Find out if your business is ready to apply for the WhatsApp green tick

The green tick — formally the Official Business Account badge — is not a feature you switch on by completing setup steps. It is an editorial-style judgement by Meta about whether your brand is notable: known to the public beyond its own website and social profiles. The checklist items above are real prerequisites, and skipping any of them will sink an application, but they are the entry ticket, not the decision. Two businesses can submit identical-looking applications and get different outcomes, because the deciding factor is usually evidence of public recognition — coverage in recognised news publications, a substantial organic search footprint, or an established reputation in a specific market. That is also why the press coverage item carries the heaviest practical weight despite being the one factor you cannot fix in an afternoon.

The application itself flows through your Business Solution Provider. On InfiQ, you request the green tick from your dashboard once your Meta Business verification is complete and your API number is live; we package the application — display name, business details and supporting links such as press articles — submit it to Meta, and track its status until a decision comes back. Reviews typically take from a few days to a few weeks. If the application is declined, you can usually reapply after around 30 days, and the sensible move is to spend that time strengthening notability rather than resubmitting the same evidence. Be sceptical of any vendor offering a guaranteed or paid-for green tick: Meta does not sell the badge, and no provider can influence the outcome.

It is also worth keeping the badge in perspective. The green tick changes how your profile looks; it does not change how your messages are delivered. What actually protects your reach on the WhatsApp Business API is your quality rating — Meta's rolling measure of how recipients react to your messages. A business with no badge and a green (high) quality rating will reliably out-deliver a badged business whose broadcasts draw blocks and reports, because quality rating directly governs your messaging limits and template standing. If you have to choose where to invest effort, clean opt-ins, well-targeted campaigns and fast replies inside the 24-hour service window will do more for your WhatsApp channel than any badge.

• Complete Meta Business verification before anything else — it is a hard prerequisite, not a scoring factor.
• Build genuine press coverage and public presence; this is the differentiator most declined applications lack.
• Keep the API number in active, healthy use — reviewers favour accounts with real traffic and a good quality rating.
• Treat the green tick as a trust signal for customers, not a deliverability lever — quality rating is what moves reach.