How to get the WhatsApp green tick (which is now blue)
Amit Kumar · 20 August 2026
The “green tick” is the badge WhatsApp shows beside a verified business name — formally an Official Business Account (OBA). Two things most guides get wrong: the tick is not green any more (Meta’s documentation says OBA numbers get “a blue checkmark beside their name”), and you cannot buy it — Meta grants it by review, for free, and no platform or agency can promise it. What you can do is meet every published criterion and apply. This post is that list, from Meta’s own documentation.
People still search for “green tick” because that is what the badge was for years, so we will keep calling it that — but if a guide you are reading shows a green badge in its screenshots, check its date.
What the badge actually gets you
Three things, per Meta’s Official Business Account documentation:
- The blue checkmark beside your name in the contacts view.
- Search visibility. Business numbers without OBA status do not appear in WhatsApp’s in-app search results; customers have to save the number first. With the badge, they can find you.
- Trust. Unmeasurable, but real: a customer deciding whether the message about their order is genuinely from you decides faster with the badge there.
What it does not get you: higher messaging limits, lower per-message rates or any change to how your messages are delivered. Those run on separate machinery.
Meta’s criteria, verbatim
The documentation lists five requirements. All five, not most:
- The business complies with the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
- The business has been registered on the WhatsApp Business Platform for at least 30 days — so a brand-new number cannot apply on day one.
- The business portfolio that owns the number has completed Meta Business Verification.
- The business phone number has two-step verification enabled.
- The number’s display name has been approved.
If you have not done the underlying setup yet, start with how to get WhatsApp Business API access — business verification and the display name review are steps on that road anyway.
The part nobody controls
Meeting all five criteria makes you eligible, not approved. Meta reviews each request and says yes or no, and it has historically said yes mostly to businesses with a recognisable public presence. If the request is denied, you must wait 30 days before submitting another.
This is why nobody can sell you the badge. A provider — us included — can make sure the five criteria are genuinely met and the application is clean. Anyone promising a guaranteed tick for a fee is charging you for a decision that is not theirs to make.
How to apply
Through WhatsApp Manager: open Overview, click your phone number, and under Official business account choose Submit Request. There is also an API endpoint for the same request if you prefer to do it programmatically. You are notified of the decision either way.
Two practical suggestions before you press the button. First, make your public footprint easy to check — your website naming the same business, the same display name across your channels. The reviewer is deciding whether you are who you say you are; make that boring to confirm. Second, if you were denied, use the 30 days: fix whatever is thin rather than resubmitting the same application.
What about Meta Verified?
Meta also sells a paid subscription called Meta Verified for business, which includes a verified badge among its features on the WhatsApp Business app side. It is a different track from the OBA process above, it is evolving, and its availability differs by country — read Meta’s page for what applies to yours rather than a third-party summary, ours included.
Where to go next
The badge is the trim, not the engine. What moves revenue is what you send and how: broadcasts that do not get you banned, opt-in done properly, and a channel set up cleanly from the start. If you want the setup handled with you, book a demo.