> ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.tawked.com/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # Application owners > Hand an application to the merchant who owns the business: they connect WhatsApp and run the inbox, you keep billing, keys and review. Codes need nothing from the merchant: your backend sends them and you pay. WhatsApp is different. A WhatsApp Business Account belongs to the merchant's Meta business, only the merchant can connect it, and only the merchant's people should read their customers' conversations. So an application that needs WhatsApp is handed to its owner, the way Meta's solution partners onboard a customer: you invite, the merchant accepts under your configuration, and the application stays yours. ## Who does what after a handover | | You (the partner) | The owner (the merchant) | | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ | ------------------------------------------------ | --------------------------------------------------------------- | | Billing, price, balance | Yours, unchanged. | Nothing. | | The `tk_partner_` key, the partner webhook, verify settings, the brand, review | Yours. | Never shown. | | Sending codes and messages through the API | Yours, with `application` as before. | No API. | | The WhatsApp number | Read its state and the message log. | Connects their own number from their dashboard, disconnects it. | | Templates | Create and edit them. | Create and edit them. | | The inbox and the team | Add and remove agents on the application's team. | Runs the inbox with their team. | | Usage and the brand | Yours. | Read-only. | | Deleting the application | Nobody. | Cannot. | The owner's dashboard shows the application as coming through your partner name, and its brand line reads their name with yours beside it. ## The flow [`POST /v1/partner/applications/{external_id}/owner`](/api-reference/partner/invite-the-owner) with the person's name and Saudi mobile, optionally their email and the `locale` of the message (`ar` by default). ```bash theme={"dark"} curl -X POST https://tawked.com/v1/partner/applications/store_88/owner \ -H "Authorization: Bearer tk_partner_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" \ -H "Content-Type: application/json" \ -d '{ "name": "أحمد", "phone": "0551234567", "email": "ahmed@example.com", "locale": "ar" }' ``` The answer is `201` with the invitation and, once only, the link: ```json theme={"dark"} { "external_id": "store_88", "owner": { "status": "invited", "name": "أحمد", "phone": "+966551234567", "email": "ahmed@example.com", "invited_at": "2026-09-17T08:00:00+00:00", "expires_at": "2026-09-24T08:00:00+00:00", "accepted_at": null }, "accept_url": "https://tawked.com/ar/invite/kq3v…" } ``` Tawked sends the same link by SMS to the invited phone, under Tawked's name, naming you and the application. Show `accept_url` in your own app too if you like; it is not returned again. The link opens a page that names you, the application and the masked phone. The merchant signs in to Tawked with that very phone through the ordinary one-time code, and the acceptance happens on sign-in. A phone new to Tawked gets an account with the name and email from the invitation and skips the onboarding wizard: the handed-over application is its first, and you already reviewed the brand. A forwarded link is useless to anyone else, because the invited phone is the credential. `service.owner_accepted` arrives at your [partner webhook](/partners/webhooks) with the owner's name, phone and `accepted_at`, and [`GET /v1/partner/applications/{external_id}/owner`](/api-reference/partner/get-the-owner) answers `accepted` from then on. The merchant lands on the application's WhatsApp tab and connects their number. ## Read the state [`GET /v1/partner/applications/{external_id}/owner`](/api-reference/partner/get-the-owner) answers one of three states: | `owner.status` | Meaning | Fields set | | -------------- | --------------------------------- | ------------------------------------------------------ | | `none` | Never handed over, or taken back. | None; every other field is `null`. | | `invited` | An invitation is pending. | `name`, `phone`, `email`, `invited_at`, `expires_at`. | | `accepted` | The owner runs the business side. | `name`, `phone`, `email`, `invited_at`, `accepted_at`. | ## The rules * **One pending invitation per application.** Inviting again supersedes the pending one; only the newest link works. * **The invitation expires after 7 days.** After that the link says so and the state goes back to `none`. Invite again. * **The phone is the credential.** It must be a Saudi mobile in an [accepted format](/destinations). It may be new to Tawked or belong to the owner of a client account, never to one of your own users or to a member of another team (`409 phone_not_eligible`). * **Nothing changes hands while a WhatsApp number is connected**, in either direction (`409 number_connected`). The inbox belongs to the team that runs the application, so the number is disconnected first, or you invite before it is connected. Accepting is refused too if a number was connected after the invitation went out. * **One owner at a time.** Inviting someone else while an owner is in place answers `409 owner_already_assigned`; revoke first. * **Each invitation is an SMS**, capped at 3 an hour per application and 100 a day per partner (`429 rate_limited`). Nothing is written or sent over the cap. ## Take it back [`DELETE /v1/partner/applications/{external_id}/owner`](/api-reference/partner/revoke-the-owner) withdraws a pending invitation, or removes an accepted owner: their account and its agents lose access to the application at once, and `service.owner_revoked` fires. Billing and keys never moved, so nothing else changes. Refused with `409 number_connected` while a number is live. ```bash theme={"dark"} curl -X DELETE https://tawked.com/v1/partner/applications/store_88/owner \ -H "Authorization: Bearer tk_partner_xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx" ``` ```json theme={"dark"} { "external_id": "store_88", "owner": { "status": "none", "name": null, "phone": null, "email": null, "invited_at": null, "expires_at": null, "accepted_at": null } } ``` ## Errors | HTTP | `error` | Endpoint | Meaning | | ---- | ------------------------ | -------------- | ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | 400 | `invalid_request` | invite | `name` (2 to 160 characters) or `phone` missing, or `email` malformed; `fields` names them. | | 400 | `invalid_phone` | invite | Not a Saudi mobile. `fields` is `["phone"]`. | | 409 | `owner_already_assigned` | invite | The application already has an owner. | | 409 | `phone_not_eligible` | invite | The phone belongs to one of your users or to another team's member. | | 409 | `number_connected` | invite, revoke | A WhatsApp number is connected. Disconnect it first. | | 429 | `rate_limited` | invite | Over the invitation caps. | | 404 | `not_found` | all three | Not your `external_id`. | The same handover is available in the partner console, on the application's Owner card.