# Meta Concepts for WhatsApp Business > Business Portfolio, WhatsApp Business Account, phone numbers, verification and the other Meta terms you meet in Avox, explained in plain words. Source: https://docs.theavoxai.com/meta-platform WhatsApp's business platform is run by Meta, and it comes with its own vocabulary. This page explains each term in plain words and shows where you see it in Avox. You'll mostly meet these during [Embedded Signup](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/embedded-signup) and when you open your number in Meta's own WhatsApp Manager. ## How the pieces fit together ``` Business Portfolio (your business on Meta - Business ID) └── WhatsApp Business Account (WABA - WABA ID) ├── Phone number (Phone Number ID, display name, quality, messaging limit) ├── Phone number ... └── Message templates (shared by every number in the WABA) ``` In Avox, one connected phone number is one **connection**. Every connection's page has a **Meta identifiers** card with the three ids that place it in this tree: | Avox label | What it identifies | | --- | --- | | **WABA ID** | The WhatsApp Business Account the number belongs to. | | **Phone Number ID** | The number itself on Meta's platform - a long id, not the phone number. | | **Business ID** | The Business Portfolio that owns the WABA. | The same page has **Open in Meta**, which opens the number in Meta's WhatsApp Manager. ## Business Portfolio Meta's container for a business and its assets - WhatsApp Business Accounts, ad accounts, Pages - and the people who manage them. It used to be called Business Manager, and you may still see that name. Each portfolio has a numeric **Business ID**. During Embedded Signup, Meta asks you to **select the business portfolio** that should own the WhatsApp Business Account. > **Tip** > > Use an existing portfolio if you have one. Meta often restricts what a brand-new portfolio, > created inside the signup popup, can do at first. ## WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) The account that holds your WhatsApp numbers on Meta's platform. Message templates, the account's payment method and its review status live here. A portfolio can own several WABAs, and a WABA can hold several numbers. - **Templates belong to the WABA**, so every number in the same WABA can use the same approved templates. See [Templates](https://docs.theavoxai.com/templates). - During coexistence signup, Meta creates the WABA for you and takes its name from your WhatsApp Business app profile. - Meta can send alerts about the account (for example, a policy notice). Avox emails these to the Switchboard's Owner when **WhatsApp account alerts** is on in [Compliance](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance). See [Accounts and numbers](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/accounts-and-numbers) for more. ## Phone number A real phone number registered on WhatsApp's business platform. It has: - a **display phone number** - what customers see, like `+1 555-000-1111`, - a **Phone Number ID** - Meta's internal id for it, used in API calls and webhooks, - a **display name** - the business name customers see. See [Display names](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/display-names), - a **quality rating** and a **messaging limit**. See [Quality and limits](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/quality-and-limits). A number can be connected in two ways: alongside the WhatsApp Business app (**Existing number (Coexistence)** in Avox) or as a number used only through the platform (**New number (Bot only)**). See [Coexistence](https://docs.theavoxai.com/coexistence-explained). ## Business verification Meta's own check that your business is real, run from your Business Portfolio's settings. It's separate from anything Avox does, and Meta alone decides the outcome. Verification matters because Meta uses it when deciding how far a number can grow its messaging limit, and what your business profile can show. When you click **Check health now** on [Health](https://docs.theavoxai.com/health), Meta's answer can include a **Business verification** line, showing whether Meta reports an issue there. ## Two-step verification PIN A six-digit PIN that protects the phone number's registration on WhatsApp. Meta asks for it when the number is registered or moved. It's separate from [your Avox account's two-factor authentication](https://docs.theavoxai.com/security/two-factor). Keep the PIN with your other business credentials. ## The Meta app and permissions Avox connects to WhatsApp through its own Meta app. In the last screen of Embedded Signup, **Review what you share with Avox**, Meta lists the Business Portfolio and WhatsApp Business Account you're sharing. Confirming gives Avox permission to work with that account on your behalf: register the connection, receive the account's events, send messages, manage templates and Flows, and read the number's health. - You can see and remove the access in your Business Portfolio's settings on Meta. - Avox keeps Meta's access for your number encrypted, and never shows it in the dashboard or sends it to your browser. - If the access is removed or expires, the connection needs reconnecting, and API sends fail with [`connection_not_ready`](https://docs.theavoxai.com/api/errors#connection_not_ready). When Meta gave the access an end date, Admins get an email before it's reached (with **WhatsApp account alerts** on in [Compliance](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance)). ## Cloud API Meta's hosted API for sending and receiving WhatsApp messages. Avox uses it for everything it does with your number. The [Avox API](https://docs.theavoxai.com/avox-api) sits in front of it, so your own server can send through your number with an Avox key instead of a Meta token. ## Webhooks Meta's way of telling a business that something happened: a message arrived, a message was delivered or read, a template was approved, the number's quality changed. Avox receives these to keep your dashboard current, and lists every one with its payload on [Logs](https://docs.theavoxai.com/logs). See [Meta webhooks](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/webhooks). ## Templates and the 24-hour window WhatsApp lets a business message a person freely for 24 hours after that person last wrote. Outside that window, the business must use a **message template** that Meta has approved. See [Messaging window](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/messaging-window), [Template categories](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/template-categories) and [Templates](https://docs.theavoxai.com/templates). ## Payment method on Meta Meta charges for some WhatsApp messages, billed to the WhatsApp Business Account. You don't need a Meta payment method to finish Embedded Signup - add one later in WhatsApp Manager. Avox shows an estimate of these charges on Overview and Billing. See [Pricing](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp-platform). ## Meta error codes Meta has its own numbered error codes, separate from Avox's. When WhatsApp refuses something, the [Avox API](https://docs.theavoxai.com/avox-api) passes Meta's number on as `meta_code` next to a stable Avox code. See [Meta error codes](https://docs.theavoxai.com/meta-error-codes).