Tothiq Assistant is open: from your first message to going live

Tothiq Assistant is open. It answers your customers on WhatsApp in Arabic and English, on the number they already use, day and night. When owners hear that, the next questions are practical. What do I have to do? How long until it answers my customers? What could hold it up? This post walks through the whole path, from the first message you send us to the day the assistant replies to its first real customer.

The short answer

Most businesses go from first message to a live assistant in one to two weeks. You send us your information and join one call of about twenty minutes to connect your number. We build the assistant in 5 working days on the Starter package or 7 on Business, you test it for a day or two, and it goes live when you approve. What usually decides the date is how quickly your information arrives and whether Meta can verify your business without questions.

Why this is possible now

Two things changed this year. The first is on Meta’s side: a business can now keep its WhatsApp Business app and its number while an assistant answers through the WhatsApp Business Platform on the same number. We explained what that means, and what switches off, in keep your number, keep the app.

The second is on ours. Tothiq has completed Meta’s app review for the WhatsApp Business Platform and is registered as a Tech Provider. In practice that means you connect your number through Meta’s own signup window, inside your own Facebook login. You never send us a password, and your WhatsApp account, your Meta account and your billing stay in your name.

The path, step by step

Step	Who does it	How long
1. You message us and we recommend a package	You and us	Same working day
2. Agreement and first payment	You	A few minutes
3. You fill in the information form	You	An hour or two, spread over a day
4. We connect your number on a call	You and us	About 20 minutes
5. We build the assistant	Us	5 working days (Starter), 7 (Business)
6. You test it	You	A day or two
7. It goes live	You approve	On your approval

1. The first message

You write to us on WhatsApp or use the form on the Tothiq Assistant page. We ask three things: roughly how many customer chats you get in a month, what customers ask most, and whether you take bookings, orders or quotes on WhatsApp. From that we recommend a package and send you the full service guide.

The choice is usually simple. If customers mostly ask about prices, hours and location, and you get fewer than about 1,000 chats a month, Starter fits. If you take bookings or orders on WhatsApp, or the volume is higher, Business fits. Larger setups with several numbers or a connection to your own systems go to our custom AI assistant service.

2. Agreement and first payment

The agreement runs for twelve months and is billed every three months in advance. The first payment is the setup fee plus the first three months:

Package	Setup, paid once	Every 3 months	First payment
Starter	KD 150	KD 117	KD 267
Business	KD 290	KD 237	KD 527

Meta’s own message fees are separate and are paid by you directly to Meta from your own card. As we set out in what a WhatsApp assistant costs to run, replies to customers who wrote to you are free for 24 hours after their last message, so for most businesses the Meta bill is small.

3. The information form

This step decides the quality of the assistant more than any other. We send a simple form for your services and prices, opening hours, location and parking, delivery areas and charges, payment methods, and your most common questions with the answers you would give.

Write the answers the way you would say them to a customer, not as a brochure. If the honest answer to “do you deliver to Jahra?” is “yes, Thursday and Saturday only, KD 2”, write exactly that. Our guide to the first 30 answers shows which questions to start with. Tell us as well when the assistant should hand a chat to a person, and who on your team receives it.

4. The connection call

Before the call, have four things ready: the Facebook account of the owner or manager, the phone with your WhatsApp Business app on it, your commercial licence, and a debit or credit card for Meta’s fees.

On the call, which takes about twenty minutes, we send you Meta’s signup link. You log in with your own Facebook account, create or choose your Meta business account, confirm the number and scan a code with the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. You add your card to your own WhatsApp account, so Meta bills you directly. Meta’s documentation on Embedded Signup describes the same flow.

Meta may also ask to verify your business. That is where the commercial licence comes in: the business name and address you give Meta should match the licence exactly. Verification is Meta’s process and runs on Meta’s timing, but a clean match is the best way to avoid follow-up questions.

5. We build the assistant

From your form we write the assistant’s approved information, set its tone in Arabic and English, and set the hand-over rules. For a Business package we also set up what it collects for a booking, an order or a quote, and where that request goes. This takes 5 working days on Starter and 7 on Business, counted from the day your form is complete.

6. You test it

Before any customer sees it, you message the assistant as if you were a customer. Ask the easy questions, then the awkward ones. Write in Gulf dialect, switch to English halfway through, send a voice note, ask for a discount. Anything you would change, tell us and we adjust it. This usually takes a day or two.

7. It goes live

The assistant starts answering your customers only when you approve. From then on, every question it could not answer is listed for you. You give us the answer and we add it. In the first few weeks that list is longest. After that, most questions are handled without your team.

Where delays come from

When a business takes three weeks instead of one, it is almost always one of these:

• The form arrives in pieces. The build clock starts when the information is complete. Send it in one go, even if some answers are short.
• The licence and the Meta details do not match. A trading name on Facebook and a different legal name on the licence is the most common cause of verification questions.
• The number is on ordinary WhatsApp. Keeping your number needs the WhatsApp Business app. Moving to it is free and keeps your chats, but do it before the call.
• The card is declined. Some cards block international charges by default. Check with your bank before the call.
• Nobody is named for hand-overs. If no one knows that handed-over chats are theirs, customers wait. Decide this before launch.

What stays yours

Your number, your WhatsApp account, your Meta business account and your Meta billing all stay in your name. You keep answering from the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, and you see every conversation the assistant has.

We process your customers’ messages only to reply for you. They are never sold, never used for advertising and never used to train AI, and conversations are kept for 90 days by default. The details are in our Privacy Policy. The assistant also follows WhatsApp’s Business Messaging Policy: it talks only about your business and never messages people who have not agreed to hear from you.

After launch

An assistant is not finished on the day it goes live. Prices change, a branch opens, Ramadan hours start. On Starter we make two updates to your information a month; on Business we make weekly updates and send a monthly report of what customers asked, what the assistant answered and what it handed over. That report is also the clearest way to see why an assistant hands chats over and what to teach it next.

If you go over your monthly reply limit two months in a row, we talk to you about moving up a package. We never add a charge without your agreement.

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a new phone number?

No. In most cases we connect your current WhatsApp Business number, and you keep using the app on your phone.

Do I have to give you my Facebook password?

No. You log in yourself, inside Meta’s own signup window. We never ask for a password.

Can it go live in less than a week?

Starter is built in 5 working days once your form is complete. The fastest launches are from businesses that send the form and join the call on the same day.

What if Meta asks to verify my business?

You upload your commercial licence in your Meta account. Make sure the business name and address match the licence exactly.

Can I stop it if I am not happy with it?

Yes. Nothing goes live without your approval. After launch, the number stays yours and keeps working in the app if the assistant is switched off.

Want to see whether it fits your business? Message us on WhatsApp or read the full details on the Tothiq Assistant page.