Several people on one number
Sales, support and the owner all need the same conversations, without passing a phone around.
WhatsApp Business API · Cloud API integration
WhatsApp Business API Integration, Connected to Your Systems
The WhatsApp Business API on its own sends and receives messages. The useful part is what you connect to it: the order that triggers a delivery update, the website form that becomes a WhatsApp conversation, the CRM that knows who is writing. We build those connections on Meta’s Cloud API, with approved templates, an AI assistant where it helps, and a shared inbox for your team.
For businesses in Mauritius and abroad that have outgrown the WhatsApp Business app.
From $9 a month plus usage. See pricing →- Built on the official Cloud API
- Connected to your website, store, CRM or own software
- Templates, opt-in and hand-over to staff set up properly
Demo conversation (fictional business and customer)
- Customer: Hi, can you resend invoice INV-0412? I can’t find the email.
- Invoice INV-0412 fetched from the accounting system
- Building supplies company: Here it is: INV-0412, due on 15 October 📄 You can pay by bank transfer or MCB Juice.
- Customer: Paid just now by Juice
- Payment matched to the invoice
- Building supplies company: Thank you, payment received ✅ Your receipt for INV-0412 is attached.
Demo conversation (fictional business and customer)
Test our WhatsApp AI assistant yourself.
Try it on WhatsAppWhat it is
What the WhatsApp Business API actually is
“WhatsApp Business API” is the name most people use for the WhatsApp Business Platform: Meta’s set of APIs that let software send and receive WhatsApp messages for a business. Most businesses use the Cloud API, which Meta hosts. There is no app to install and no server to run for the messaging itself.
Because software handles the messages, they can be triggered by your systems, answered by an AI assistant, shared across a team inbox and logged next to your customer records. That is the difference from the free WhatsApp Business app, which is one phone and the people holding it.
Our guide covers the app versus the API, business verification, Meta’s pricing and coexistence in detail. This page is about what we build on top.
Read the WhatsApp Business guide: app vs API, setup and Meta pricing →When you need it
Signs the app is no longer enough
The WhatsApp Business app is fine for one person answering a few chats. These are the points where businesses move to the Platform.
Messages that should send themselves
Order confirmations, delivery updates, appointment reminders and payment reminders, triggered by your systems.
Questions that arrive after hours
An AI assistant can answer from your information at night, which only works through the API.
Conversations that belong in your records
Leads in the CRM, orders in the store, bookings in the calendar, not in someone’s chat history.
How the Platform works
Templates, the 24-hour window and per-message pricing
Three rules shape every WhatsApp integration. We design around them from the start.
Customer-initiated: when a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it, your system or your team can reply freely, and each new message from the customer restarts the window. Replies inside the window are free.
Business-initiated: outside that window, you can only start a conversation with a message template approved by Meta. Templates fall into three categories: marketing (offers, “come back” messages), utility (confirmations, order and delivery updates, payment reminders) and authentication (one-time codes).
Since 1 July 2025, Meta charges per delivered template message. The rate depends on the template category and the country code of the recipient’s number. Customers must have opted in before you send them templates, and must be able to stop them.
Meta’s pricing and the 24-hour window, explained in the guide →- We write your templates, place them in the right category and submit them for approval
- We record opt-in and opt-out next to each contact
- We keep marketing and utility messages apart, so you can see what each one costs
Integrations in practice
What a WhatsApp API integration does day to day
Three examples of WhatsApp wired into the systems a business already runs.
I filled in the form on your website about a kitchen renovation.
- The website form sends the enquiry to your CRM
- A utility template opens the WhatsApp conversation, with the customer’s consent from the form
- The assistant asks for photos, measurements and the area
- The lead is updated in the CRM and assigned to a salesperson
- Lead qualified in the CRM
Where is my order? I paid yesterday.
- Payment and status changes in the store trigger template messages
- The customer’s reply opens the 24-hour window
- The assistant reads the order status from the store and answers
- Anything about a refund or a damaged item goes to your team
- Customer updated, no call needed
Thanks, I’ll pay by MCB Juice today.
- Your accounting system issues an invoice
- A utility template sends it, with a payment link if you use one
- An overdue invoice triggers a polite reminder
- Payment is matched and a receipt goes out on WhatsApp
- Invoice paid, receipt sent
We run the third flow ourselves: our in-house assistant sends Artover’s invoices, reminders and receipts as approved templates, and a person approves every message.
Ways to get it
Three ways to use the API, depending on what you need
Build it yourself
Your developers connect to the Cloud API directly.
- Full control, if you have the team
- You handle templates, webhooks, inbox and AI yourself
- You maintain it as Meta updates the Platform
Artover Chat
Our ready-made product, set up by you.
- Connect your WhatsApp number in minutes
- AI answers from your information, your team takes over any chat
- WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram in one inbox
- Google Calendar and Google Sheets built in
Custom integration
We build WhatsApp into your own systems.
- Your website, WooCommerce store, CRM, accounting or POS
- Messages triggered by events in those systems
- Custom dashboards and approval steps
- Quoted after a free discovery call
You can start on Artover Chat and add custom connections to your own systems later.
How a project runs
How we set up a WhatsApp API integration
- 01
Discovery call
We look at the messages you send and receive today, the systems involved, and what should be automated first. Free.
- 02
Account and number
Business verification, display name and the phone number. If customers know your app number, we check whether coexistence applies so you can keep it.
