WhatsApp OTPs: One-time passwords on WhatsApp explained

When it comes to keeping online accounts secure, one-time passwords (OTPs) are essential for ensuring that only authorized users can access their accounts. According to the Sinch 2025 report The state of customer communications, customers appreciate an added layer of security like a two-factor authentication (2FA). 

Even outside communicating sensitive healthcare or financial data, 49% of consumers say that extra steps to verify ownership of an account makes them feel safer.  

While OTPs are typically sent via SMS, businesses can also use WhatsApp OTPs to send a unique passcode to a user’s registered WhatsApp phone number. This method offers a quick, easy, and secure way for users to verify their identity and carry out transactions. 

In this blog, we’ll explore how OTPs work on WhatsApp, how they compare to SMS messages, guide you through how to set up your business to send them, and then delve into several use cases. Let’s get started! 

WhatsApp OTPs are used as a form of two-factor authentication (2FA) to verify a user’s identity during account logins, transactions, or other sensitive actions. As WhatsApp chats offer end-to-end encryption, using WhatsApp to send these messages adds an extra layer of security, while also ensuring high OTP delivery rates, and cost-effectiveness. 

Whether you (or your customer) are checking a bank balance or buying something online, an OTP message sent via WhatsApp can help keep personal information safe from hackers and cyber threats. 

Plus, it’s free for users to receive WhatsApp OTPs. Businesses pay the authentication messaging price, but for the user it doesn’t cost anything. 

There are several advantages for enterprises to send one-time passcodes through WhatsApp. Let’s go through a few of them. 

WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted. So, when you use WhatsApp to send OTP authentication messages, you’re boosting security for both you and your customers.  

Plus, having an OTP code delivered right in a WhatsApp chat adds a layer of trust because of WhatsApp’s own measures to ensure that only rightful account owners can access their messages. 

WhatsApp OTPs also pop up as push notification on a lock screen, so they get great visibility and high delivery rates. And: Businesses also get delivery indicators making it easier to track the success rate of the messages. 

If you’re sending WhatsApp messages through a Business Solution Provider (BSP) like Sinch you can rest assured that there will be a fallback method you can choose. For example, you can decide to set SMS as a fallback channel, so if for some reason the WhatsApp message can’t be delivered, it’ll automatically switch to SMS. You can also pick other messaging channels as fallback.  

If your customer base already uses WhatsApp, they’ll appreciate the option to also receive verification codes on WhatsApp.  

WhatsApp’s familiar interface can help minimize friction in the verification process and reduce the learning curve for users. This makes verification quick, intuitive, and hassle-free.  

Plus, it gives you yet another way to interact with your WhatsApp audience without having to switch channels. As OTPs end up in the same WhatsApp chat a user already has with your business, your brand will stay top of mind, and it gives you more opportunities to re-engage your customers.  

WhatsApp has adjusted its pricing for authentication messages (that include OTPs) in July 2025. In some markets, WhatsApp OTPs have become up to 97.4% cheaper with additional discounts (up to 25%) available for high volumes. From a business perspective, this makes WhatsApp OTP pricing a lot more competitive compared to other methods like SMS. 

As many as 93% of global enterprises use some type of SMS OTP verification. That’s a lot! So, you may be thinking that the only difference between SMS and WhatsApp OTPs is that one is sent as a text message and the other via a WhatsApp chat. But there’s more to it than that. Let’s break down the differences. 

	SMS OTP	WhatsApp OTP
Usability	Available on all mobile phones, including non-smartphones. Requires no app install or internet connection to use	Requires users to have a smartphone, have standard WhatsApp installed, and internet access
Global reach	Broad reach; compatible with all mobile devices worldwide	Subject to WhatsApp availability; limited to users with WhatsApp installed and access to the internet (but with SMS fallback)
Security	Lacks full encryption, but still offers a solid level of security (it’s better than having no protection in place)	WhatsApp messages are end-to-end encrypted
Delivery	Almost instant; delivered over mobile network infrastructure	Almost instant; relies on internet connectivity
User experience	Depends on SMS inbox organization and readability	Integrated within the WhatsApp chat interface

As you can see, both SMS and WhatsApp are solid options for sending secure and reliable verification messages. Whether it’s worth adding WhatsApp OTPs comes down to your individual business case.  

