# Connect a WhatsApp line

Add a WhatsApp line for your company, link its number through a connection app, choose who is alerted about it, and make it the line your messages leave from.

A line is one WhatsApp number linked to the database; the app calls it an account. Every message leaves through a line, and nothing leaves while no line is connected. The demo has one: **Office line**, +1 415-555-0100, **Connected**, the default line of My Company (San Francisco).

Jaah offers several ways to connect WhatsApp, which you can see by searching the Apps for "API"; these gateways are third parties independent of Jaah, which bears no legal responsibility for them, and your choice of provider is governed by a separate agreement between you and that provider.

## Before you start {#before-you-start}

- You need the **Administrator** access right on **WhatsApp**, which opens the **Configuration** menu.
- Install your connection app first ([Install, upgrade and uninstall apps](/docs/general-settings/install-upgrade-and-uninstall-apps)). Without one, a line can be created but never connected.

## See your lines {#lines}

Open **WhatsApp/Configuration/Accounts**. Each card is a line, with its number, its company, its state and its message count. A new line reads **Draft**, then **Connected**, **Disconnected** or **Error**.

![The lines of the company; Office line is Connected.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12913-51f1ba10/whatsapp-connect-a-whatsapp-line-lines-en.png)

## Read a connected line {#connected-line}

Click a card. The state sits at the top. **Provider** names the connection app that carries the line, empty in the demo; **Phone Number** fills in once the line is linked. The counters at the top open its messages and the templates tied to it. **Company** and **Allowed Companies**, shown when the database has several companies, say which companies may send through it.

![A connected line, with its number, its company and the users it alerts.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12917-9857548b/whatsapp-connect-a-whatsapp-line-line_connected-en.png)

On a phone, the state sits in the top bar.

The **Messaging** tab holds two settings:

- **Send Read Receipts**: when the line marks a contact's messages as read, the blue ticks the contact sees. **When Message is Viewed** does it as soon as a user opens the conversation in Discuss, **When Replying** only when someone answers.
- **Rate Limit Daily**: the most automatic and bulk messages the line sends in a day, 1,000 by default; a new line starts lower while it warms up ([How WhatsApp sending works](how-whatsapp-sending-works#pacing)). **Rate Limit Per Second** is not used by sending.

![When the line marks a contact's messages as read, and its daily ceiling.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12921-498cc4c8/whatsapp-connect-a-whatsapp-line-line_messaging-en.png)

## Add a line {#add-a-line}

1. In **Accounts**, click **New**. The line starts in **Draft**.
2. Name it, here `WhatsApp demo: Front desk line`.
3. Choose the **Provider**, among the connection apps installed; the list is empty in the demo.

![A new line in Draft; Provider lists the connection apps installed.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12925-eefd3d30/whatsapp-connect-a-whatsapp-line-new_line_provider-en.png)

4. Save. The connection app adds its own fields to the form and leads the linking. When it needs the phone, the form shows a QR code under **Scan QR Code with WhatsApp**: on the phone, open WhatsApp, then Settings, Linked Devices, Link a Device, and scan it. The state turns **Connected** and **Phone Number** shows the number.

**Test Connection**, at the top of a line that has a provider, asks whether the line answers: the state turns **Connected**, or a message gives the reason and the state stays as it was. A job runs the same check every hour ([WhatsApp automations](whatsapp-automations)). **Callback Url** and **Webhook Verify Token**, in the **Webhook** group, are the address and the secret through which replies and delivery reports come in; copy them only when the connection app asks for them.

## Choose who is alerted {#alerts}

**Notify User**, on the **Connection** tab, lists the users who hear about the line: you by default, and at least one. When the line is held because it looks blocked, its chatter records an alert and each of them gets a warning activity ([How WhatsApp sending works](how-whatsapp-sending-works#quarantine)). They also join the conversations of contacts nobody else is in charge of ([Follow your messages](follow-your-messages#replies)).

![The users alerted about the line; the creator by default.](https://jaah.app/web/image/12929-dcba3b3a/whatsapp-connect-a-whatsapp-line-new_line_notify-en.png)

## Make it the default line {#default-line}

Messages leave from the company's default line while it is connected, otherwise from its first connected line. Choose it in **WhatsApp Account**, in **WhatsApp/Configuration/Settings** ([WhatsApp settings](whatsapp-settings#whatsapp-account)). An administrator can also pick another line in the composer.

## FAQ {#faq}

### The Provider list is empty. {#empty-provider}

No connection app is installed yet. Search the Apps for "API", install one, then open the line again.

### The line shows Disconnected or Error. What happens to my messages? {#disconnected}

They wait as **Queued** and leave once the line is **Connected** again: link the phone again through the connection app, then click **Test Connection**.

### Can a company have several lines? {#several-lines}

Yes, one for each number. Messages leave from the default line; a template sent on a schedule uses the line chosen on it ([WhatsApp templates](whatsapp-templates)).

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- Source: https://jaah.app/docs/whatsapp/connect-a-whatsapp-line
- Updated: 2026-10-27
- Version: WhatsApp 19.0.2.3.9
- Verified: 2026-10-27