About chatting with businesses
Some verified accounts are owned by a notable person, brand, or entity while others are subscribed to Meta Verified.
- Verified badges mean an account has been verified based on their activity on WhatsApp and information or documents they provide.
- Meta Verified is a paid monthly subscription that comes with features like the verified badge, account support, impersonation protection, and more. Note: Meta Verified for Business on WhatsApp may not be available to you yet. Join the waitlist now.
It’s easy to distinguish between a personal account and a business account on WhatsApp. In an individual chat, tap or click the contact’s name to view their profile. If they’re a business, their profile will include one of the following labels: Meta Verified business account or regular Business account.
A regular Business account is the default status for a business that creates an account on one of the WhatsApp Business products. A business account with a verified badge means the account has been verified based on their activity on WhatsApp and information or documents they provide.
Why am I seeing a new system message in my WhatsApp chats?
Some businesses choose WhatsApp’s parent company, Meta, or another company to securely store messages and respond to customers.
You’ll see the following messages, when a business chooses to:
- Use a partner: You’ll see “This business works with other companies to manage this chat.”
- Use the WhatsApp Business Platform Cloud API (Hosted by Meta): You’ll see “This business uses a secure service from Meta to manage this chat.”
If a business is using the WhatsApp Business app or managing and storing customer messages themselves, you’ll see: “Messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted. No one outside of this chat, not even WhatsApp, can read or listen to them.”
Meta will not automatically use the messages you send a business to inform the ads that you see. However, businesses will be able to use chats they receive for their own marketing purposes, including advertising on Meta.
If you don’t want to receive messages from a business, you can block them directly from the chat, or delete them from your contact list.
Always private and secure
Every WhatsApp message is protected by the same Signal encryption protocol that secures messages before they leave your device. When you message a WhatsApp business account, your message is delivered securely to the destination chosen by the business.
Note:
- There are optional services that a business or you can choose to use where Meta receives limited information. For example, you can choose to start a chat with a business after interacting with their ad on Facebook and Instagram or interact with offers and announcements a business may send you on WhatsApp. We include the > > icon at the top of the chat bar for these services, which you’ll be able to tap to learn more about how this works.
- In addition, certain companies choose to use AI from Meta to assist them in responding to messages sent from customers. Meta receives these chats to improve its AI quality; when this happens we will let you know by highlighting “uses AI from Meta” under the business name.
- Download the WhatsApp Business app on Android | iPhone
- About opting-in to business chats
- How to block or unblock a business
- How to block and report contacts