WhatsApp Official Business Accounts ("OBA") have an additional level of vetting to provide a branded profile on a WhatsApp application. A WhatsApp sender that has been approved as an OBA has a green checkmark badge in its profile and chat thread headers. OBAs are evaluated per phone number, not per account.
Please note that OBA approval is done at Meta's discretion. Meta's criteria for OBAs is based on verification that an authentic, notable brand owns the account. This includes the following criteria for the WhatsApp sender's display name:
- Notable: Represents a well-known business, often searched brand or entity
- Verified: Has gone through Business Verification, and
- 2FA: Has set up two-step verification.
You can find more information about WhatsApp OBAs here.
Please note that the evaluation is done by Meta per brand. This means that OBA approval for one brand does not guarantee approval for another brand within the same company. For example, approval of Owl Industries' WhatsApp sender with display name "Owlie" has no bearing on the approval of the display name "Birdie" under Owl Industries' ownership.
Applying for WhatsApp's Official Business Account
If you registered your Whatsapp Sender using Guided Sign Up, you can request for OBA submission by following the instructions here.
Otherwise, if you registered your WhatsApp sender using the self-signup process, you can submit an OBA request directly in your WhatsApp Business Account, without having to reach out to Twilio Support, by following these steps:
- In the Twilio Console, navigate to Messaging > Senders > WhatsApp Senders, find the link to your WhatsApp Business Account and click to open it in a new tab.
- Navigate to the Phone Numbers section of your WABA.
- Find and click on the phone number corresponding to the WhatsApp sender you want to submit for the OBA designation. This will open up a new tab.
- In the specific phone number page in the WABA, click on the "Submit request" button under "Official business account". Complete the required fields and submit.
For more information, including additional tips and criteria for OBA, and additional detailed instructions, please see Meta's documentation.