- 03
Templates and consent
We draft the templates, pick their categories and submit them to Meta, and plan how customers opt in and out.
- 04
Build and connect
Webhooks and API connections to your website, store, CRM, booking or accounting system, plus AI answers and hand-over rules.
- 05
Test with your team
Real scenarios in English, French and Kreol Morisien, including the awkward ones, before any customer sees it.
- 06
Launch and review
We read real conversations after launch and adjust answers, templates and rules.
AI, automation, people
Three layers on top of the API
AI
AI reads incoming messages
Customers reply to an order update with a question, not a keyword. Something has to understand it.
- Works out what the customer wants from free text
- Answers from the information you approved
- Replies in English, French or Kreol Morisien
Automation
Automation moves the data
Webhooks and API calls do the system work the same way every time.
- Sends templates when an event happens in your systems
- Reads and writes orders, leads, bookings and invoices
- Logs every message against the right customer
Human
Your team owns the exceptions
A shared inbox lets anyone on the team pick up a conversation.
- Complaints, refunds and disputes
- Sales conversations that need a person
- Approval steps before sensitive messages go out
- Any customer who asks for a person
Integrations
Systems we connect to the WhatsApp API
If a system has an API or webhooks, WhatsApp can usually talk to it. When a tool has no API, browser automation can sometimes fill the gap.
- WordPress and WooCommerce
- HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, Odoo, Pipedrive
- Sage, QuickBooks, Xero
- MCB, MCB Juice, MyT Money, Stripe, PayPal
- Erply POS
- Booking systems and Google Calendar
- Google Sheets
- Your own database or web app
Pricing
Simple pricing: one monthly plan plus a wallet
Connect your WhatsApp number to Artover Chat yourself, in a few minutes. You pay a fixed monthly subscription, and you add credit to a Usage Wallet that pays for AI replies and WhatsApp messages as you use them. Messenger and Instagram can be connected too, at no extra subscription.
Artover Chat
$9/ month
No setup fee, no contract. Cancel any time.
- AI assistant that answers from your own business information
- Your WhatsApp Business number on the official platform
- Facebook Messenger and Instagram messages in the same inbox, included
- Shared inbox: your team takes over any conversation
- Leads, bookings and reminders
- Replies in English, French and Kreol Morisien
- Web app and mobile app
Usage Wallet
Top up from $5 ($10, $25, $50, $100, $200). Each AI reply and each message you send is deducted as it happens, and you see every charge. Set a low-balance alert or automatic top-up so your assistant never stops.
Pay in US dollars with PayPal or a card, or in Mauritian rupees by bank transfer.
Create your account and connect WhatsApp. Try your assistant free with 25 test messages before you subscribe.
Estimate your monthly cost
Move the sliders to match your business.
Customers who message you
Customers who write to you on WhatsApp
Meta doesn’t charge for these messages: you pay only for AI replies
Messages you send first (WhatsApp)
Booking reminders, order and payment updates
Only to customers who agreed to receive them
- Subscription
- $9.00
- WhatsApp usage
- $3.51
- Messenger and Instagram usage
- $0.00
- Estimated total per month
- $12.51
A $10 top-up covers about a month.
Need custom integrations (booking system, WooCommerce, CRM)? Those are quoted separately after a free discovery call. Request a consultation →
WhatsApp Business API integration: FAQ
Is the WhatsApp Business API the same as the WhatsApp Business Platform?
Yes. “WhatsApp Business API” is the common name; Meta calls it the WhatsApp Business Platform. Most businesses use its Cloud API, which Meta hosts, so there is no messaging server to run yourself.
Can I connect the WhatsApp API to my CRM?
Yes, if the CRM has an API. We connect HubSpot, Zoho, Salesforce, Odoo and Pipedrive, among others, so new conversations create or update contacts and leads, and messages can be sent from events in the CRM.
What is a message template, and why does it need approval?
A template is a pre-written message, with placeholders such as a name or an order number, that you use to contact a customer outside the 24-hour customer service window. Meta reviews each one and places it in the marketing, utility or authentication category, which also sets how it is charged.
Do I pay Meta for every WhatsApp message?
No. Replies inside the 24-hour customer service window are free. Meta charges per delivered template message, at a rate that depends on the category and the recipient’s country code. Our guide explains the details.
Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app on the same number?
Often, yes. Meta calls this coexistence: the number is connected to the Cloud API through a Meta Solution Partner or Tech Provider, and you keep the app. Some app features stop working, so we check what applies to you first.
Do customers need to opt in?
Yes. Customers must agree to receive messages from you before you send them templates, and must be able to stop them. We build the opt-in into your forms or checkout and keep a record of consent, designed around the Data Protection Act 2017 and GDPR principles.
Can my team still answer messages themselves?
Yes. Conversations land in a shared inbox where anyone on the team can reply or take over from the AI assistant. You set the rules for what is always handed to a person.
How much does a WhatsApp API integration cost?
Artover Chat is a monthly plan plus a usage wallet that pays for AI replies and WhatsApp messages as you use them; current prices and a cost simulator are in the pricing section of this page. Custom integrations with your own systems are quoted separately after a free discovery call.
Tell us which system WhatsApp should talk to
Name the software you run (store, CRM, booking tool, accounting) and the messages you send by hand today. We’ll tell you what can be connected and where to start.