Connect the accounts you own.
If you ever leave, the accounts and the customers go with you.
Channel connection is how a messaging platform gets permission to send and receive on a business's own accounts. The important detail is ownership: the WhatsApp number, the Instagram profile, the Facebook Page and the Telegram bot stay the business's, so the same accounts keep working if the software is ever replaced.
- Connect with the account that already owns the channel
- Connection health shown per channel, not guessed
- Disconnect keeps your history and contacts
- One place to see every channel the workspace has
How it works.
- 01
Pick the channel
Each channel connects the way its own platform requires: a sign-in with Meta for WhatsApp, authorising the account for Instagram and Messenger, and pasting a bot token for Telegram. None of it needs a developer.
- 02
Authorise with your own account
You sign in as the owner of the number, profile, Page or bot. Otobiz stores the connection against your workspace, not against a shared pool.
- 03
See when one needs attention
Each connection says whether it is working, whether it needs signing in again, or whether the platform is throttling it. A dead login is caught the moment a send fails, and flagged.
- 04
Disconnect without loss
Disconnecting stops sending and receiving. Contacts, conversations and history stay in your workspace.
The messaging channels
WhatsApp, Instagram direct messages, Facebook Messenger, Telegram, and chat on your own website all land in the shared inbox, with grounded replies available on each.
- WhatsApp through the Business Platform, on your own number
- Instagram direct messages on a professional account linked to a Page
- Facebook Page messages, comments and lead forms
- Telegram through a bot you own, in about a minute
Beyond messagingsoon
Some connections are not conversations. Reviews and advertising connect in the same place, so the workspace has one list of everything that is attached.
- Google Business Profile for reviews
- Meta advertising for campaign and attribution data
- Each asking only for the permissions it needs
You find out before your customers do
A channel listed as connected is not the same as a channel that works. What you see reflects what the platform is actually accepting, so an expired sign-in surfaces as an expired sign-in.
- More than working or broken: needs signing in again, throttled, or degraded
- A dead login caught the moment a send fails, and named as one
- Throttling shown as throttling instead of hidden as an error
- Checked on a schedule, not only when you look
Leaving is part of the design
Disconnecting a channel keeps your data. Contacts, conversations and history stay in your workspace, and reconnecting later picks up where you left off instead of starting again.
- Contacts, conversations and messages all kept
- Reconnecting is not a fresh start
- The disconnection itself is logged with who did it
What it does not do.
Each channel is connected against an account your business owns, so you bring the account.
There is no LINE, Viber, WeChat or TikTok connection.
Each channel inherits its platform's own rules, including WhatsApp's conversation window.
Common questions
Which channels can I connect?
- WhatsApp, Instagram direct messages, Facebook Messenger, Telegram and chat on your own website, with Facebook and Instagram comments arriving in the same inbox.
Do I need my own WhatsApp number?
- Yes, and that is deliberate. The number, the business account and the templates stay yours, so they survive a change of software.
What happens if a connection breaks?
- It says so, by name. If the platform rejects the sign-in when a message goes out, the channel is marked as needing signing in again.
Does disconnecting delete my messages?
- No. Disconnecting stops the channel. Contacts, conversations and history remain in your workspace.
Can I connect more than one number or Page?
- Connections are stored per workspace, and workspaces are how a business separates brands, regions or locations.
Is Telegram a real channel or a test one?
- It is a full channel: inbox, reply drafts, attachments, broadcasts and delivery state, connected through a bot you own.
What about SMS?
- SMS runs through a connected provider, and carries the same consent and suppression rules as everything else. The four channels above are the ones live in the inbox today.
Are channels available on every plan?
- Which channels your workspace can connect is set on the workspace itself, not gated behind a pricing tier.
Every question in one place, answered once.