Summary
WhatsApp Business Calling lets your team connect with customers through voice calls directly inside Wati. It’s powered by Meta’s WhatsApp (WA) Calling feature, offering a seamless way for support, sales, and marketing teams to engage customers in real time. This feature helps boost responsiveness, improve issue resolution, and build stronger customer relationships - all without leaving the WhatsApp chat interface.
Before you proceed, make sure to review the WhatsApp Business Calling restrictions and guidelines to understand Meta’s rules and limitations.
Instructions
Follow these steps to enable and start using WhatsApp Business Calling in Wati.
Why use WhatsApp Business Calling?
WhatsApp Business Calling enhances how your team interacts with customers by enabling quick, direct voice conversations. Here’s how it helps:
Improve support: Provide faster, more personal assistance through real-time voice conversations.
Boost sales conversions: Build customer trust and close deals faster with personalized calls.
Simplify operations: Allow your team to make and receive calls directly within WhatsApp - no need to switch between tools.
Follow these steps to enable WhatsApp Business calling
Step 1. Enable inbound and outbound calling
Log in to your Wati account.
Click your profile picture in the top-right corner.
Go to Settings > Team Inbox Settings.
Toggle to Call and select the phone number where you want to enable calling (if you have multiple numbers).
Enable calling features as needed:
Enable WhatsApp Call: Turn this on to activate WhatsApp Business Calling.
Allow Customers to Call Your Business: Toggle on if you want customers to call your business. Turning it off will hide the call icon for your business in the customer app.
Allow Auto Permission Requests: Turn this on to automatically send a permission request after a missed inbound call. This helps you reconnect with customers quickly.
Step 2. Receive and answer inbound calls
Incoming calls appear as a small dialog box in the bottom-left corner of your screen. You can receive up to three incoming calls at once.
Use the expand option to view all active calls and choose whether to answer or decline each one.
The called phone number will appear in the call log. You can also click the chat button to open the call window directly.
Notes:
Once an agent answers a call, they cannot pick up another until they end the current call.
Other agents can still answer calls on the same business number if available.
Use the green button to answer and the red button to decline a call.
When you answer, you will see the below screen.
You can minimize the call window to continue working while staying on the call.
After the call, you can view details such as missed calls and connected call durations in the customer’s conversation window.
Step 3. View call logs
In your Team Inbox, click the Call icon.
Switch between Missed and All Call Logs to view details.
Each log includes:
Call timestamp
Caller’s name
Called phone number (for inbound calls)
Name of the agent who made or answered the call
Step 4. Make outbound calls
Before making an outbound call, you must have permission from the contact. Click here to learn more about it.
If permission is not already granted:
When you click the call button, you’ll be prompted to send a permission request.
If the chat window is closed, the request uses a call permission template (a utility template billed by Meta).
If the chat window is open, you can send a free-form permission message.
What your customer sees
The contact will receive a permission request with the following options:
Allow calls indefinitely (they can revoke later)
Allow calls temporarily (expires in 7 days)
Deny the request
You’ll see system notifications in the chat showing the customer’s response.
If they approve, click Call customer to initiate the call.
If permission is temporary, Wati will display how many days remain until it expires.
If they decline, the pop-up will close automatically.
When the call connects, you’ll see the On Call status. You can also minimize the pop-up window while continuing other tasks.
After the call ends, the call log appears in both the customer’s conversation window and the All section of the Call Logs (see Step 3).
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
General Questions
1. What is WhatsApp Business Calling in Wati?
WhatsApp Business Calling lets your team make and receive voice calls directly inside Wati, using Meta’s WhatsApp Calling feature. It allows real-time conversations with customers without leaving the WhatsApp chat interface.
2. Why should I use WhatsApp Business Calling?
It helps improve support by enabling faster, more personal assistance, boosts sales conversions with direct customer calls, and simplifies operations by letting your team manage calls directly within WhatsApp.
Setup and Permissions
3. How do I enable WhatsApp Business Calling in Wati?
Log in to your Wati account, click your profile picture, go to Settings > Team Inbox Settings, toggle to Call, select your phone number, and enable the desired calling features.
4. What calling features can I enable?
You can enable:
WhatsApp Call to activate WhatsApp Business Calling
Allow customers to call your business to show or hide the call icon for customers
Allow auto permission requests to automatically send a permission request after a missed inbound call
5. Do I need customer permission to make outbound calls?
Yes. If permission isn’t already granted, Wati will prompt you to send a permission request before initiating the call.
6. What options does a customer have when receiving a permission request?
Customers can:
Allow calls indefinitely (they can revoke later)
Allow calls temporarily (expires in 7 days)
Deny the request
Receiving and Managing Calls
7. How do I receive inbound calls?
Incoming calls appear as a small dialog box in the bottom-left corner. You can receive up to three calls at once, expand to view all active calls, and choose to answer or decline.
8. Can an agent answer multiple calls at the same time?
No, once an agent answers a call, they cannot pick up another until the current call ends. Other agents can still answer calls on the same business number if available.
9. How do I manage calls while working in Wati?
You can minimize the call window to continue other tasks while staying on the call.
Call Logs
10. How do I view call logs?
In your Team Inbox, click the Call icon. You can switch between Missed and All Call Logs to see call details.
11. What information is available in call logs?
Each log shows the call timestamp, caller’s name, called phone number (for inbound calls), and the agent who made or answered the call.
Making Outbound Calls
12. How do I make an outbound call?
After obtaining permission, click the Call customer button in the chat window. If permission is temporary, Wati shows how many days remain before it expires.
13. What happens if a customer declines a call permission request?
The pop-up closes automatically, and you cannot initiate the call until permission is granted.
14. Where can I see the call history after an outbound call?
Call logs appear in both the customer’s conversation window and the All section of the Call Logs in your Team Inbox.