Enhance WhatsApp with security and search

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Enhance your WhatsApp integration with features that improve security, discoverability, and in-chat payment processing.

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Detect identity changes

WhatsApp users can reinstall the app or change devices without updating their phone numbers. When this happens, a new identity is created, even though the number remains the same.

To help safeguard sensitive communication, you can enable identity change. This add-on provides an extra layer of protection.

You can use identity change to:

• Confirm the customer is still who they claim to be
• Avoid sending sensitive data to a new user

When this feature is enabled, you will receive a notification if a WhatsApp account may have been transferred to another user. In such cases:

• Outbound messaging to the affected user is temporarily blocked.
• The block remains until you manually acknowledge the change.
• User information is included in all inbound webhook messages.

This ensures that your system must verify identity outside WhatsApp before resuming communication.

The following diagram shows the identity change process flow.

Two flows are available for resolving identity changes.

Default flow

By default, outbound messaging is blocked until the end user sends an inbound message. This updates the stored identity automatically. You then call the Confirm WhatsApp identity (opens in a new tab) API to lift the outbound block.

Reset identity information

With reset identity information, you can resolve identity changes without waiting for an inbound message from the end user.

Once you get an identity change error in the delivery report (DLR), call the Delete WhatsApp identity (opens in a new tab) API. This removes the stored identity from the Infobip database. The next outbound message automatically fetches and stores the new identity.

Once the new identity is confirmed, its value is returned in the identity field of the delivery report webhook payload. Update your stored identity with this value for future message validation.

Enable identity change

To enable identity change:

• Configure a reporting webhook to receive identity notifications.
• Alternatively, create an event subscription for the WhatsApp channel and the IDENTITY_CHANGE event.
• Contact our Support (opens in a new tab) to enable identity change for your account.

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Enable search visibility

You can improve your discoverability by enabling the search function in WhatsApp. This allows users to find your business using keywords.

To appear in search:

• Your business must have an Official Business Account (OBA).
• You must enable visibility in the WhatsApp Manager (through Meta).
• The feature is only available in select regions: Brazil, Colombia, Indonesia, Mexico, and the United Kingdom.

For more information, contact our Support (opens in a new tab).

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