What is QR linking on WhatsApp?
Definition
QR linking is the original way to attach a companion device: the engine renders a QR code, the phone's owner scans it from the linked-devices screen, and the device is added. Wapito still offers it, but it is the fallback path rather than the recommended one.
In more depth
The QR encodes a short-lived handshake, which is why the image refreshes every twenty seconds or so and why a screenshot sent over chat is almost always stale by the time it arrives. In a hosted setup the QR has to travel from the server to whoever is holding the phone, and every hop adds delay that the refresh window does not forgive. Since mid-2026 there has been an additional, harder problem: linking brand-new devices by QR has been failing intermittently across the main engine libraries, with the phone reporting a registration refresh error rather than completing the link. That is why Wapito leads with pairing codes and keeps QR as a secondary route. If you do build a QR flow, stream the image to the browser and re-render on every refresh rather than caching it, show a visible countdown so the user knows why it changed, and fall back to a pairing code automatically after a couple of failed attempts rather than letting someone scan a dead code repeatedly.
In the Wapito API
On the wire it is the field qr:
{
"qr": "data:image/png;base64,iVBORw0KGgo...",
"expires_in": 20
}On the official Cloud API
The Cloud API has no QR step. Meta hosts the number itself, so there is no companion device to link and nothing to scan.
Wapito is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or certified by WhatsApp or Meta Platforms, Inc. WhatsApp is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.
Related terms
Related
Endpoints that use it
Feature guides
Reference
Try it on your own number
Create a channel, link a WhatsApp number by QR or pairing code, and call the API in a couple of minutes. The Sandbox plan is free and needs no card.