What exactly is the WhatsApp Cloud API?
WhatsApp Cloud API for Business is here! And it’s going to change the way businesses get access to WhatsApp Business API.
On Thursday, 19 May 2022, Mark Zuckerburg announced that they are opening WhatsApp to all businesses across the world to customize their experiences with the WhatsApp Cloud API.
Until now, businesses relied on BSPs (Business Service Providers) to get access to the WhatsApp Business API.
But, from now, with the introduction of WhatsApp Cloud API, businesses can get instant approval for their WhatsApp Business API accounts, directly from Facebook for Free.
If you’re using WhatsApp Business API, you must have tons of questions in your mind.
Well, let’s not keep you waiting.
Here’s all that you need to know!
What is WhatsApp Cloud API?
Earlier, Facebook didn’t provide direct access to WhatsApp Business API. So, businesses took help from official WhatsApp BSP (Business Service Providers) to get approved for the WhatsApp API.
The WhatsApp Cloud API removes this by allowing businesses to get their WhatsApp Business API accounts approved by Facebook itself.
With WhatsApp Cloud APIs, any business or developer can easily access the service, build on top of WhatsApp to customise their experiences & engage with their customers seamlessly.
In just a few minutes, this (WhatsApp Cloud API) will allow businesses & developers to build on top of WhatsApp to customise their experiences & respond to customers quickly & easily. The best business experiences meet people where they are and that’s WhatsApp, so I’m excited to open this to businesses everywhere.”Mark Zuckerburg, Instagram
This means that Facebook will bear all hosting, maintenance & other responsibilities that Business Service Providers solved till now.
While few WhatsApp partners like AiSensy have been providing Free WhatsApp Business API, most partners charged a fixed amount to get you the WhatsApp API. This changes from now!
Yet still, you will need developers to Integrate the API with your solution or platform like AiSensy to view communication and drive marketing campaigns.
Basically, WhatsApp has just made the API process fluid, rest almost everything remains the same in terms of you using WhatsApp engagement platforms to use your WhatsApp Business Account.
Facebook aims to capture small & individual businesses with the WhatsApp Cloud API as it reduces the time to get WhatsApp Business API as well as provides the approval for Free.
With WhatsApp Cloud API, Facebook takes ownership of the cost of hosting the API, and its upgrade and maintenance costs.
There are many more benefits of the WhatsApp Cloud API. Have a look!
Benefits of WhatsApp Cloud API
The WhatsApp Cloud API offers:
- Lightning Fast approval for WhatsApp Business API directly from Facebook (in minutes) — By removing BSPs from the picture, Facebook will now provide direct access to the Business API to all businesses across the globe.
- You pay nothing — Facebook promises that businesses can get approved for WhatsApp Business API without paying anything.
- But, Facebook doesn’t provide any platform to use the WhatsApp Business API. You can use the official WhatsApp Business API based platform AiSensy, to broadcast campaigns and solve for customer support under one platform.
- Get New Features instantly — Get all new updates added to WhatsApp Business API, as now you have direct access to WhatsApp Business APIs via Cloud APIs
While you can get the WhatsApp Cloud API for free, you’d still need a platform to use it for communicating with your users. Well, you can do that easily with AiSensy.
With AiSensy, you can:
- Broadcast to 1,00,000+ users in one go
- Automate notifications for order, delivery, abandoned carts & more through Integrations.
- Automate Customer support by installing WhatsApp Chatbots
- Provide multi-human live chat support on numerous devices.
Quick-fire these features right now! Sign up with AiSensy & get WhatsApp Business API for free.
What does this mean for Businesses already using WhatsApp Business API?
Here’s a direct reference to all WhatsApp Business API users- If you already have an approved WhatsApp Business API Account, then WhatsApp Cloud API changes nothing for you!
WhatsApp Cloud API is a means to make the WhatsApp Business API more easily accessible to businesses across the globe.
If you’re already using WhatsApp Business API with a platform like AiSensy, it changes nothing!
You still get to utilize all the features listed in WhatsApp Business API under one single platform i.e. AiSensy.
What does this mean for Businesses without access to the WhatsApp Business API?
Well, if you’re new to WhatsApp Business API & are looking to get your account approved, there’s good news.
You can get your account approved within minutes with WhatsApp Cloud API.
Earlier, to apply for WhatsApp Business API, you needed an approved Facebook Business Manager Account. Well, now you can apply & get approval for the WhatsApp API without the FB Business Manager Account approval.
But, you’d have limited access to the WhatsApp API without Facebook Business Verification so we recommend that you get your Facebook Business Manager verified alongside.
Limitations of WhatsApp Cloud API
There’s only one Limitation that you might face while using WhatsApp Cloud API. You can’t use the same WhatsApp number for on-premise WhatsApp Business API & cloud WhatsApp API.
You can either use a phone number with an on-premise WhatsApp API or with the Cloud WhatsApp API.
Final Words
WhatsApp Cloud API is here to make the WhatsApp Business API much more accessible to businesses across the globe.
Mark Zuckerburg’s vision is to bring business communication to a platform where the users are most active. The WhatsApp Cloud API is the first step in achieving this!
Much more to come in the upcoming days. Stay tuned.
