Create a WhatsApp Channel via API

Create and manage a WhatsApp Channel.

Channels are WhatsApp's broadcast surface: one publisher, unlimited followers, no chat back. Meta ships no API for them at all, so posting on a schedule normally means a human with a phone. Here it is an endpoint.

Last reviewed September 15, 2026

Can the official WhatsApp Cloud API do this?

No. Channels are absent from the official API.

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How it works

List what exists, create the channel with an honest description, store its id, and delete only when you have archived the history.

List the channels this number owns
Start from the live list so a create job does not make a second channel with the same name. Channels are called newsletters in the protocol, which is the vocabulary the API uses.
API reference for this step
Create the channel
Give it a name and a description that say plainly what will be published and how often. Followers cannot reply, so the description is the only place to set expectations before someone follows.
API reference for this step
Read it back and store the id
The channel id ends in its own suffix and is the recipient you post to later. Store it as a string alongside the invite link, which is what you actually publish.
API reference for this step
Delete a channel you no longer run
Deletion removes the channel for its followers too, so archive the posts you care about first. A channel that is finished but worth keeping is better left in place with a final post.
API reference for this step

curl --request GET \
  --url 'https://api.wapito.com/v1/newsletters?role=owner&count=50&offset=0' \
  --header 'Authorization: Bearer wpt_YOUR_TOKEN'

Endpoints

What you can build with it

Release notes channel per product
A software company creates one channel per product line as the product launches, so customers follow only what they use. The channel is created from the product registry, which means the name and description match the website without anyone copying them across.
Match-day results for a club
A sports club runs a channel for scores and fixtures. Followers get the update without the club having to collect anybody's phone number, and because nobody can reply, the feed stays readable during a busy weekend.
Service status for a utility
A regional provider creates a channel per service area at the start of a maintenance season and publishes outage updates to it. When the season ends the channel is left in place with a final post rather than deleted.

What the official WhatsApp Cloud API does here

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

No. Channels are absent from the official API.

WhatsApp Channels - newsletters in the protocol - have no endpoints in Meta's Cloud API. A business cannot create one, publish to one, or read one from the official platform, which makes this one of the clearest capability gaps between official and unofficial access.

Paraphrase (not a verbatim quote), checked against the Cloud API reference index: no channel or newsletter node appears anywhere in the reference.

Meta's WhatsApp documentation — checked September 15, 2026

The official workaround

None. Channels are created and managed in the WhatsApp app by a person, and there is no official programmatic path to them.

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.

Medium ban risk — pace this one

Wapito is an unofficial API: it speaks WhatsApp's own protocol rather than Meta's Cloud API, and WhatsApp may ban a number it decides is being automated. This operation changes things other people can see, so doing it in bursts from a new number is the pattern most likely to draw a restriction. Volume, not the endpoint, is what gets numbers banned.

Wapito spaces sends per channel, ramps a new number through a warm-up ladder before it runs at full rate, and blocks cold sends to people who have never messaged you — the three controls that separate a working number from a banned one.

Creating a channel is a normal thing for a real account to do once or twice; creating them repeatedly from one number is not. Keep it to the channels you genuinely publish, give each one an honest name and description, and remember that a channel reported by its followers reflects on the number that owns it.

Read the anti-ban guide

Gotchas

Channel is an overloaded word here: in Wapito a channel is your linked number, while WhatsApp's broadcast feature is a newsletter in the protocol. The API uses newsletter for the broadcast object, and the docs say channel in prose - check which one an endpoint means.
Followers are anonymous to the owner, so there is no subscriber list to export and no way to message a follower directly. Anything you need from them has to come through a link in a post.

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Frequently asked questions

Why does the API call it a newsletter?

Because that is the object's name in the protocol and in every engine library. WhatsApp marketed the feature to users as Channels, but the wire format never changed. Wapito keeps the protocol name in the API so the field you see matches what the engine returns, and uses channel for your linked number.

Can I see who follows my channel?

No. Follower identities are hidden from the owner by design - you see a count, not a list. That is a real difference from a group, and it means a channel is a publishing tool rather than a contact-collection tool. Put a link in your posts if you need people to identify themselves.

How many channels can one number own?

WhatsApp does not publish a figure, and creating them in bulk is exactly the pattern that draws attention. Create the channels you will actually publish to, on a warmed-up number, and space the creations out rather than provisioning a batch in one afternoon.

What happens to followers if I delete a channel?

The channel disappears for everyone, along with its posts, and there is no way to restore it or to notify the followers afterwards. If a channel has served its purpose, a final post explaining where to go next is kinder and costs nothing compared with deleting it outright.

Related features

Errors you may hit

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.

Create a free channel Read the docs