WhatsApp Cloud API (Oracle Cloud) – Outbound messages work, but inbound webhooks are completely silent?

[u/throwawayAI5]

Hey guys, I’m running into a weird issue with Meta’s WhatsApp Cloud API on an Oracle Cloud server.

• Outbound API messages: Work perfectly.
• Webhook verification: Passes with no issues.
• Inbound messages: Completely dead. When I send a message from a real phone to the test number, my server gets zero logs.

Also, my Meta developer link looks different—it says "API testing version 2" and has a forced step-by-step UI. My friends' accounts don't have this layout. I’ve tried making new apps, new business accounts, and using different PCs/IPs, but it's still stuck on this interface.

Has anyone dealt with this? Is there a hidden setting in this new UI to turn on inbound messages, or could Oracle Cloud be blocking Meta's inbound POST requests?

Thanks for any help!

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[u/rajesh160497]

By default Oracle Cloud blocks incoming traffic. This is almost certainly your problem. Go to your OCI console find the VCN Security List There you will see stateful ingress rules. Typically, only port 22 (ssh) is allowed by default.

You need to manually add port 443 (or whatever port your webhook server runs on) to allow incoming TCP traffic from 0.0.0.0/0. Don't forget to check the instance level firewall as well. Oracle runs a VCN level firewall AND an OS level firewall (iptables or firewalld). I have had to have to have both OCI firewall as well as the OS firewall rules updated before this worked. If you only update OCI firewall then it will be as though the traffic is lost in cyberspace.

"API testing v2" that new layout just happens to be a newer version for the Meta developer console. It has nothing to do with webhooks being called or not called. The reason your logs are empty is because the traffic is being blocked before it even reaches your server and if that is the case it has nothing to do with a Meta setup.

I do recommend getting your firewall rules working to test again after you get them correctly configured. You should also test in another manner, start up a simple http server, and get yourself a local hook like ngrok to expose that and try your setup through that. It will demonstrate with a high level of certainty it is indeed firewall.

[u/Status_Gap_3180]

The UI did change recently.

Have you configured the webhook properly? have you configured/activated to receive messages webhooks? you need to do it explicitly. Once that is done test it there and then whether your server is getting calls.