In the following, we’ll go through some scenarios that might indicate that WhatsApp OTPs are a good choice for your business.  

WhatsApp OTPs offer a scalable, secure, and convenient verification method on one of the world’s most popular digital communication channels. But is it the right approach for you? When does it make sense for your business to incorporate WhatsApp OTPs? Let’s look at a few situations that’ll show you if you should add WhatsApp OTPs as an authentication method.  

If you’re already using WhatsApp for customer support or to send marketing messages, adding WhatsApp OTPs is the logical next step. Your customers already like to interact with your business on WhatsApp, so it makes sense to keep everything in the same channel – and it’s also very easy to do.  

If you’re already using a WhatsApp solution from a BSP like Sinch, you can simply add authentication templates for sending OTPs to your channel. We’ll explain below how that works exactly.  

If you’re about to expand your business to countries where WhatsApp is very popular, you’re probably already thinking about adding WhatsApp as a communication channel to interact with your new audience.  

In that case, it makes sense to add WhatsApp OTPs to the mix as well. Many users in countries like India or Brazil will not only prefer doing everything on WhatsApp, they’ll check their WhatsApp inbox multiple times a day, before even considering looking at another channel. So you’ll also have a better user experience and higher delivery rates by adding WhatsApp OTPs. 

But be careful with ruling out WhatsApp OTPs too fast.  

While there are clear regional preferences for WhatsApp, there are a lot more nuances to channel choices. Even in the U.S., where WhatsApp is still an emerging channel, younger generations say they prefer receiving business communications via messaging apps.  

So make sure to really analyze your audience’s channel preferences, and if WhatsApp is a preferred option, it’s definitely worth including WhatsApp OTPs as an authentication method. 

With 2FA often being a technical and security requirement, sending out thousands of verification messages each month can add up. While SMS pricing used to be cheaper than WhatsApp in many cases, this has changed.  

With the July 2025 pricing update, WhatsApp has significantly lowered the rates for authentication messages, including OTPs. If SMS has been your go-to authentication channel until now because of its low cost, it’s certainly worth comparing pricing again to see if WhatsApp might end up being cheaper for you now.  

You can look up WhatsApp’s authentication rates by market here.  

Sending a WhatsApp OTP is simple, but you’ll need a WhatsApp Business account and API access to do it. That’s because you can only send OTPs using an authentication template in WhatsApp Business API. Authentication templates for OTPs on WhatsApp contain the following information:  

• A fixed preset text: <VERIFICATION_CODE> is your verification code. 
• An optional security disclaimer: For your security, do not share this code. 
• An optional expiration warning: This code expires in <NUM_MINUTES> minutes. 
• Either a one-tap autofill button, a copy code button, or no button at all if using zero-tap. 

Zero-tap means that if a user requests an authentication code in your mobile app with WhatsApp as their OTP channel of choice, the code appears directly in the app. So the user doesn’t have to switch to their WhatsApp chats. This option is currently only available for Android devices. If you send a zero-tap authentication template to a non-Android device, it’ll appear as a copy code button instead. 

Important: You can only send OTPs through WhatsApp with the API. If you’re using the free WhatsApp Business app, unfortunately you won’t be able to send OTPs through WhatsApp. 

As a business, your best bet to send OTPs via WhatsApp is to choose a WhatsApp business solution from a BSP. BSPs like Sinch are verified WhatsApp business partners authorized to develop official WhatsApp Business solutions.  

Using one of these solutions is the easiest way to access the WhatsApp API to send OTPs through WhatsApp, and setup is a breeze.  

