Set Up a Sandbox Account for Calling

Updated: May 21, 2026

Sandbox accounts are only available to Tech Partners.

Overview

A WhatsApp sandbox account is a mock WhatsApp Business account that you can use to test your Calling API integration. Use a calling sandbox account to test the following features:

• Initiate and receive calls using the Calling API
• Validate calling webhook events
• Simulate onboarding flows without creating real business assets

Sandbox account calling limits

The following table outlines the calling limits for sandbox accounts. These limits are subject to change.

Limit	Description	Production number limit	Public test number limit
Connected call limit	Number of calls a business can make on approved permissions.	100 connected calls per 24 hrs	No change
Call Permission Request message limits	Limits the number of call permission request messages that can be sent to the same consumer	1 request per day 2 requests per week	25 requests per day 100 requests per week
Unanswered call limits	When the user rejects or misses a business-initiated call.	Nudge on 2 consecutive unanswered calls Revoke permission on 4 consecutive unanswered calls	Nudge on 5 consecutive unanswered calls Revoke on 10 consecutive unanswered calls
Temporary call duration	Duration a business can call the user after the user approves permission.	7 days	No change

Set up a sandbox account

Step 1. Claim a sandbox account

Follow the instructions in Embedded Signup Overview — Claiming sandbox accounts to claim your sandbox account.

Step 2. Obtain credentials and identifiers for your sandbox account

• In the App Dashboard, navigate to your app, then select WhatsApp > Embedded Signup Builder in the sidebar.
  • Note: Keep this tab open and available as you will use it multiple times throughout this process.
• Ensure that the Features dropdown is empty, then click Login with Facebook.
• A popup with the Embedded Signup experience will show. Under Business portfolio select Sandbox Business.
• Fill in the rest of the required information, then click Next.
• On the next screen, in the Create or Select a WhatsApp Business Profile dropdown, select Test Number.
• Once the login flow is complete, in the Exchange Token section, click Get Token.
  • Note: Retain this token for future sandbox account API use.
• In the Fetch Shared WhatsApp Business account section, click Fetch WABA details.
• Under WhatsApp Business account field, copy the Value for the id row.
  • Note: Retain this ID since it is the WhatsApp Business account ID for the sandbox WABA.
• In the Fetch phone numbers section, click Fetch phone numbers.
• Under ID, copy the value.
  • Note: Retain this ID since it is the phone number ID for your sandbox account test phone number.

Step 3. Register your test phone number and subscribe to your WABA

Prerequisites

Ensure that you have the following information from the previous steps:

• Your sandbox account token string
• Your sandbox account WABA ID
• Your test phone number ID

To complete these next steps, you will use the Graph API Explorer tool.

• Note: Keep this window open as you will use the configuration you created again in later steps in this guide.

• Navigate to the Graph API Explorer tool.

• Ensure you are on the latest version of the API.

• Click Generate Access Token and follow the prompts.

• Under Permissions, add the whatsapp_business_management and whatsapp_business_messaging permissions.

• In the endpoint builder, enter /<YOUR_SANDBOX_WABA_ID>/subscribed_apps, then click Submit.

{  
  "success": true  
}

• Next, register your test phone number by entering /<YOUR_SANDBOX_TEST_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/register in the endpoint builder.
• In the left sidebar, click JSON, then enter the following JSON body, then click Submit:

{  
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",  
  "pin": "123456"  
}

• You should receive a standard success response:

{  
  "success": true  
}

Step 4. Test your messaging functionality

• In the Graph API Explorer tool, enter /<YOUR_SANDBOX_TEST_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages in the endpoint builder.
• In the left sidebar, click JSON, then enter the following JSON body, then click Submit:

{  
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",  
  "to": "YOUR_NUMBER", // Replace this value with phone number of your device.  
  "recipient": "US.13491208655302741918",  
  "type": "template",  
  "template": {  
    "name": "hello_world",  
    "language": { "code": "en_US" }  
  }  
}

Usernames and business-scoped user IDs: The recipient field lets you identify the WhatsApp user by their BSUID instead of, or in addition to, their phone number in to. For details, see Business-scoped user IDs.

• You will receive a response with a "message_status": "accepted" value, and you should receive a text message on your device.

Step 5. Configure webhooks and permissions

• Navigate to the App Dashboard.
• Click the app you are using with WhatsApp.
• Select Use cases (pencil icon) from the sidebar.
• Under Connect with customers through WhatsApp, click Customize.
• In the left sidebar, click Configuration.
• Under Callback URL, add the callback URL for your webhook server.
  • If you do not have a webhook server, you can follow our instructions to create a test webhook server.
• Under Verify token, add an arbitrary verification string.
• Click Verify and save.
• On the next page, in the Select product dropdown, click WhatsApp Business Account.
• Under Webhook fields, in the calls row, click the toggle button to subscribe to the calls webhook field.

Finish: Enable calling features on your test phone number

• In the Graph API Explorer tool, enter /<YOUR_SANDBOX_TEST_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/settings in the endpoint builder.
• In the left sidebar, click JSON, then enter the following JSON body, then click Submit:

{  
  "calling": {  
    "status": "ENABLED",  
    "call_icon_visibility": "DEFAULT",  
    "callback_permission_status": "ENABLED"  
  }  
}

• You should receive a standard success response:

{  
  "success": true  
}

• Finally, under Access Token, copy the access token down for future use.
  • Note: Retain this access token as you will use it to make API calls for testing your Calling API integration.

Test business-initiated calling

Before you can test business-initiated calls (BIC), you must provide user calling permissions to your sandbox account.

You can do this on the client device you are using for testing:

• On your client device, open WhatsApp.
• Navigate to the message thread you have with your sandbox business phone number.
• At the top of the screen, tap the sandbox business phone number.
• Scroll down and tap Business Calling Permission.
• Tap Allow calls.

You can now use your Calling API integration to call the client device and test your integration.

Learn more about business-initiated calls.

Test user-initiated calling

You can test user-initiated calls (UIC) on the client device you are using for testing:

• On your client device, open WhatsApp.
• Navigate to the message thread you have with your sandbox business phone number.
• Tap the phone icon at the top of the screen to call the sandbox business phone number.
• Confirm a successful call connection.

Learn more about user-initiated calls.