Display Name is approved, but WhatsApp Cloud API is asking to register the Display Name

Must Have: You must have a WhatsApp Cloud API App in development mode and a verified number.

Problem: Even after your Display Name is approved in the Meta Business Manager, when you try to send a message, you receive an error stating that the number is not registered or that you need to re-register the display name.

Why it Happens

Approval of the Display Name and registration of the phone number are two separate steps.

• Step 1: You submit and get the Display Name approved by WhatsApp/Meta.
• Step 2: You must register your phone number with that Display Name using the API (via cURL or SDK).
• Until Step 2 is done, the number is not linked to the Display Name → which is why you see the error.

Solution: Register the Number with the Approved Display Name You need to call the /register endpoint with the phone number ID and the PIN you received during setup.

Disclaimer: I didn’t have a PIN code (2FA) with me. So I removed the PIN in the WhatsApp Manager and then resent the 6-digit PIN code randomly via WhatsApp Business API. It got approved with the following response :-)

curl - location 'https://graph.facebook.com/v22.0/<phone-number-id>/register' \
 - header 'Content-Type: application/json' \
 - header 'Authorization: Bearer YOUR_ACCESS_TOKEN' \
 - data '{
 "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
 "pin": "XXXX"
}'

Response :

{
  "success": true
}

• Replace <Phone-Number-ID> with your actual phone number ID (not the business ID).

• Replace <ACCESS_TOKEN> with your permanent system user access token. you may find this into App Manager (under development mode)

• Replace “pin” with the 6-digit PIN that you set when adding the phone number inside WhatsApp Manager.

Possiblely Common Mistakes

Using Business ID instead of Phone Number ID → always use the phone number ID. Wrong or expired PIN (2FA) You can reset it inside WhatsApp Manager → “Edit” → “Registration PIN”.

Successful

After Successful Registration The number gets linked to the display name. You can now send messages using the /messages endpoint. and Display Name

Content : Medium