Setting Up Your WhatsApp Business Profile: Display Name, Business Details, and Profile Photo

TL;DR

Your WhatsApp business profile is the first impression every customer gets before they even read your message. The display name, description, address, and photo all affect open rates, trust, and your chances of earning the Official Business Account status (the green badge). This article covers the difference between the display name (managed in Meta) and the business profile (managed in Mumble), all of their fields and limits, the profile photo rules, and how to change your display name after the initial approval.

Two separate layers: display name vs. business profile

This is the distinction that confuses customers more than any other, which is why it comes first. In the WhatsApp Business API there are two separate sets of business details, living in two separate systems:

In short: the name in the chat header belongs to Meta, everything else belongs to Mumble.

Part 1: Display Name

What it is and why it matters

The display name is the text that appears in the chat header on the customer’s side, in their conversation list, and in notifications. It is your business branding on WhatsApp. A clear display name that matches your business helps customers recognize you, reduces accidental blocks, and is a hard requirement for qualifying for the Official Business Account badge.

Meta’s rules

Meta manually reviews every display name before approving it. The name must meet the following principles, or it will be rejected:

Required

• Accurately represent the business. The name must be the real business name, part of it, or the name of a product, service, or department.
• Be recognizable to customers. Ideally, the name matches the one shown on your website. This also makes Business Verification easier to approve.
• Comply with the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. Businesses in prohibited categories (alcohol, tobacco, gambling) will not pass review regardless of the name.

Not allowed

• Generic words. “Fashion”, “Restaurant”, or “Store” on their own will not pass. The name must be specific to the business.
• A geographic location alone. “Tel Aviv” or “Jerusalem” as a display name will be rejected.
• Names of Meta products. “WhatsApp”, “Facebook”, “Messenger”, and “Meta” are not allowed in the name.
• Words implying Meta approval. “Official”, “Verified”, and similar words are not allowed unless they are part of the company’s official name.
• Emojis and special characters. Not allowed. Only letters, numbers, a period, and a hyphen.
• A person’s first name. Not allowed unless the brand carries that person’s name (for example, a designer fashion label or a solo accountant).
• All capital letters. Not allowed unless that’s how the brand name is officially registered (for example, IBM).
• A slogan or tagline. “The best store in town” or “The best deals around” are not names, they are slogans, and they will be rejected.

How to choose well

A simple test: put the name into the sentence “Chatting with {name}”, and if it sounds natural to a customer, the name works. “Chatting with Olive Falafel”, “Chatting with Dr. Cohen’s Clinic”, and “Chatting with Mumble” all pass. “Chatting with the best store in Tel Aviv” sounds odd, and it will also be rejected by Meta.

How to change your display name after the initial approval

This is not done in Mumble. The change must be made directly with Meta through WhatsApp Manager. Note: every change requires a fresh review by Meta and takes a few business days. During the review you can keep sending messages under the old name.

1. Sign in to WhatsApp Manager.
2. Select your WhatsApp Business account.
3. In the side menu, go to Account tools, then Phone numbers.
4. Click your business number, then Profile.
5. Enter the new display name.
6. Submit it for review.

If the account is an Official Business Account (it has a green badge), changing the name requires contacting Meta support through Business Support Home, and it cannot be changed through the regular interface. Attach corporate documentation to your request explaining the reason for the change.

Part 2: Business Profile

The business profile is the screen a customer sees when they tap your business name in the chat header. All of these fields are managed in Mumble, are saved immediately when you click Update details, and sync to WhatsApp within a few minutes.

In Settings, open the Business Profile tab. There you’ll fill in the following fields:

Business description (Description)

• Limit: 256 characters, including spaces and emojis.
• What to write: One or two sentences describing what the business does and what the customer will get. This is not the place for a slogan or a company history.
• Good example: “Israeli fashion studio. Online orders with free shipping over $69, returns within 14 days. Customer service available Sun-Thu 9:00-18:00.”
• Weaker example: “We’re the best store in the country, with a huge selection and the best service around!”

About (About / Status)

• Limit: 139 characters.
• What to write: A short line that complements the description. Many businesses update the About field to match an active campaign (“End-of-season sale through Nov 30”) instead of keeping a fixed line.
• How it differs from the description: The About line appears more prominently in the profile, like a subheading. The description is the longer text below it.

Email

• Limit: 128 characters.
• What to write: An email address handled by your customer service team. Avoid personal email addresses. If a customer wants to reach out by email, they usually don’t want to wait for the owner to get back from vacation.

Address

• Limit: 256 characters.
• What to write: A full physical address, including city and postal code. If you have several branches, list the main branch or the company headquarters.
• Tip: For online businesses with no physical storefront, leave it blank or write “Online store” rather than inventing an address.

Website

• Limit: Up to 2 URLs, each up to 256 characters.
• What to write: The full URL of your main website, including https://. You can add a second URL, for example a link to your catalog or a specific landing page.
• Tip: The URL also matters for display name approval and the Business Verification process, because Meta cross-checks the business name on the website against the name you requested.

