To set up a WhatsApp Business catalogue: open WhatsApp Business, tap the three-dot menu, go to Business tools, tap Catalogue, then Add new item, and upload a photo with a name, price, description, link and item code. Repeat for each product. Meta reviews each item, which usually takes minutes but can take up to a day. The catalogue then appears on your business profile for anyone who opens your chat.
That is the whole procedure. The rest of this guide is the part the instructions leave out: the fields that matter, the photo specifications, the rules that get items rejected, and what to do once you hit the limits.
Before you start
Three things need to be true, or the catalogue option will not appear:
- You are using WhatsApp Business, not ordinary WhatsApp. They are separate apps. The catalogue exists only in the Business one. It is free.
- Your business profile is filled in. Name, category, description and address. A profile with only a phone number sometimes behaves oddly.
- Your app is current. Catalogue features change often enough that an old build is a common cause of "the menu is not there".
If you are moving a personal number to WhatsApp Business, do it before building the catalogue. The migration keeps your chats; rebuilding 70 catalogue items does not.
Step by step on Android
- Open WhatsApp Business.
- Tap the three dots in the top right.
- Tap Business tools.
- Tap Catalogue.
- Tap Add new item.
- Tap the + to add images. You can add up to ten per item — use that, it is the single biggest difference between a catalogue that sells and one that does not.
- Fill in Item name. Keep the first three or four words distinctive, because names truncate on small screens.
- Fill in Price. Optional, but leave it blank and you will answer "price?" in chat all day.
- Open More fields for Description, Link and Item code.
- Tap Save.
Step by step on iPhone
- Open WhatsApp Business and tap Settings at the bottom right.
- Tap Business tools, then Catalogue.
- Tap Add new item and follow the same fields as above.
The layout differs slightly between versions, but the path is always Settings or the three-dot menu, then Business tools.
The five fields, and what to actually put in them
| Field | Required | What works |
|---|---|---|
| Images | Yes | Up to 10. Square, at least 1000 × 1000 px, same background and distance across every product. Consistency beats quality. |
| Item name | Yes | Product first, qualifier second: "Cotton kurta — navy, XL". Not "Beautiful premium handcrafted…". |
| Price | No | Put one in. If prices vary, use your starting price and say so in the description. |
| Description | No | Up to 2 048 characters. Use the first line for the thing people ask about most — size, material, quantity per pack, delivery area. |
| Link | No | The most under-used field in WhatsApp Business. Point it at a page with the full detail, variants and ordering. This is where a link-based catalogue and the native one work together. |
| Item code | No | Your own SKU. Worth filling in — it is how you and your staff find an item in a list of 200. |
Photo specifications that matter
- Square, 1:1. WhatsApp crops to square in the grid view. Shoot square or you will lose the top and bottom of the product.
- 1000 × 1000 px or larger. Smaller images look soft when tapped.
- Under about 5 MB per image. Compress before uploading; the app recompresses anyway and a 12 MB original gains you nothing.
- Keep the product inside the middle 80%. Edge-to-edge framing gets clipped by the crop.
- No text burned into the image. It is unreadable in the grid and is a common rejection reason.
Organising a catalogue people can actually use
Collections are the only grouping tool you get. Use them early.
- In Catalogue, tap Add new collection.
- Name it the way a customer would ask for it — "Under ₹500", "Gift sets", "New this month" — not the way your stock system names it.
- Add items. An item can sit in more than one collection.
- Keep the total number of collections under eight. Beyond that, people scroll past the navigation entirely.
Order matters too: your first six items are what most people see. Put your best sellers there, and move them seasonally.
Why items get rejected
Every item goes through Meta's review against its commerce policies. The usual causes of rejection:
- Prohibited categories — alcohol, tobacco, weapons, supplements making health claims, live animals, adult products, medical devices, real money gambling.
- Text, logos or promotional badges overlaid on the photo.
- A photo that does not show the actual product — a lifestyle shot with no product in it, or a stock image.
- Prices or claims in the image rather than the price field.
- Before-and-after images, common in salon and clinic catalogues.
If an item is rejected you can request a review from the item screen. Fix the obvious cause first; resubmitting the same item unchanged rarely works.
How to share the catalogue
This is where most people are disappointed, so it is worth being precise. Inside WhatsApp you can:
- Send an individual item into a chat, which arrives as a card with photo, name and price.
- Send a link to your whole catalogue from inside WhatsApp, which recipients open in WhatsApp.
What you cannot do is treat that as a general web link. A catalogue link opens in WhatsApp; it is not a web page, it will not render on a desktop browser for someone without WhatsApp, and Google cannot crawl it. So it cannot serve as the link in your Instagram bio, on a flyer, in an email signature or on a printed card — the places most small businesses actually need it. That specific gap, and how to close it, is covered in how to create and share a WhatsApp catalogue link.
The limits you will eventually hit
| Limit | Consequence |
|---|---|
| 500 items | Hard cap. Sizes and colours count as separate items, so this arrives faster than you expect. |
| No cart, no order | Customers browse, then type what they want. You reassemble the order from the conversation. |
| No variants | One shirt in 4 sizes and 3 colours is 12 entries, each needing its own photos. |
| No search or filters | Past about 60 items, browsing is scrolling. |
| Not a web page | Cannot be put in a bio, on a poster, in an email signature, or indexed by Google. |
| Review on every item | Edits can go back into review and briefly disappear. |
None of this is a reason to skip the native catalogue. It is free, it sits where your customers already are, and for a short product list it is the right tool. It is a reason to know in advance what the ceiling is.
What to do when you outgrow it
The usual next step is a catalogue that lives on a web page and sends orders into WhatsApp as a pre-filled message. You keep WhatsApp as the place the conversation and payment happen; you stop being limited by what fits inside the app.
Follow My Site includes a WhatsApp Store on every plan, on the same page as your business details, enquiry form, gallery and appointment booking — so the link does double duty as a catalogue and as your digital business card. Monthly is ₹200 plus 18% GST (₹236), Yearly ₹1,062 and Lifetime ₹1,711 once, and there is a 7-day, no-questions-asked money-back guarantee.
Frequently asked questions
Is the WhatsApp Business catalogue free?
Yes. WhatsApp Business and its catalogue cost nothing. The limits are features, not a paywall — there is no paid tier of the native catalogue that removes the 500-item cap or adds a cart.
Why can I not see the Catalogue option?
Almost always one of three things: you are in ordinary WhatsApp rather than WhatsApp Business, the app needs updating, or your business profile is incomplete. Check in that order.
How long does item review take?
Usually minutes. It can take up to 24 hours, and an edited item may go back into review, which is why a product can briefly vanish after you change its price.
Can I bulk upload products?
Not in the app — it is one item at a time. Bulk upload exists through the WhatsApp Business Platform and Meta Commerce Manager, which is an API-level setup that most small businesses will find heavier than the problem. A link-based catalogue is usually the simpler answer.
Can two people manage the same catalogue?
Only through linked devices on the same WhatsApp Business account, with the same catalogue. There are no separate staff logins or permissions.
Does the catalogue work on WhatsApp Web?
Customers can view it, but managing items is a phone-app job. Build and edit on the phone.
If you are deciding between the native catalogue and a link-based store, WhatsApp Store vs online store lays out the three-way comparison. If you have already decided, start monthly at ₹236. Agar Hindi mein padhna ho: WhatsApp catalogue kya hota hai.