# Let your systems talk on WhatsApp: WhatsApp API for developers in South Africa

**Your POS, online shop or app sends the WhatsApp message; your team sees it, and every reply, in EliteTeQ Inbox.**

The EliteTeQ API connects your own software to the WhatsApp Business number in your inbox. Send order updates and receipts with approved templates, add leads from your website, and get a webhook the moment a customer writes back. There is no Meta developer app to set up yourself: the number is already connected in EliteTeQ Inbox. It works with your +27 number and customers anywhere in South Africa.

- REST API with JSON, keys and scoped permissions
- Signed webhooks for every message and contact change
- Free sandbox with 1,000 requests a month
- Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month

Open my free account: https://crm.eliteteqpos.com/signup (Free sandbox · test keys never send · API in early access)

## Where WhatsApp still needs a person typing

> Our POS knows when an order is ready, but someone still types the WhatsApp message.

Your POS calls the API with an approved template, such as order_ready, and the customer gets it at once. The message and any reply show in the inbox for your team.

> Leads from our website form never reach the WhatsApp team.

Add each lead with the API. It lands on the pipeline in the first stage, with its source, ready for a teammate to message.

> Our system has no idea what customers say on WhatsApp.

Subscribe to the message.received webhook. Every customer message is posted to your system, signed so you know it came from EliteTeQ, and retried if your server is down.

### What should your system say on WhatsApp first?

Tell us what you want to connect: a POS, an online shop or your own app. We switch on API access and help you send your first template. [Get API early access](https://wa.me/12144235355?text=Hi%20EliteTeQ!%20I%E2%80%99d%20like%20early%20access%20to%20the%20EliteTeQ%20WhatsApp%20API%20to%20connect%20our%20own%20system.%20I%E2%80%99m%20in%20South%20Africa.) on WhatsApp +1 214 423 5355.

## How to start with the API

The API is in early access: message us and we switch it on for your account.

1. **Create a test key** — In Settings → Developers, create an et_test_ key with only the permissions you need. Test keys check everything but never save or send.
2. **Build against the docs** — Use the API reference with its built-in console, the OpenAPI file or the Postman collection.
3. **Switch to a live key** — Swap in an et_live_ key. Messages now go to real customers from your connected WhatsApp number.
4. **Watch usage and webhooks** — See every request with its ID, and test or resend webhooks, in Settings → Developers.

## What is the EliteTeQ API?

The EliteTeQ API lets your own software use the WhatsApp Business number connected to EliteTeQ Inbox in South Africa. With an API key you can add and update contacts, move them through pipeline stages, send text messages or approved WhatsApp templates, read message history, and receive signed webhooks when customers write, read or reply. Plans start with a free sandbox; API Starter is $29 a month for 50,000 requests.

- Contacts, groups, stages and messages over REST
- WhatsApp, Messenger and Instagram from one API
- 8 webhook events, signed and retried
- Keys limited to the permissions you choose

## EliteTeQ Inbox at a glance

| | |
|---|---|
| Product | EliteTeQ Inbox, by EliteTeQ Softwares Limited (Nairobi, Kenya) |
| What it is | A WhatsApp team inbox and CRM |
| Channels | WhatsApp Business (official Cloud API, works alongside the WhatsApp Business app), Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, Facebook and Instagram comments |
| Works on | Any browser; installs on Android and iPhone |
| Price | From $29 a month; $59 Growth; $99 Business with unlimited people; a year costs 10 months |
| Free trial | 7 days, every feature open |
| WhatsApp numbers | 1 to 3 included by plan; up to 20 per business (Meta’s limit once the business is verified with Meta) |
| In South Africa | +27 WhatsApp Business numbers, office hours on Johannesburg time (SAST) |
| Languages | Customers write in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu |
| Setup | About 40 minutes, or done with you on WhatsApp |
| Last reviewed | 2026-11-01 |

### Send an approved template

```bash
curl -X POST https://crm.eliteteqpos.com/api/v1/contacts/{id}/messages \
  -H "Authorization: Bearer et_live_…" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"template": {"name": "order_ready",
       "params": ["Thandiwe", "#1042"]}}'
```

## API plans

US dollars a month, on top of any EliteTeQ Inbox plan. The Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month.

| Plan | Monthly fee | API requests a month | Good for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Developer Sandbox | Free | 1,000 | Build and test with test keys that check everything but never save or send. |
| API Starter | $29 | 50,000 | One integration: your POS, shop or website sending order and receipt messages. |
| API Growth | $99 | 250,000 | Several systems connected, or a busy store syncing contacts all day. |
| API Business | $299 | 1 million | High volume across branches, apps and back-office systems. |
| Enterprise API | Custom | Negotiated | Custom volume, limits and support, agreed with you. |

Every call to the API is one request; webhooks EliteTeQ sends are free. Meta’s charges for template messages are separate.

