Guide · Ads · For the owner choosing how an ad should reach WhatsApp

Three kinds of ad that lead to WhatsApp: click to WhatsApp, Meta picks the app, or the website first

When a business asks for ads that bring customers to WhatsApp, Meta offers more than one kind, and they do not behave the same. One always opens a WhatsApp chat. One lets Meta pick the app. One sends people to the website first, with a WhatsApp button at the bottom. Meta's own ad documentation sets out how each works and what each needs.

Published 5 October 2026 · Updated 8 October 2026

Three kinds, one question

The question that decides between them is simple: must every customer who taps end up in WhatsApp? If yes, only one of the three guarantees it. Whichever is chosen, Meta's pages say the two chat ads are billed when the ad is shown to people, not per conversation: the ad costs the same whether or not anyone starts a chat. A fourth route, ads inside WhatsApp Status, has its own guide.

Ads that click to WhatsApp

Where the tap goes: Straight into a WhatsApp chat with the business, every time. Meta describes them as a way to start conversations with a large audience and answer each person individually.
What the ad can be: An image, a video, a carousel or a slideshow. Meta also allows a prompt to call the business, on campaigns built for engagement.
What it can aim for: Engagement, leads, sales or traffic. A campaign also has to declare any of Meta's special ad categories it falls in.
Setting one up: Meta's WhatsApp Business site gives the steps in Ads Manager: Create, choose an objective and name the campaign, then under Conversions choose Messaging apps and WhatsApp. Set dates and a budget, define the audience, choose the format, add images and text, set the replies people see, and Publish. Meta advises running the ad for at least seven days and aiming at an audience of at least 2 to 10 million people.

What arrives with each chat, and the 7 days in which Meta does not charge for messages after a reply, is in the ads guide.

These ads run from a Facebook Page, so the Page and the WhatsApp number are linked first. For a business on the WhatsApp Business app, Meta's Help Center gives three places to do it. In the Page's settings, under Permissions, open Linked accounts, choose WhatsApp, enter the number and type in the code WhatsApp sends. In Ads Manager, at the ad set, find WhatsApp under Message destinations and choose Connect account. Or from the WhatsApp Business app itself. It has to be a business Page, not a personal profile, and one Page can have more than one WhatsApp number linked.

When Meta says the number belongs to another business

Meta's Help Center says this message means the number is already linked to another Facebook business, and it has to be removed as a business asset there first. Unlinking a Page is in the same Linked accounts screen: WhatsApp, then Remove. A number on the WhatsApp Business Platform follows a separate request instead.

After you publish: Meta's review

Meta's help article on ads in review says every ad is checked against its Advertising Standards as soon as it is created or edited, and the status shows in the Delivery column in Ads Manager. The review can look at the images, video and text, the targeting, where the ad sends people, any special ad category and the advertiser's permissions. Most ads are reviewed within 24 hours, some take longer, and an ad can be reviewed again after it goes live. Editing a running or scheduled ad's targeting, its images, text, links or videos, its optimisation or what it is charged for starts a new review; changing the bid, the budget or the ad set's schedule does not. An ad scheduled for a later date is reviewed when it is submitted and starts on its start date. Our reading: before a busy week, settle the picture and wording early, because changing them sends the ad back through review, while raising the budget does not.

Ads that let Meta pick the app

Where the tap goes: Meta calls these multidestination ads. A tap opens a chat in Messenger, Instagram or WhatsApp, whichever Meta judges the person most likely to respond from, among the apps the business allows.
What that means for WhatsApp: Some customers will land in Messenger or Instagram instead. A business that only answers on WhatsApp should not include the other two, or must staff all of them.
What it needs: For WhatsApp, a WhatsApp business number connected to the business's Facebook Page; for Instagram, an Instagram business account connected to the Page.
What it cannot do: Meta's page says special ad categories are not supported for these ads, and the goals are limited to engagement, sales and traffic.
How the budget is split: Meta's Business Help Center says the ad budget is shared among the destinations you choose, based on how likely each is to start a conversation. Messages arrive in each app's own inbox, unless the business manages them together in the inbox in Meta Business Suite.
Where the ad can be shown: The destination decides the placements. An ad that opens WhatsApp or Messenger can be shown on Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp; one that opens Instagram Direct is shown only on Instagram.

