The number on your shop window, on Google and on your invoices is the landline in the shop or the office. It has never had WhatsApp on it — no reason it should have, until customers started preferring to type rather than call. You've looked into connecting an AI assistant to WhatsApp, and everything you find assumes the number is a mobile: a code by SMS, open the app, done. Your number doesn't receive SMS. Does that leave it out?
No. A landline can run WhatsApp Business — the verification step is just different, and it's worth knowing before you start, so you don't get stuck waiting for a text message that was never going to arrive.
WhatsApp accepts landlines for the WhatsApp Business app, but not by SMS: it sends the 6-digit code by phone call instead. When the screen offers "Didn't receive the code?", choose "Call me" instead of retrying the text, and instead of a message, the phone rings with an automated voice reading out the code. One detail worth knowing before you dial that number into a switchboard: landlines on WhatsApp Business don't support extensions, so if your line runs through a switchboard with several extensions, the verification call needs to reach the main line directly, not an internal extension.
What doesn't work, on a landline or a mobile: VoIP numbers, free-to-call numbers and premium-rate numbers. WhatsApp won't register them, whichever way the code is supposed to arrive.
This is the most common mix-up, and it deserves its own line: the landline number is the identity you're registering, not the device WhatsApp Business actually runs on. The app needs a smartphone or tablet with an internet connection — usually one at the counter, at reception, or your own if you'd rather carry it. The analogue landline handset only comes into it once, to receive the verification call; after that, whoever uses WhatsApp Business does it from that screen, not from the landline receiver.
Once the landline is on WhatsApp Business, connecting it to ChatME gives you two paths, and for a landline one of them almost always fits better:
Keep in mind that "move it to the cloud" is harder to undo once done, so choose it only once you're sure nobody will be using that app by hand.
The WhatsApp channel is included on the Pro and E-commerce plans (see plans and pricing); it isn't on Free or Basic. Beyond the plan, you only need three things: a number WhatsApp will accept (landline or mobile, never VoIP or toll-free), that landline within reach to receive the verification call, and the WhatsApp Business app installed on whichever phone or tablet the business will use. The full requirements are laid out step by step before you touch anything.
Unusual on a landline, but it happens: if someone once installed regular WhatsApp on that number, you need to move it to WhatsApp Business first — an official WhatsApp process, not a shortcut of ours — and it's worth doing a day ahead, not in the same sitting as connecting the assistant.
The catalogue and collections features are exclusive to WhatsApp Business: if you're coming from regular WhatsApp, they don't carry over on their own. And if you choose "move it to the cloud", remember it isn't a one-click, reversible trial — check first that nobody on your team genuinely needs that app by hand. Beyond that, the assistant answering on that landline is the same one already answering on your website and, if you connect it, your Instagram: one knowledge base, trained once.
Do I need to buy a phone for this? Not necessarily a new one: any phone or tablet with internet that's already at the counter or in the office will do. The landline only registers the number's identity; the device running the app can be whatever you already use for something else.
Can I verify the landline from a switchboard extension? No. WhatsApp requires the verification call to reach the number's main line directly, with no extension. If your switchboard routes calls to several extensions, check first how that specific call will come in.
How long does the call with the code take? It can take a few minutes. Don't hang up assuming it failed, and don't guess a code: several failed attempts will temporarily block the number.
What if I choose "move it to the cloud" and change my mind? This is the part worth deciding calmly beforehand: unlike "keep your phone", which you can disconnect yourself from the app at any time, "move it to the cloud" is a one-way move. If you're unsure, message us before confirming.
If you get stuck at any point in the verification, or you're not sure which connection option fits your case, email us at info@chatme.es and we'll look at it with you.
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