Send messages to Whatsapp number using PHP

Question

I have to send messages to the customer's whatsapp number programatically.

What are the pre requirements/needs?

Do I need to convert/register my personal number to business account?

Is there any API provided by whatsapp for this?

Answer 1

WhatsApp just launched business api recently

What are the pre requirements/needs?

Please submit a form at https://www.facebook.com/business/m/whatsapp/business-api to sign up

Do I need to convert/register my personal number to business account?

You need to register a phone number as business account, after registration, you cannot use whatsapp app with the same number on your device. So it's better to register business account with another number rather than your personal number

Is there any API provided by whatsapp for this?

Please check out https://www.whatsapp.com/business/api for more information

Answer 2

Do I need to convert/register my personal number to business account?

Not necessarily, it's your choice if you want to share your personal account, even though you recommend using a business account

Is there any API provided by whatsapp for this?

According to Whatsapp's own documentation, they do not have a direct API, but you can create a link to send the messages, according to the documentation, follow the submission parameter by the URL: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=

Here's another example:

Use: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567

Don't use: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=+001-(555)1234567

You can see more in: https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/26000030/

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UPDATE APRIL, 24 2022

Whatsapp sender API url has been changed to: https://wa.me/<number>

Example:

Use: https://wa.me/1XXXXXXXXXX

Don't use: https://wa.me/+001-(XXX)XXXXXXX