## What you can build

The same inbox your team uses, reachable from your code.

### Send messages from your system

Send a text inside the 24-hour window, or an approved template any time: order ready, payment received, delivery on the way. The answer tells you if it was sent, is waiting, or failed and why.

- Text or approved templates with parameters
- Delivery and read updates arrive as webhooks
- Messages show in the inbox next to your team’s replies

### Keep contacts and the pipeline in sync

Create and update contacts, set their stage, category and tags, or update many at once. Your CRM, shop or website and the inbox stay the same.

- Create, search and update contacts
- Move leads between stages
- Batch updates and groups

### Hear about every conversation

Webhooks post to your server when a contact is created or updated, a chat is assigned, or a message is received, sent, delivered, read or fails.

- Signed with your webhook secret
- Retried after 1, 5, 15 and 60 minutes
- Test and resend from Settings → Developers

## Typing it by hand vs the API

The message is the same; nobody has to remember to send it.

| By hand | With the EliteTeQ API |
|---|---|
| Someone copies the order number into WhatsApp | Your system sends the template the moment the order is ready |
| Website leads sit in an email inbox | Each lead lands on the pipeline at once |
| No record of WhatsApp in your own system | Every message arrives by webhook |
| One shared login for the integration | Separate keys, each with only the permissions it needs |

## For businesses with their own systems

Shops with a POS or online store, distributors with an ordering system, and developers building for clients in South Africa.

- [Beauty salons](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/beauty-salons/)
- [Restaurants & cafés](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/restaurants-and-cafes/)
- [Clothing stores](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/clothing-stores/)
- [Electronics stores](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/electronics-stores/)
- [Mobile phone shops](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/mobile-phone-shops/)
- [Pharmacies](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/pharmacies/)
- [Hardware stores](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/hardware-stores/)
- [Wholesale & distribution](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/industries/wholesale-distribution/)

## EliteTeQ Inbox in South Africa

The API sends from your connected +27 WhatsApp Business number, so customers in South Africa see your business name as usual. Meta’s charges for template messages are billed to your Meta account, separately from API requests.

South African customers expect a business to answer on WhatsApp the way they message friends. When enquiries come into a branch phone and a manager’s phone, nobody knows who already replied. One shared inbox gives every chat a clear owner.

Customers write in English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and other languages. Your team replies in the customer’s language inside the 24-hour window; template messages are created in English.

Office hours are set day by day for each number. A common setup in Johannesburg or Cape Town: weekdays open, Saturday mornings open, Sunday closed. Anyone who writes while you are closed gets your away message, at most once every 12 hours, and the chat waits at the top of the list for the morning.

- **Numbers:** +27 (e.g. +27 82 000 0000)
- **Office hours:** Run on Johannesburg time (SAST)
- **Weekend:** Saturday and Sunday
- **Templates:** English
- **Price:** From $29 a month, in US dollars
- **Paying:** Card, charged in Kenyan shillings at the day’s rate

## Selling on WhatsApp in South Africa

Customers in South Africa pay with cards, contactless, EFT, and popular local payment methods, so when a sale closes on WhatsApp the customer may confirm payment in the chat, and your team needs to see that message quickly.

### [Johannesburg](https://eliteteqpos.com/johannesburg/)

Gauteng Province · South Africa's largest city and economic centre

Sandton, the CBD, Rosebank and the southern suburbs behave like separate retail markets spread across a metro too large to service centrally. A shop or distributor in Johannesburg can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system.

### [Cape Town](https://eliteteqpos.com/cape-town/)

Western Cape Province · a major tourism, services and technology centre

Cape Town's retail and hospitality trade has a pronounced summer peak driven by international visitors, which means high card and foreign-currency volumes and staffing that expands and contracts with the season. Restaurants and bars need fast table billing and tab splitting to a degree that inland cities do not. The summer season fills the V&A, the city bowl and the Atlantic seaboard with international visitors, then empties them; staffing doubles and halves with it. A shop or distributor in Cape Town can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system.

### [Durban](https://eliteteqpos.com/durban/)

KwaZulu-Natal Province · the busiest port in sub-Saharan Africa

Durban's economy is built on its port and the import and distribution trade that flows through it, which gives wholesale and business-to-business supply a larger share of local commerce than in Cape Town. Domestic holiday seasons produce sharp coastal hospitality peaks. The port drives import and distribution trade year-round while the beachfront fills during domestic holiday periods. A shop or distributor in Durban can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system.

### [Pretoria](https://eliteteqpos.com/pretoria/)

Gauteng Province · South Africa's administrative capital

Pretoria's trade is anchored by government, diplomatic and university activity, giving it steadier weekday demand and a less seasonal pattern than the coastal cities. Card payment dominates and corporate account billing is more common here than in purely retail markets. Government, diplomatic and university activity give dependable weekday demand and a quieter weekend than the coastal cities, with more corporate account billing. A shop or distributor in Pretoria can send order and delivery updates straight from its own system.

