Where your connection stopped
Connecting a number runs through three places in order: Meta’s signup popup, the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and only then Exabloom. Exabloom doesn’t see anything until Meta hands the number over at the very end.
- Facebook login
- Your phone number
- Business portfolio
- QR code
- Connect
- Share all chats
- Scan the QR
- Connecting to WhatsApp
- Connected pill on the card
So the first question is always where it stopped. An error inside the Facebook popup or on your phone is Meta checking who you are and who owns the number. Nothing is wrong with your Exabloom account, and retrying the same way will give the same error. Something on Meta’s side has to change first.
Find your error
Pick the one that matches what you see. Each has its own fix below.
“You do not have the permissions to view this asset”
You type your number on Add your WhatsApp phone number, and a red error appears under it. Next won’t take you any further.
What it means. Meta knows this number. It already sits inside a WhatsApp account somewhere, and the Facebook account logged in to the popup isn’t allowed to see that WhatsApp account. The message is Meta’s way of saying “this number belongs to someone, and it isn’t visibly you”.
Your number already sits in a WhatsApp account somewhere. That account lives in a portfolio, or is held by a provider, that this login can’t see. Meta won’t hand a number to someone who can’t see its owner, so it stops here.
It breaks in one of three places, and each has its own check. Do them in order: the first is the most common and the quickest to fix.
- The wrong Facebook account is logged in. Someone else (a colleague, the owner, an old agency) set the business up with their Facebook.
- The number is still connected to another provider. A previous chatbot or CRM tool still holds it.
- The number sits in an old WhatsApp account. Left over in one of your portfolios from an earlier setup, or in one you can see but don’t have full control of.
Check which Facebook account is logged in
In the popup, click the account picture at the top right to see who is logged in.
It must be a Facebook account with full control of the business portfolio that manages this WhatsApp number, usually the business owner or whoever created the portfolio.
- Is it the account you expected? A browser that’s also used for a personal Facebook often logs in as that one without asking.
- Is it the main admin of the business? If someone else normally manages your Meta business or WhatsApp account, try with their Facebook account instead.
Connect your communication platforms to start messaging leads directly from the dashboard.
Check whether the number is connected to another platform
On the phone that runs the WhatsApp Business number, open Settings → Account → Business Platform.
WhatsApp account: …
You can only be connected to one Business Platform account at a time.
A number can be connected to one business platform at a time. If another provider is listed there, Meta won’t let the number move to Exabloom until it’s released.
Nothing listed? Then this isn’t the cause. Move on to check 3.
Check the WhatsApp accounts in your Meta business
On a computer, open business.facebook.com, log in with the Facebook account that manages the business, and go to Settings → Accounts → WhatsApp accounts.
Click each WhatsApp account and look for your number in its phone numbers. You’re looking for the account that already holds it.
Next won’t move on the business portfolio screen
Usually a name mismatch. Meta compares the name of the business portfolio you picked with the business name in your WhatsApp Business app. If they don’t look like the same company, it can stop you there, often with no useful error, just a Next that does nothing.
Say the app reads “ABC Public Speaking Academy” and the portfolio is “Speaking Alliance Academy”. A person sees one business; Meta’s check sees two. Make the names agree, in this order:
- 1Pick a different portfolio, if you have one whose name reads closer to the app’s.
- 2Rename the portfolio to match. Identical is safest. Renaming can be locked once a portfolio already owns a WhatsApp account, and changing a verified portfolio’s details restarts verification (see Create your Meta Business Portfolio).
- 3Or create a fresh portfolio with the matching name. It’s free, takes two minutes, and you lose nothing: your chats live with the number, not the portfolio.
“Your phone number isn’t eligible to connect”
Meta wants proof the number is a real, working business line: about 7 days of active use in the WhatsApp Business app, chatting with real customers. New numbers and freshly reinstalled apps trip this. Use the app normally for a week, then try again. Meta’s check can lag, so if it still fails, keep chatting daily and retry a few days later.
“This number is registered to an existing WhatsApp account”
The number is still attached to an older WhatsApp Business account, yours or a previous provider’s, and Meta allows one per number. Release it:
- 1Sign in at business.facebook.com with the login that owned the old setup, open Settings → WhatsApp accounts, and find the account holding the number.
- 2Open its ⋯ menu and click Disconnect account. Wait about 3 minutes, then connect again.
- 3If Disconnect account is greyed out, the account is still shared with a partner (usually the old provider). Open Partner → Manage → Remove access, wait up to 10 minutes, and try again.
The phone is stuck on “Finish setting up in Exabloom”
The phone did its part, but the computer side never finished: the popup was closed early, or its last screens weren’t confirmed. Exabloom only saves the connection after Meta’s Finish and its own Connecting to WhatsApp. Start again from step 3 of the connect guide and walk it to the end without closing anything.
Anything else
No QR code, a popup that hangs, or an error not listed here is usually one of the basics. Close the popup and check:
- The number and country code. On the Verify your account details screen, Meta shows the WhatsApp Business profile it found. If it isn’t yours, the number is wrong.
- The Facebook login has full control of your portfolio (check 1 above).
- The app is WhatsApp Business, not the everyday WhatsApp. Coexistence only works with the business app.
Already connected but something’s off? An amber Review your Meta connection pill on the card is covered in the connect guide, and a disconnected banner in the Inbox in Keep the link alive.
Still stuck? Send us this
Meta’s errors rarely say which account or asset is in the way. We can usually work it out from a few screenshots, so send us these in one message:
- The error in Meta’s popup, with the Session ID at the bottom visible.
- Which Facebook account you used, and whether it’s the business owner’s.
- The Business Platform screen from the WhatsApp Business app (check 2).
- The WhatsApp accounts page from business.facebook.com (check 3), for each portfolio you have.
Good to know & pitfalls
- Errors inside the popup are Meta’s. Exabloom hasn’t received anything yet, so nothing needs fixing on our side and nothing is lost by trying again once the cause is fixed.
- Retrying without changing anything gives the same error. Meta’s checks are about accounts and ownership, which don’t change between attempts.
- Use the owner’s Facebook account. It avoids most permission errors before they happen.
- One platform per number. A number connected to another provider has to be released before it can connect to Exabloom.
- Your chats live with the number, not with the portfolio or the WhatsApp account, so tidying up old accounts doesn’t touch the conversations on your phone.
Still can’t connect?
Send us your screenshots on WhatsApp and we’ll work out which Meta account is in the way.