SAM
WhatsApp Business

Connected apps

The Meta business agent in WhatsApp can now answer customer questions with live business data — instead of canned, generic replies.

Full prototype walkthrough
Context

No business runs on one app.

Over the years, a business builds an ecosystem: bookings, payments, store, support. An AI agent has to fit into it — not the other way around.

BookingsPaymentsStoreSupportAgent
Problem

The agent couldn’t see the calendar, the store, or the inbox.

The Meta business agent answers customer chats — but out of the box it’s cut off from the tools that hold the answers. Anything it can’t look up, it guesses.

Any openings this week?

Please check our website for availability.

Calendar not connected

Thursday’s open at 2:00 or 4:30. Want me to hold one?

Calendar connected
Research

It came down to trust and effort.

Every week, we ran research sessions with business owners. The same two worries came up — never about connecting the apps (the easy part), but about trusting the agent to act, and keeping setup light enough to finish.

“I’m worried the agent will ruin my business — answer a conversation wrong, or talk to my customers the wrong way.”
TrustSmall-business owner, early-adopter session
“I’m busy. I don’t want a tedious, technically loaded setup.”
EffortSmall-business owner, early-adopter session
Solution

Make trust visible and effort disappear.

Trust

  • See it before connecting.
  • Try it on real data.
  • Fence it with rules.

Effort

  • Suggest, don’t list.
  • Connect in the app.
  • Simplify forty permissions to five.

See it before connecting.

See how it would reply, in the business’s own voice — before any access.

App detail screen with auto-generated previews of how the agent will reply.

Try it on real data.

Watch it answer on your real data, and automate only what you trust.

Fence it with rules.

Three questions set the guardrails owners want, like no 24-hour reschedules.

Suggest, don’t list.

The home suggests a few relevant apps instead of a directory to search.

Connect in the app.

Sign-in uses WhatsApp’s own one-time code — no browser, no password.

Simplify forty permissions to five.

Calendly’s forty API scopes become five plain-language capabilities — reads on, writes ask-first.

Capabilities grouped into a few human-readable permissions.
Flow

One connection, end to end.

Calendly: first tap to a real booking.

  1. WhatsApp Business Tools, where the Meta business agent manages the account’s AI replies.
    Step 1The agent lives in the business’s tools.
  2. The Meta business agent’s controls — AI replies, Knowledge, Rules, and Connected apps.
    Step 2Open the agent — Connected apps sits in its controls.
  3. The Connected apps home, recommending Calendly, Shopify, and Square to connect.
    Step 3Connected apps opens with a shortlist.
  4. The full app directory — Calendly, Shopify, Square, Intercom, Stripe and more, grouped by category.
    Step 4Or browse the full catalog.
  5. Calendly’s detail page before connecting — a preview of how the agent would reply, with a Connect button.
    Step 5Pick Calendly. See it reply first.
  6. A success sheet confirming Calendly connected in-app, prompting to set a few rules next.
    Step 6Connect in-app — no browser, no detour.
  7. The setup questionnaire — such as how far ahead customers can book — turning on default guardrails.
    Step 7A few questions set the rules.
  8. The connected Calendly hub — capabilities set to automatic or ask-first, plus rules and a test.
    Step 8Now live: reads on, writes ask-first.
  9. The private test chat: the agent checks Calendly and offers real openings at 3:00 and 4:30.
    Step 9Ask for a slot. It pulls real ones.
  10. Connected apps home after connecting — a week of questions, bookings, and approvals, with Calendly live.
    Step 10Live — a week of questions, bookings, approvals.
Scroll to step through →
Impact

In beta, owners are taking the hand-off.

After a closed alpha on a single app — Google Drive, with select partners — the full experience shipped to beta in four markets (India, Brazil, Indonesia, Mexico) with ~80 apps. Early results; a wider rollout comes next.

60%of agent-using businesses set up, tested, and turned it on — first session
35%of bookings automated, at booking-led businesses
5%lift at commerce businesses, mostly in support

The customer gets a real answer.The owner keeps control.

The hardest moment is the first hand-off — when an owner lets the agent act on its own. That’s the moment the design is built for, and the one I’d keep watching as it scales.

Role
Product design — framing, IA, interaction, prototyping
Surface
WhatsApp Business · iOS
Type
0→1 feature · in beta
Year
2026
← All workNext: Salesforce Surveys →