They can be numbered, as in {{1}}, or named for readability. Full definition →
- Interactive message
- A WhatsApp message type that renders tappable UI inside the chat — reply buttons, selectable lists, or product cards — instead of plain text the customer has to answer manually. Full definition →
- List message
- An interactive WhatsApp message that opens a scrollable menu of options when tapped. It supports more choices than reply buttons, grouped into labelled sections. Full definition →
- Product message
- A WhatsApp message that renders one or more catalog products as cards inside the chat, with images and prices, so a customer can browse and add to cart without leaving the conversation. Full definition →
- WhatsApp catalog
- A product listing attached to a WhatsApp Business Account, holding items with images, descriptions, prices and stock state. It powers product messages and in-chat carts. Full definition →
- Cart
- The in-chat basket a WhatsApp customer builds from catalog products. Sending the cart produces an order message the business can price, confirm and collect payment against. Full definition →
- Commerce Manager
- Meta's tool for managing catalogs, shops and commerce settings across WhatsApp, Instagram and Facebook. A WhatsApp catalog is created and administered here. Full definition →
- WhatsApp Flows
- Structured, form-like screens that open inside a WhatsApp chat — dropdowns, date pickers, multi-step forms — so a business can collect structured input without free-text parsing. Full definition →
- Webview
- A web page opened from a WhatsApp message inside an in-app browser. It handles interactions too complex for native message components, at the cost of leaving the chat surface. Full definition →
- Business profile
- The public information shown on your WhatsApp business account — description, address, email, website and profile photo. Customers see it when they tap your business name. Full definition →
- Display name
- The business name customers see on your WhatsApp messages. It must reflect your actual business identity and is reviewed by Meta before it can be used or changed. Full definition →
- Two-step verification PIN
- A six-digit PIN set on a WhatsApp business number to protect it from being registered elsewhere. It is required to register the number and to move it between platforms. Full definition →
- Number registration
- The process of activating a phone number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, including ownership verification by SMS or voice call and setting the two-step verification PIN. Full definition →
- Number migration
- Moving a WhatsApp business number from one platform to another. Because the WABA stays in your Meta Business Manager, migration re-points the number rather than replacing it. Full definition →
- Throughput
- How many messages per second a WhatsApp number is permitted to send. Meta sets it per number and raises it as the number demonstrates healthy sending behaviour. Full definition →
- Block rate
- The proportion of recipients who block your business after receiving a message. It is the single strongest negative input into a WhatsApp number's quality rating. Full definition →
- Delivery status
- The lifecycle state of a sent WhatsApp message — sent, delivered, read or failed — reported back by webhook against the message's unique ID. Full definition →
- Read receipt
- The signal that a recipient has opened your WhatsApp message. It is reported to the business through a status webhook, subject to the recipient's own privacy settings. Full definition →
- Media ID
- The identifier returned when a file is uploaded to WhatsApp. Messages reference the Media ID rather than re-uploading the file for every recipient. Full definition →
- Referral payload
- Attribution data attached to the first message of a conversation that started from a click-to-WhatsApp ad, identifying the ad, campaign and source that produced it. Full definition →
- Message echo
- A copy of a message sent from the WhatsApp Business App, delivered to the API so a platform running Coexistence can show it alongside API-sent messages. Full definition →
- Session message
- A free-form WhatsApp message sent inside the 24-hour customer service window. It needs no template approval because the customer messaged first. Full definition →
- Broadcast
- A single WhatsApp template message sent to a defined segment of contacts at once. Each recipient receives it as an individual conversation, not a group chat. Full definition →
- Drip campaign
- A scheduled sequence of WhatsApp messages spaced over days or weeks, usually triggered by an event and able to stop early when the contact responds or converts. Full definition →
- Segmentation
- Dividing contacts into targeted groups using tags, custom fields, lifecycle stage, purchase history or consent state, so a message reaches only the people it is relevant to. Full definition →
- Consent ledger
- A record of when and how each contact gave permission to be messaged, for which purpose, and whether that permission has since been withdrawn. Full definition →
- Opt-out
- A customer's withdrawal of permission to be messaged. Honouring it promptly is both a WhatsApp policy requirement and the most direct way to protect a number's quality rating. Full definition →
- DPDP Act
- India's Digital Personal Data Protection Act, which governs how businesses collect, process and store the personal data of people in India, including messaging contact data. Full definition →
- DSAR
- A data subject access request — a person asking a business what personal data it holds about them, and in many cases asking for it to be corrected or deleted. Full definition →
- Data retention
- The policy defining how long a business keeps message and contact data before deleting it. Retention limits reduce both regulatory exposure and breach impact. Full definition →
- Audit log
- An append-only record of who did what inside a platform and when. It cannot be edited after the fact, which is what makes it usable as evidence. Full definition →
- RBAC
- Role-based access control — granting permissions by job role rather than individually, so an agent, a manager and an owner see different parts of a platform. Full definition →
- SSO
- Single sign-on — letting staff log into a platform with the company identity provider they already use, rather than a separate username and password. Full definition →
- White label
- Presenting a platform under another company's branding. Agencies use it so their clients see the agency's identity rather than the underlying vendor's. Full definition →
- API key
- A credential your own systems use to call a platform's API. Scoped keys grant only the permissions a specific integration needs. Full definition →
- SLA
- A service level agreement — a target response or resolution time for customer conversations, tracked with alerts when a conversation is at risk of breaching it. Full definition →
- CSAT
- Customer satisfaction score — a short survey sent after a conversation is resolved, asking the customer to rate the interaction. Full definition →
- Chatbot
- Software that holds an automated conversation with a customer. On WhatsApp it ranges from simple keyword rules to an AI agent that understands open-ended questions. Full definition →
- Tool calling
- Letting an AI agent invoke a real function — looking up an order, checking availability, calling your API — instead of only generating text. Full definition →
- Knowledge base
- The collection of business documents an AI agent retrieves from — policies, product information, FAQs — so its answers reflect your business rather than general internet knowledge. Full definition →
- Hallucination
- An AI model producing a confident but unsupported answer. In customer messaging it looks like an invented policy, price or delivery promise. Full definition →
- Human handoff
- The transfer of a conversation from an AI agent to a person, triggered by topic, repeated failure to resolve, negative sentiment or an explicit customer request. Full definition →
- CPaaS
- Communications platform as a service — infrastructure vendors selling raw messaging and voice APIs, as distinct from application platforms that provide an inbox and campaign tools on top. Full definition →
- Business verification
- Meta's process of confirming a business is a real legal entity, using registration documents. It is a prerequisite for higher messaging limits and for green tick review. Full definition →
See how these fit together
The full feature list shows WABAs, templates and Embedded Signup in the product, not just definitions.