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Guide

WhatsApp OTP in Egypt: a developer’s guide

By The Authevo Team7 min read

If you ship apps in Egypt, phone verification is where a smooth signup often falls apart. SMS one-time codes are expensive, delivery is inconsistent across carriers, and you pay for messages that never arrive. Meanwhile the channel your users actually keep open all day is WhatsApp. This guide covers why WhatsApp is the better OTP channel here, what you need to send from your own number, and how to wire it up.

Why WhatsApp for OTP in Egypt

  • Reach — WhatsApp is the default messaging app for most people across Egypt, so a code lands in an app they already have open.
  • Reliability — messages route over official WhatsApp infrastructure with delivery status, instead of SMS routes that filter, delay, or silently drop codes.
  • A prepared fallback — link each recipient to Telegram once, and later fallback is automatic. If someone is not linked, the API returns a one-tap URL your product must show.

What you need to start

To send WhatsApp authentication codes from your own brand, you use your own WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) — so the sender is you, and your user data stays isolated. Meta requires a one-time Business Verification before it can send authentication templates. While you wait, call the Telegram-link endpoint and show each recipient its one-tap URL. Once linked, Telegram delivery is automatic; an unlinked recipient instead produces 409 CHANNEL_NOT_LINKED and a URL your product must display.

The integration — two API calls

The whole flow is two HTTPS requests, no SDK. Call POST /v1/otp/send with the phone number in E.164 format; you get back a message_id and a status. When the user enters the code, call POST /v1/otp/verify with the same number and the code — a match returns { "data": { "verified": true } }. Branch on the HTTP status and error.code, keep your secret key on the server, and you’re done.

What it costs, and how you pay in Egypt

Your first 50 successful verifications are free. After that, new accounts pay $0.006 per message sent until 500 successes, then move to pay-per-success at the destination’s published rate. Shared-number MENA rates currently range from $0.01 to $0.03; $0.01 is the Egypt and own-number software rate, with Meta delivery billed directly on your own WABA. There is no subscription, and a $2 minimum balance applies after the free allowance. Top up in EGP by InstaPay bank transfer, credited after confirmation, or by card in USD via Polar (from $20), credited when payment completes.