Can the official WhatsApp API approve joins?
The short answer
No. Join requests do not exist in the official API.
What Meta's documentation says
Meta's official WhatsApp Cloud API is built for business messaging: templates, customer-service windows and per-conversation pricing. A large part of what WhatsApp itself can do — groups, channels, status, presence, contact lookups — has no endpoint there at all, which is why so many teams end up looking past it. Everything below is checked against Meta's own published reference, with the link and the date we checked it.
Not possible on the Cloud API
Paraphrase (not a verbatim quote), checked against the Cloud API reference index: no group membership request or approval endpoint appears in the reference.
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.
Why there is no endpoint for it
Approving a request presumes a group, and Meta's Cloud API has none. There is no pending queue to read and no approval to grant, so a business using only the official platform reviews nothing because it can see nothing.
The official workaround, and what it costs
None. An admin taps approve or reject in the app, one request at a time.
What the official route costs is not only the per-message price. Every row below is quoted from Meta's own documentation, with a link to the page and the date it was read.
| What it costs | What Meta's documentation says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Writing to someone first | A business may send free-form messages only inside a 24-hour customer service window that the user opens by messaging or calling. Once the window closes, only pre-approved template messages may be sent. | Meta's docs checked |
| Every message you send | Meta charges for the WhatsApp Business Platform per message rather than per conversation. The earlier per-conversation model was replaced on 1 July 2025, so any comparison written before that date is out of date; free entry point windows remain an exception. | Meta's docs checked |
| Getting onto the platform | Apps that need advanced access to Meta's permissions may have to complete Business Verification, a process in which Meta collects information to verify the business entity. It is a real onboarding step with a real elapsed time, and it has no equivalent when you link a number you already own. | Meta's docs checked |
How Wapito does it
GET /groups/{id}/applicationsList pending join requests
curl --request GET \
--url https://api.wapito.com/v1/groups/120363041234567890@g.us/applications \
--header 'Authorization: Bearer wpt_YOUR_TOKEN'When you should still use the Cloud API
You need a verified business identity
The official platform is the only route to an Official Business Account: the verified name customers see in place of a phone number, and the badge beside it. A linked number can carry a WhatsApp Business profile, but Meta will never badge it, and no provider can get you one.
You are sending marketing at scale to people who never wrote to you
That is what approved templates are for. Meta charges per message for them and treats the volume as legitimate; the same volume from a linked number is the clearest automation signal there is, and it is how numbers get banned. If outbound campaigns are the whole product, the official platform is the cheaper mistake.
You need Meta's own support and an SLA
A Business Solution Provider gives you a contract, an escalation path and a human to call when delivery stops. Wapito will tell you the moment WhatsApp restricts your number and what it did; nobody outside Meta can make it undo that, and we do not pretend otherwise.
Frequently asked questions
How long do pending requests stay in the queue?
WhatsApp expires them after a period rather than keeping them indefinitely, so a queue that is only drained weekly will lose requests. Drain it on a schedule measured in minutes or hours, and tell people roughly how long approval takes on the page where you publish the link.
Does the person know they were rejected?
They see that they are not in the group, but they are not given a reason and there is no appeal inside WhatsApp. If rejection is part of a business process - an expired subscription, for example - tell them through the channel you already have with them rather than leaving them guessing.
Can I approve everyone automatically?
You can, but then the setting is doing nothing except adding delay. Approval is worth turning on only when you have something to check against: a subscriber list, an accreditation list, a CRM segment. Otherwise leave it off and let people join directly by link.
Related
Do it with Wapito
Other ways to do it
Glossary
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.