WhatsApp & APIs articles

WhatsApp & APIs 288 Putting WhatsApp on your site: the link, the button and the ready-written message In Mozambique, WhatsApp is where business conversations happen. A contact form gives you a message somebody reads...
WhatsApp & APIs 205 Ordinary WhatsApp, Business or the Cloud API: which suits your business We call four different things «WhatsApp», and choosing the wrong one costs money or costs the number. One is free...
WhatsApp & APIs 266 WhatsApp for business: the risks, and the practices that avoid them WhatsApp has become the sales channel for many businesses in Mozambique, and that brought a risk few weigh up: the...
WhatsApp & APIs 260 WhatsApp, e-mail or SMS: advantages, disadvantages, risks and who each is for WhatsApp, e-mail and SMS all exist to talk to customers, and the question «which is best» has no answer - because...
WhatsApp & APIs 207 Ordinary WhatsApp for business: advantages, disadvantages, risks and who it is for The app almost everyone starts with - the same one used personally - put to work for the business. It is the...
WhatsApp & APIs 209 The WhatsApp Business app: advantages, disadvantages, risks and who it is for The WhatsApp Business app is free, installs like any other, and is the right option for the overwhelming majority of...
WhatsApp & APIs 197 The WhatsApp Cloud API: advantages, disadvantages, what it costs and who it is for The Cloud API - what everyone calls the «WhatsApp Business API» - is not a better app. It is a different thing: a...
WhatsApp & APIs 231 Broadcast lists, groups and channels: which reaches whom, and the rule nobody knows Inside WhatsApp there are three ways to speak to many people at once, and they are very different from each other....
WhatsApp & APIs 107 What Evolution API is, and when to use it instead of the official API Evolution API is an open-source program that puts a web interface (a REST API) in front of a WhatsApp number. You...
WhatsApp & APIs 94 Baileys (QR code) or the WhatsApp Cloud API: the risk and the rules The short answer: if the number is your company’s and the messages matter to the business, use the official Cloud...
WhatsApp & APIs 111 Installing Evolution API with Docker Compose on a VPS You install Evolution API on a VPS with Docker Compose: one file describes the services (the API, the database and,...
WhatsApp & APIs 74 The Evolution API settings that matter Evolution API has a lot of settings, but only a handful decide whether the service is secure, whether it keeps its...
WhatsApp & APIs 86 Connecting an Evolution API instance with the QR code, and reconnecting An instance of Evolution API is a WhatsApp number linked to your server. With the Baileys integration it is linked...
WhatsApp & APIs 109 Sending your first message with Evolution API To send the first message you need three things: a linked instance, the API key and an HTTP request with the...
WhatsApp & APIs 96 Receiving messages: Evolution API webhooks To receive messages with Evolution API you do not keep asking the API whether there is news: you set up a webhook,...
WhatsApp & APIs 99 Evolution API with PostgreSQL and Redis: sessions that survive a restart An Evolution API install that loses its sessions at every restart is an install with no persistent volume. The...
WhatsApp & APIs 98 Evolution API and n8n: a working flow The most requested flow is this: a WhatsApp message arrives, n8n decides what to do and replies. In practice there...
WhatsApp & APIs 93 Evolution API instance stuck on “connecting”: the usual causes An instance stuck on “connecting” means Evolution API is trying to reach WhatsApp and cannot, or that the service...
WhatsApp & APIs 92 Securing Evolution API: key, HTTPS and the open port An exposed Evolution API is an open door to your WhatsApp number: whoever reaches it and holds the key sends...
WhatsApp & APIs 78 Updating and backing up Evolution API The rule is simple: backup first, update second, one version at a time. Evolution API depends on an unofficial...
WhatsApp & APIs 93 WhatsApp Cloud API: getting started with Meta The WhatsApp Cloud API is the official interface Meta offers businesses for sending and receiving messages from a...
WhatsApp & APIs 103 WhatsApp message templates and the 24-hour window On the WhatsApp Cloud API there are two situations. If the customer wrote less than 24 hours ago, you can answer...
WhatsApp & APIs 92 Webhooks from Meta: verifying and receiving To receive messages from the WhatsApp Cloud API, Meta has to know where to send them. You give it an address, Meta...