Business category

• Limit: Choose from Meta’s fixed list.
• What to choose: The category closest to your main activity. The category affects how Meta surfaces your business in internal search and in automatic recommendations.
• Tip: You can’t leave it blank. If you’re unsure, pick the broadest category that fits (Retail, Professional Services), not a narrow one that isn’t accurate.

Operating hours

• Set daily operating hours, with the option to define different hours for each day of the week. Marking closed days (for example, Friday-Saturday) signals to customers that they won’t get an immediate human response.
• You can attach an automatic message to your closed hours. See Chatbot Automation Triggers.

Part 3: Profile Photo

The profile photo is the small circle that appears next to your business name. Although it’s small, it has a significant effect on trust and brand recognition.

Technical requirements

• Format: Square. Non-square images are cropped automatically by Meta.
• Recommended size: 640×640 pixels.
• Minimum size: 192 pixels, but going smaller hurts the quality.
• File weight: Up to 63KB after automatic compression.
• File format: JPG or PNG.

What’s allowed and what isn’t

Meta prohibits images with content that is:

• Sexual or sexually suggestive.
• Violent, including weapons.
• Hateful or extremist symbols.
• Copyright-infringing (another company’s logo that you’re not affiliated with).
• Misleading. A photo of another person, or an image impersonating a business you don’t operate.

What works well

• Your business logo on a clean background. This is the safest choice and what most brands do.
• A photo of the owner if it’s a personal service business (consultant, therapist, accountant).
• A photo of your flagship product if the product itself is the business’s main identifier.

What doesn’t work

• A cluttered image with a lot of text that can’t be read at a small size.
• A screenshot of a landing page.
• A collage of several images.

Order of changes and syncing to WhatsApp

Changes to the business profile through Mumble are saved immediately, but the time it takes to sync to WhatsApp itself is:

• Description, About, email, address, website, category: a few minutes.
• Operating hours: a few minutes.
• Profile photo: usually less than 10 minutes, but sometimes up to an hour.
• Display name (managed in Meta): a few business days for Meta’s approval, and as soon as it’s approved it appears for customers.

A recommended check after a change: send yourself a message through the Mumble chat and look at the profile from the customer’s side (your personal phone). If the change hasn’t appeared after 15 minutes, refresh WhatsApp.

Best practices

• Keep your profile aligned with your website. Same name, same logo, similar description. This builds customer trust and speeds up approval of Business Verification and your display name in Meta.
• Don’t change your display name unless you have to. Every change requires a fresh review by Meta. If your current name is approved and not misleading, leave it.
• Update the About field for campaigns. Running a new promotion every month? Update the About field accordingly. It’s the most visible field and works as a call to action.
• Keep a high-quality backup of your photo. Meta compresses the image after upload. If you want to upload again in the future, it’s better to upload from the high-quality original rather than the compressed copy.
• Check your profile from the customer’s side. At least once a month, open your business chat from a personal phone. You’ll be surprised how many changes should have taken effect but didn’t.

Common issues

I submitted a new display name for approval and a week has gone by with no answer

Meta’s manual approval can take up to 5 business days. If more than a week has passed, contact Meta support through Business Support Home. The request goes through WhatsApp Manager, not through Mumble. In the meantime, your messages keep going out under the old name.

My new display name was approved but customers still see the number

Two possible reasons. First: after approval, the number needs to be re-registered through the API. In Mumble this happens automatically, but sometimes there’s a delay. If more than 24 hours have passed, contact Mumble support. Second: the customer hasn’t added your number to their contacts, so WhatsApp shows the number rather than the name. That’s not a problem on your end.

I uploaded a profile photo but it got cropped incorrectly

The image wasn’t square, so Meta cropped it to the center. Upload a square image to begin with (640×640) to control what shows.

I changed the description in Mumble but it isn’t appearing in WhatsApp

Syncing can take up to an hour. Make sure you clicked Update details at the bottom of the page. If 24 hours have passed and the change hasn’t appeared, contact Mumble support.

I want to add emojis to my display name

Not possible. Meta prohibits emojis, special characters, and punctuation other than a period and a hyphen in display names. If you want to add an emoji, do it in the About field instead.

My category isn’t in the list

Meta provides a fixed, up-to-date list of categories. Pick the closest one. There’s no meaningful business difference between “Retail” and “Shopping” as long as you choose the right broad category.

Related articles

• Getting Started with Mumble
• General Account Settings
• Chatbot Automation Triggers (for setting up automatic messages during closed hours)
• Meta documentation: About WhatsApp Business Display Name
• WhatsApp Commerce Policy

The bottom line

The display name is set once (or as rarely as possible) through Meta, while the business profile is updated in Mumble on an ongoing basis as needed. Invest time in choosing the name, because changing it requires a fresh review that takes days. The business profile fields are easier to change, but the more accurate they are from the start, the more customers will see a business that looks ready and trustworthy from the very first interaction.