Connect your own WhatsApp with Embedded Signup

Citauno can connect to your own WhatsApp Business account from Meta through Embedded Signup: a Meta popup where you sign in with Facebook and authorize the connection, without copying tokens by hand.

Before you start: what changes and what doesn’t

What does go out from your number once it’s connected:

• Event invitations and the automatic acknowledgements that answer those invitations’ buttons, if your business is the events type (see Event invitations).

The acknowledgement for “Confirm” / “Cancel” on a booking reminder does not go out from your number either: it is sent from the same number that sent the reminder, which today is Citauno’s shared one.

Availability

Own-number connection is a controlled rollout. The “Your own WhatsApp number” section appears in WhatsApp → Reminders only if your account has it enabled. If you don’t see it, it isn’t available to you yet and there’s no way to turn it on from the dashboard — get in touch if you need it.

What you need

1. A Facebook account with access to your Meta Business (a personal one is fine for signing in).
2. A phone number for the business, and access to the handset to receive Meta’s verification code.
3. A decision about which of the two paths you’ll take. That’s the important choice in this process.

The two paths

In the dashboard they appear as two cards: “The number I already use in WhatsApp Business” and “A new number, with no active WhatsApp”. Choose before you click, because the path changes what Meta will ask you for.

Step 1: open the flow

1. Go to WhatsApp → Reminders in the dashboard.
2. In the “Your own WhatsApp number” section, pick one of the two cards.
3. A Meta popup opens. That’s Embedded Signup.

Step 2: sign in and authorize

Everything inside the popup belongs to Meta:

1. Sign in with your Facebook account.
2. Pick (or create) your Meta Business and your WhatsApp Business Account.
3. Pick (or add) the phone number.
4. Authorize Citauno to manage that WhatsApp account.

The exact screens are Meta’s and change from time to time. If it asks you to create a Meta Business Account first, that’s free and takes a couple of fields: business name, email and website (optional).

Step 3: verify the number

• On the “new number” path, Meta sends a code by SMS or voice call and you enter it in the popup.
• On the “keep the number on the app” path, Meta sends the code and you also have to open WhatsApp Business on your phone and tap “Connect to the Business Platform”. Without that tap, the connection never completes.

When the popup finishes, it closes itself and you’re back in the dashboard.

Step 4: confirm it connected

Back in the dashboard, the section shows the masked number, the verification date and a status (Pending / Registered / Verified / Failed). Below it there are two buttons, and only those two:

Tap Test connection as soon as you’re back — it’s the fastest way to know whether Meta considers your number verified.

About templates

There is no list of templates to submit to Meta for approval from inside Citauno. The templates are registered on the platform side and their names are fixed; they are neither edited nor approved from the dashboard.

The one exception is events-type businesses: when you connect the number, Citauno automatically registers the invitation template on your Meta account and shows you its review status (pending / approved) as read-only information. There’s nothing to submit by hand.

Costs

Messages that go out through your own account are billed directly by Meta, at their rates. That relationship is between your business and Meta: Citauno neither bills nor brokers those messages, and can’t see your balance with Meta. Set up your payment method at business.facebook.com, on your WhatsApp Business Account.

Separately, Citauno reminders keep consuming your plan’s credits as usual.

If Meta’s popup isn’t available

There is no plan B inside the dashboard. If the automatic connect isn’t enabled:

• In an appointments business, the “Your own WhatsApp number” section simply isn’t rendered, so there’s nothing to click.
• In an events business, the “Connect with WhatsApp” button is still there, but the attempt ends with the message “Automatic connect is not available yet — use the manual fields.”

That message points at manual fields the dashboard doesn’t show anywhere. If you run into it, get in touch: unblocking the connection is on our side, not yours.

Disconnecting

1. WhatsApp → Reminders → Disconnect.
2. Confirm.

Citauno deletes the stored credentials and your business goes back to “Citauno number” mode. Your WhatsApp Business account on Meta keeps existing untouched — only the link is cut. To delete it entirely, do that from Meta Business Manager.

Common problems

What you’ve got now

• Your WhatsApp Business account linked to Citauno and verified.
• The status Meta returns, checkable at any time with Test connection.
• Clarity about which messages go out from your number today and which don’t.

Next step

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