WhatsApp & APIs 101 Choosing the number for a WhatsApp API The number you choose decides how much a mistake costs. If you link it to the official Cloud API, it is a company...
WhatsApp & APIs 106 Setting up a product catalogue in the WhatsApp Business app The catalogue is a shop window inside WhatsApp: each product or service has a photo, a name, a description and, if...
WhatsApp & APIs 96 Greeting, away and quick-reply messages in the WhatsApp Business app The WhatsApp Business app has three tools that save hours: the greeting message (the first reply to anyone who...
WhatsApp & APIs 96 Organising customers with labels in the WhatsApp Business app Labels are the only organising system the WhatsApp Business app has, and they are enough for one or two people...
WhatsApp & APIs 92 Filling in your WhatsApp Business profile: hours, address, website and short link The profile is the business card the customer sees before writing to you. Filled in, it shows your name, what you...
WhatsApp & APIs 99 A QR code that opens a WhatsApp chat with you: making it and where to put it A WhatsApp QR code is just your wa.me link drawn in squares: whoever points a phone camera at it opens a chat with...
WhatsApp & APIs 130 The WhatsApp link on your site does not work: wa.me problems and fixes When your site’s WhatsApp button does not open the right chat, the cause is almost always the link format: a number...
WhatsApp & APIs 88 Using a landline or company number on WhatsApp Business Yes, you can register a landline in the WhatsApp Business app, or any number that can receive a voice call: when the...
WhatsApp & APIs 103 The WhatsApp verification code does not arrive: what to try When the WhatsApp code does not arrive, the reason is usually one of four things: the number typed wrongly, the SMS...
WhatsApp & APIs 85 Meta business verification and the green tick: what they are and what they are not “Verification” can mean three different things in the WhatsApp world, and the confusion costs time: verification of...
WhatsApp & APIs 94 How a WhatsApp chatbot works: rules, AI and what you need to run one A WhatsApp chatbot is a program that reads incoming messages and replies by rules or by an AI model. There are two...
WhatsApp & APIs 83 Chatwoot: a shared team inbox for WhatsApp on your own VPS Chatwoot is an open-source program that gathers the conversations of several channels (website chat, e-mail,...
WhatsApp & APIs 91 Typebot: building a WhatsApp conversation flow on your own server Typebot is an open-source program for designing conversations in blocks, connecting boxes on a screen (a question, a...
WhatsApp & APIs 97 Consent for WhatsApp messages: what to ask, what to record, how to let people leave To send WhatsApp messages to a customer properly, there are three things: they agreed to receive them (clear consent...
WhatsApp & APIs 81 WhatsApp and your online shop: order buttons, updates and what needs the API Tying WhatsApp to your shop comes in three steps, and each asks more than the last: a button that opens a chat about...
WhatsApp & APIs 110 Someone asked for your WhatsApp code or took over the number: what to do The short answer: the six-digit code WhatsApp sends by SMS or call is used to register your number on a phone....
WhatsApp & APIs 101 Fake WhatsApp messages in your company name: protecting customers from scams The short answer: you cannot stop someone creating a WhatsApp account with your name and your photograph, but you...
WhatsApp & APIs 74 WhatsApp Business: greeting, away message and quick replies The short answer: the free WhatsApp Business app has three tools that save time for anyone who gets the same...
WhatsApp & APIs 45 WhatsApp Business: labels, lists and broadcasts to keep customers in order The short answer: when you go from ten conversations to a hundred, the chat list stops being enough. The WhatsApp...
WhatsApp & APIs 66 SMPP or an HTTP SMS API: what each one is and which your application needs The short answer (for developers): there are two usual ways for an application to hand SMS to a provider. With an...
WhatsApp & APIs 99 SMPP binds and enquire_link: keeping an SMS connection alive on a VPS The short answer (for those with a VPS and an SMPP account): an SMPP session starts with a TCP connection to the...
WhatsApp & APIs 66 SMS delivery reports (DLR): how your application knows whether a message arrived The short answer (for developers): the “OK” the provider returns when you send means accepted, not delivered....
WhatsApp & APIs 70 GSM-7 or Unicode in SMS: why one accent splits a message into more parts The short answer (for developers): an SMS carries a fixed number of bytes (140). With the GSM-7 alphabet that is 160...