Getting Started with Mumble

TL;DR

This article walks you through everything you need before getting started with Mumble: Meta’s requirements, how to open an account, how to connect your business WhatsApp number, and what to do in your first five minutes on the platform. If this is your first time with WhatsApp Business API, start here.

Who Mumble is for

Mumble is an official Meta platform for managing WhatsApp Business API. It’s a fit for businesses that want to work professionally on WhatsApp: sending campaigns, managing inquiries across multiple agents, automating with a chatbot, integrating with a CRM or store. It is not a replacement for the regular WhatsApp Business app for someone running a business from a single account with only a few dozen inquiries. The practical difference: anyone who needs to send to a list of hundreds or thousands of customers, or to work as a team, or to connect to other systems, needs WhatsApp Business API, and that’s what Mumble provides.

Prerequisites

Before you head to the signup page, make sure these things are ready. If one of them is missing, onboarding will stall partway through.

1. A Meta Business account

Mumble connects to WhatsApp through Meta, so you need an active Meta Business account. If you don’t have one, create it at business.facebook.com. This account is the foundation for all the permissions you’ll grant Mumble. Business Verification isn’t required at this stage, but it’s worth starting it in parallel, because it will become mandatory before you can send to large volumes.

2. A phone number for the business

WhatsApp Business API requires a dedicated phone number to serve as your business number. Three options:

A new number not in use on WhatsApp. The cleanest path. See connecting a new WhatsApp number.
A number already on the WhatsApp Business app. You can move it to the API, but that means you’ll lose the app on that number. See connecting an existing WhatsApp number.
A number already running on another BSP. You’ll need to go through an official migration process. See migrating to Mumble from another BSP.

Important: a number used on a regular WhatsApp account (not Business) can’t connect to the API without giving it up in the consumer app. Choose a number you’re ready to dedicate to the business.

3. A payment method in Meta

It’s important to understand: your Mumble subscription does not cover the cost of sending the messages themselves. Meta bills separately by category (Marketing, Utility, Authentication) and by recipient country. In Israel the cost is relatively low, but it exists. You need to add a credit card to your Meta Business account before your first campaign. The link to add a payment method will appear in Mumble after the initial connection.

4. An opt-in strategy

Meta prohibits sending Marketing messages to customers who haven’t given explicit consent. Before you start, think about how you collect consent: a checkbox on a contact form on your site, an option during signup at your store, or a statement when someone leaves their details. A list of numbers you collected without consent won’t work and will also harm your business number’s quality rating.

5. Deciding on a subscription plan

Mumble offers several plans by business size. During signup you’ll choose a plan, and you can upgrade later. For full details, see the pricing page.

The Mumble account setup process

Once you have all the prerequisites, the process itself takes 10 to 20 minutes.

Sign up for Mumble. Go to app.mumble.co.il and click Sign up. Enter an email, a password, and basic details about the business.
Choose a plan. Pick the plan that fits the size of your activity. You can always upgrade later.
Connect WhatsApp via Embedded Signup. Mumble will open an official Meta window for you. You’ll log in to the Facebook account that manages the business, select the existing Meta Business account, enter the business phone number, and Meta will verify it by SMS or call. At the end of the process, Meta will create a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) for you and grant Mumble access to it.
Display name approval. Meta will ask for a display name that will appear in the chat for your customers. The name is reviewed manually by Meta and can take from a few hours to a few business days to approve. In the meantime, you can send messages with a temporary name.
Add a payment method in Meta. Once the connection is complete, Mumble (in Settings, Personal Profile) will show a banner with a direct link to add a credit card on Meta’s side. Add it before your first send.

Getting to know the interface

Once the connection is complete, you’re inside Mumble. Before you start working, it’s worth understanding the general layout. In the side menu you’ll find:

Chat. The unified inbox where you manage incoming inquiries in real time. This is where your agent team will see all active conversations, can filter by list or by agent, and reply to customers. It’s the heart of the day-to-day work.
Customers. The contact database. Import, manual creation, tagging into lists, and managing custom fields. See importing and uploading contacts.
Message Templates. Managing the approved message templates you’ll send to customers. See the complete guide to message templates.
Campaigns. Sending messages to large volumes of recipients. Choosing a list, choosing a message template, segmenting, and scheduling. See the complete WhatsApp campaign guide.
Chatbot. A visual builder for automation flows. Welcome flows, menus, auto-replies, routing to an agent. See the chatbot builder canvas guide.
Analytics. Reports on conversations, campaigns, agent performance, and responses.
Settings. Three tabs: Personal Profile (your identity and the Meta connection), Business Profile (the details customers see), and Technical Profile (API, webhooks, routing). See general account settings.

Your first five minutes

The connection is complete, and you’re seeing the dashboard for the first time. These are the five tasks worth doing right away, before you start working.

Minute 1: Set up your business profile

In Settings, on the Business Profile tab, enter the business name, a short description, an address, a website, and operating hours. This information is synced to WhatsApp and will show to customers when they tap the business name in the chat. A clear description and accurate operating hours reduce the volume of after-hours inquiries.

Minute 2: Send yourself a test message

Open Chat, start a new conversation with your personal phone number, and send a message. This both verifies that the connection works and gives you a view from the customer’s side. Check that Mumble receives your reply.

Minute 3: Tour the menu

Click each of the items in the side menu. You don’t need to perform any action, just understand where everything is. Knowing the layout will save you time later.

Minute 4: Choose your next step

At this point there are three ways to start working, depending on your goal:

If the goal is to send a campaign: Import your contact list through the Customers page, then create your first message template on the Message Templates page. See creating a message template in Mumble.
If the goal is to manage incoming inquiries with a team of agents: Invite the agents from Settings, create teams, and set up automatic routing. See managing agents and teams.
If the goal is automation: Open the Chatbot and build your first flow, for example an auto-reply to a first inquiry. If you like, you can work with an existing message template and edit it.

Don’t try to do all three at once. Pick one and finish it before moving on to the next.

Minute 5: Bookmark the Information Center

Add the Mumble Information Center to your favorites. You’ll find most of your technical and conceptual questions in the first few weeks answered there.

Common issues

Embedded Signup stalls partway through

The common cause: the Meta Business account wasn’t set up or isn’t valid. Make sure business.facebook.com shows an active account, and try again. If the connection still fails, see the “Embedded Signup fails” section in the migration guide; most of the causes there apply to a first connection too.

The display name has been stuck in approval for two days

Display name approval is a manual process at Meta and can take up to 5 business days. In the meantime, you can send messages, and customers will see a temporary name. If more than a week has passed, contact Meta support through WhatsApp Manager.

I don’t see an option to add a payment method

The link to add a payment method appears in Settings under Personal Profile, only after the initial connection to Meta is complete. If it doesn’t appear, the connection most likely hasn’t closed yet. Complete Embedded Signup first.

I invited an agent and they aren’t receiving the invitation

Check the agent’s spam folder. If the invitation isn’t there either, resend it from the Agents page in Settings. See the guide to managing agents and teams for more details.

Bottom line

Before signing up, make sure you have an active Meta Business account, a dedicated phone number, and a strategy for collecting consent. The account setup process itself takes about 20 minutes and includes Embedded Signup through Meta and adding a payment method. In your first five minutes on the platform, set up the business profile, send a test message, and tour the menu. After that, pick one of three paths (campaign, incoming inquiries, automation) and dive in.

Want to Use WhastApp API?

Getting Started with Mumble: Requirements, Account Setup, and Your First Five Minutes

Mumble Team