None of these is ours, and none of them can we do for you. They're in order: almost everyone is missing the first one.
1 · Add a card at Meta. With no payment method Meta won't let you start conversations: you receive and you reply within 24 h, but you can't write first. It happens to six out of seven customers who just connected, and nothing is broken — the panel says so on the number's page, with the direct link. It unlocks: starting conversations with templates.
2 · The display name — and this depends on WHICH number you have. Three different cases, and only in one of them does Meta require it. The panel tells you which one you're in, and doesn't show you the other two.
· A +1 555 Meta assigned you: 🔴 here an approved name really is a documented requirement. Meta says so verbatim —"must have their display names approved before they can be used to send messages"— and the text of error 131037 names the range. ⚠ What we cannot tell you is what happens meanwhile: we measured one +1 555 that sent fine for 21 hours before Meta rejected everything at once, and another that keeps sending with its name under review. It unlocks: meeting the requirement Meta states for these numbers.
· Your own number on Cloud API: a rejected name does not stop you from sending. What changes is what your customer sees: the number instead of your business name. Meta sends the name to review on its own when you move up a messaging tier. It unlocks: being seen by your name, not your number.
· Coexistence: the issue doesn't apply. The name is managed by your customer from the WhatsApp Business app on their phone, not from here, and Meta doesn't even open a review unless the business subscribes to Meta Verified. That's nine of our twelve connections. It neither unlocks nor blocks anything: it's informational.
3 · Verify your business. It raises the daily ceiling from 250 to 2,000 new people per day. ⚠ It is one of three ways to reach 2,000: you also get there by delivering 2,000 messages to distinct people in 30 days with good-quality templates, or by having a partner verify the business. The full ladder is 250 → 2,000 → 10,000 → 100,000 → unlimited, and from 2,000 up it climbs on its own with good quality and usage. It unlocks: reaching more people per day.
The daily ceiling is Meta's, not ours, and it is shared across every number in the same business portfolio. The panel shows it on the number's page with that caveat.
🔴 A Meta +1 555 is the only case where Meta ties name approval to sending. And the reason connecting your own is first on the list (step ①) isn't that: it's that a +1 555 cannot be migrated later.
⚠ And there's quite a lot Meta doesn't clear up. On a +1 555 it can report the name as "ready, no review needed" and still reject you for not having an approved name; both can't be true at once and their documentation doesn't say which wins. On top of that, when it rejects a send it returns a name error (131037), while its own health report on that same account can give a different reason — business verification. Requesting a name review from WhatsApp Manager is the path that exists; Meta does not say that clears 131037, and we haven't verified it.
None of this blocks the next step: you can integrate, send yourself test messages and build templates while the paperwork moves.