Our reading: every extra app takes a share

Because the budget follows the likeliest conversation, each extra app you add can take part of the money that would otherwise have opened WhatsApp chats. Add Messenger or Instagram only if someone will answer there as quickly as on WhatsApp.

Website ads with a WhatsApp button

Where the tap goes: To the business's website, opened inside the Facebook or Instagram app. A bar at the bottom of the page carries a button that opens a chat, so WhatsApp is the second step, not the first.
What it can aim for: Sales, traffic, engagement, leads or awareness, when the button leads to WhatsApp.
What it needs: A Facebook Page linked to the business's WhatsApp number.

Questions

Will changing our WhatsApp ad's budget send it back to review?

No. Meta says changes to the bid, the budget or the ad set's schedule do not start a review. Changes to the targeting, the images, text, links or videos, the optimisation or what the ad is charged for do.

How long should we run an ad that opens WhatsApp before judging it?

Meta's best-practices article recommends at least 7 days, to reach stable results and allow for differences between weekdays. It also suggests making it plain in the ad that a tap opens a chat, for example with a Send Message or Chat Now button, and adjusting the welcome message as results come in.

Which kind of ad makes sure every lead arrives on WhatsApp?

An ad that clicks to WhatsApp. A multidestination ad may open Messenger or Instagram instead, and a website ad sends people to the website first with a WhatsApp button at the bottom.

Does Meta charge per chat for these ads?

No. Meta's pages for ads that click to WhatsApp and for multidestination ads say they are billed when the ad is shown to people.

Our business is in one of Meta's special ad categories. Which can we use?

Meta's page says special ad categories are not supported for multidestination ads. An ad that clicks to WhatsApp declares its category when the campaign is set up. Ads in WhatsApp Status do not accept special ad categories at all.

How do we create an ad that opens WhatsApp?

In Ads Manager: Create, pick an objective, then under Conversions choose Messaging apps and WhatsApp, set dates, budget and audience, add the creative and Publish. Meta suggests at least seven days and a broad audience of at least 2 to 10 million people.

Can we make one straight from our Facebook Page instead of Ads Manager?

Yes, by boosting a post. Meta's Business Help Center says it works for posts with a link to another site, a video or a single photo. On the Page, choose Advertise, then add to your advertising plan or create a new ad, pick Get more messages as the goal, choose WhatsApp and your number, set the welcome message, audience, duration and budget, and publish. The WhatsApp account, from the app or the Platform, must already be connected to the Page.

How do we link our WhatsApp Business app number to our Facebook Page?

In the Page's settings, under Permissions, open Linked accounts, choose WhatsApp, enter the number and the code WhatsApp sends. Meta's Help Center says it can also be done in Ads Manager or in the WhatsApp Business app, and removed again in the same Linked accounts screen.

Meta says our number is linked to another Facebook business. What now?

Meta's Help Center says the number has to be removed as a business asset from that other business before it can be linked to your Page.

Does our WhatsApp number need to be linked to our Facebook Page?

For a multidestination ad that includes WhatsApp, and for a website ad with a WhatsApp button, Meta's pages say yes.

Sources

Meta's developer documentation: Ads that Click to WhatsApp (Marketing API), read 5 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Ads that click to multidestination, read 5 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Website ads that click to message, read 5 October 2026.
Meta's WhatsApp Business site: How to create ads that click to WhatsApp, read 5 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: Connect your Facebook Page to WhatsApp, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: about ads that click to message on Meta technologies, read 8 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: best practices for ads that click to message, read 8 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: create ads that click to WhatsApp from your Facebook Page, read 8 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: About ads in review, read 8 October 2026.

More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.

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