### EliteTeQ Inbox in every city of South Africa

- [Johannesburg](https://eliteteqpos.com/johannesburg/): Gauteng Province, South Africa's largest city and economic centre
- [Cape Town](https://eliteteqpos.com/cape-town/): Western Cape Province, a major tourism, services and technology centre
- [Durban](https://eliteteqpos.com/durban/): KwaZulu-Natal Province, the busiest port in sub-Saharan Africa
- [Pretoria](https://eliteteqpos.com/pretoria/): Gauteng Province, South Africa's administrative capital
- [Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth)](https://eliteteqpos.com/port-elizabeth/): Eastern Cape Province, a port city and centre of vehicle manufacturing
- [Bloemfontein](https://eliteteqpos.com/bloemfontein/): Free State Province, South Africa's judicial capital and a regional service centre
- [East London](https://eliteteqpos.com/east-london/): Eastern Cape Province, a coastal port and manufacturing city
- [Polokwane](https://eliteteqpos.com/polokwane/): Limpopo Province, the commercial centre of Limpopo
- [Mbombela (Nelspruit)](https://eliteteqpos.com/nelspruit/): Mpumalanga Province, a regional centre and gateway to the Kruger National Park
- [Pietermaritzburg](https://eliteteqpos.com/pietermaritzburg/): KwaZulu-Natal Province, the provincial capital of KwaZulu-Natal


## Questions businesses ask us

**What counts as a request?**

Every call your system makes to the API counts as one request, whether it reads or sends. Webhooks EliteTeQ sends to you don’t count, and Meta’s charges for WhatsApp template messages are separate.

**Is this Meta’s WhatsApp API?**

No. It is EliteTeQ’s API on top of the official WhatsApp Business Platform. Your number is connected once in EliteTeQ Inbox, so you don’t need your own Meta developer app, and messages sent through the API appear in the inbox for your team.

**Do we need an EliteTeQ Inbox plan?**

Yes. The API works on an active EliteTeQ Inbox account, and API plans are added on top. The Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month.

**Is there a free sandbox?**

Yes. Test keys check every request exactly like live keys but never save or send anything, with up to 1,000 requests a month.

**How fast can we call it?**

Each key allows 120 requests a minute. Above that, the API answers with a rate-limit error and the number of seconds to wait.

**Can we message any customer from the API?**

A free-form text needs the customer to have written in the last 24 hours on WhatsApp (7 days on Messenger and Instagram). Otherwise send an approved template, and only to customers who agreed to hear from you.

**Is the API available now?**

It is in early access. Message us on WhatsApp and we switch it on for your EliteTeQ Inbox account.

**Is there a WhatsApp API for businesses in South Africa?**

Yes. The EliteTeQ API lets software used in South Africa send WhatsApp messages from a connected +27 business number, add leads to the pipeline and receive webhooks when customers write. It runs on an EliteTeQ Inbox account: the Business plan includes 10,000 requests a month, and API Starter adds 50,000 for $29 a month.

**Can our POS or online shop in South Africa send WhatsApp order updates?**

Yes, with an approved template such as order_ready or delivery_update. Your system calls the API when the order changes, the customer gets the message on WhatsApp, and any reply lands in the inbox for your team. Meta’s charge for the template is billed to your Meta account at its rate for South African numbers.

Sources for the WhatsApp rules on this page (Meta):

- [WhatsApp Business Platform pricing (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/pricing)
- [Messaging limits (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/messaging-limits)
- [Message templates (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/templates/overview)
- [Business phone numbers and limits (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/business-phone-numbers/phone-numbers)
- [About the WhatsApp Business Platform (Meta)](https://developers.facebook.com/documentation/business-messaging/whatsapp/about-the-platform)

## Connect your systems to WhatsApp in South Africa

The API is in early access. Message us and we’ll switch it on for your account.

## More about EliteTeQ Inbox

- [EliteTeQ Inbox overview](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/)
- [Shared WhatsApp inbox](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/whatsapp-team-inbox/)
- [WhatsApp CRM & pipeline](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/whatsapp-crm/)
- [Facebook & Instagram inbox](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/facebook-instagram-inbox/)
- [Click-to-WhatsApp ad leads](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/click-to-whatsapp-ads/)
- [Pricing](https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/pricing/)

## Talk to EliteTeQ about EliteTeQ Inbox

- WhatsApp or call: +1 214 423 5355 (https://wa.me/12144235355?text=Hi%20EliteTeQ!%20I%E2%80%99d%20like%20early%20access%20to%20the%20EliteTeQ%20WhatsApp%20API%20to%20connect%20our%20own%20system.%20I%E2%80%99m%20in%20South%20Africa.)
- Email: info@eliteteqpos.com
- Web: https://eliteteqpos.com/za/inbox/api/