At Sinch, you get access to WhatsApp OTPs through our Conversation API or our Verification API.  

• The Conversation API is best for businesses that want to use WhatsApp business messaging beyond OTPs and are looking for options to integrate other channels like contact centers, chatbots, and more. 
• The Verification API is ideal if you’re mainly focused on expanding your verification methods.  

Regardless of the method you pick, follow these steps to get started with WhatsApp OTPs through Sinch.  

First and foremost, you’ll need to set up a Meta Business Manager account (formerly Facebook Business Manager). Here, you’ll fill in information about your business and will be able to add other people and assets to your account. 

Next, you’ll want to set up Sinch Conversation API. Getting started with Sinch is super simple: 

1. Sign up for a free account on the Sinch Customer Dashboard.  
2. Once you’ve created an account and logged in, select Conversation API from the left-hand menu.  
3. Review and agree to the terms and conditions and click “GET ACCESS” to proceed.  
4. Follow the simple instructions and select WhatsApp from the available channels. 

For more documentation, check out how to get started with Conversation API. 

Finally, to send any business-initiated conversations via WhatsApp (like one-time passwords) you must have two things:   

1. Subscriber opt-in  
2. Approved templated messages in WhatsApp Business 

WhatsApp usually approves templates quickly – within two minutes in most cases. Regardless, we always recommend that businesses submit templates promptly to allow for potential rejections, giving time to make necessary changes and resubmit. 

WhatsApp is great for enhancing verification and authentication processes. But what does that look like in real life? Here’s a glimpse into some typical use cases for WhatsApp OTPs.

New user registration becomes seamless and secure with WhatsApp OTPs. During the registration process, you can ensure each user’s identity is authenticated via WhatsApp before granting access. This way, users receive their verification code directly to their WhatsApp account for a hassle-free registration customer experience. 

Using WhatsApp OTPs for transaction confirmations adds an extra layer of security to financial transactions. When a transaction is initiated, users can receive an OTP on WhatsApp, ensuring that only authorized individuals can complete it. This helps prevent unauthorized access and keeps users’ financial information safe and sound. 

Verification messages sent via WhatsApp can also help financial institutions shift to conversational banking. This means they can send OTPs, provide customer service, and even offer personalized banking services all through the same messaging app. 

WhatsApp OTPs can simplify password reset requests by giving users a secure, convenient way to regain access to their account. When they receive an OTP code directly in their WhatsApp messages app, users can quickly reset passwords without the need for manual validation steps. 

Account recovery becomes super straightforward with WhatsApp OTPs. Users can verify their identities and regain access to their accounts by receiving authentication messages directly in their WhatsApp account. 

WhatsApp OTPs help fortify user accounts with an extra layer of protection against unauthorized access. This helps build trust by instilling confidence in users about the safety of their accounts. 

Do you provide a software service on a subscription basis? Or maybe you offer another type of subscription-based service? Subscribing to these services becomes much more convenient with WhatsApp OTPs. Users get a code on WhatsApp, allowing them to quickly verify their identity, keeping things simple and safe for their subscription account. 

You can secure your ticketing and reservation system with WhatsApp OTPs, meaning only authorized users can access their bookings. For example, when a user books a concert ticket, you can send them a unique OTP via WhatsApp to confirm their identity before accessing or modifying their booking. 

WhatsApp OTPs are flexible and reliable, making them perfect for scenarios like ticketing, travel reservations, or appointment confirmations. 

So now you know: WhatsApp isn’t just for chatting with your friends and family – it can also be a secure way for your business to verify identities via one-time passwords. 

Businesses that use WhatsApp for authentication can ensure safe logins and transactions with a global reach. Compared to messaging solutions like RCS, WhatsApp offers broader adoption across an established user base using both Android and iOS, making it a highly reliable choice for businesses looking to enhance security and trust in customers’ interactions. 

Want to get started? Reach out directly to our team to chat about the best approach for your business.