Channels
Connect your WhatsApp Business number in Meta’s own secure window, then Meta checks your business name (usually 1–3 business days). You can keep using the WhatsApp Business app on your phone.
Note
WhatsApp reminders come with the Booking plan. The AI answering and booking on WhatsApp comes with Front Desk. WhatsApp messages never use your texts.
Before you start
- A Facebook account that can manage your business.
- Your WhatsApp Business number — or a new number that can receive a verification code.
- Owner or Manager access in roles.
Connect
Go to Settings → Channels → WhatsApp.
Choose how you want to use your number
Keep using the WhatsApp Business app on my phone (recommended) keeps your number and chat history. Use a new number just for the assistant means you reply from the dashboard only.
Choose Connect WhatsApp and finish in Meta’s window
Log in with Facebook, pick your business and number, and confirm. It takes about 3 minutes. Meta then checks your business name (usually 1–3 business days); messages work in the meantime.
Wait for message templates
Tornaly submits a few message templates to Meta for approval (usually minutes, sometimes a day). They are needed for messages sent more than 24 hours after a client last wrote.
If you keep the app on your phone
Before you connect, Settings lists the limits Meta sets when the app and the assistant share one number:
- The WhatsApp Business app must be version 2.24.17 or later.
- Keep your phone online during setup: your chat history must sync within 24 hours.
- WhatsApp Web and desktop are signed out. Windows and Wear OS aren’t supported.
- In the app, broadcast lists, greeting and away messages, your catalog, and voice and video calls are turned off.
You keep your number and your chats. Anything you send from the WhatsApp Business app shows up in the Inbox too, and pauses the assistant in that chat so you don’t talk over each other. It resumes after the quiet time you set (3 hours by default). See Hand-offs & pausing.
The 24-hour rule
WhatsApp lets a business reply freely for 24 hours after the client’s last message. After that, only pre-approved templates can be sent. The assistant handles this for you:
| Message | Template used after 24 hours |
|---|---|
| Appointment reminder (Confirm / Reschedule / Cancel) | Reminder |
| Your team cancelled or moved an appointment, or answered a request | Booking update |
| A waitlist spot opened | Waitlist |
| “How did we do?” after a visit | Feedback |
| Comeback / win-back | Rebook, Win-back (marketing) |
One more template is always used, whatever the time: when the assistant sends a client a 6-digit code on WhatsApp, Meta requires its authentication template (with a copy-code button). Codes go by SMS first when you have a texting number.
Note
If Meta rejects a template, reminders fall back to normal messages — which only reach clients who wrote to you in the last 24 hours.
Important
Meta currently blocks WhatsApp marketing templates to US phone numbers, so comebacks can’t reach US numbers on WhatsApp outside the 24-hour window. See Consent & marketing permission for who can get comebacks.
Buttons, photos and voice notes
- Up to 3 choices show as tap-to-reply buttons; 4 to 10 show as a list.
- Voice notes are turned into text so the assistant can answer them — see below.
- Photos, locations and contacts arrive in the Inbox as a placeholder like “[image]”. The assistant can’t see them, so it answers the text around them — or a person can.
Voice notes
When a client sends a voice note instead of typing, it is transcribed and the assistant answers the words. In the Inbox the message shows the transcript, marked 🎤 Voice note (transcribed), so your team knows it came from speech-to-text. This also works for audio on Instagram and SMS.
Choose what happens in Settings → Assistant → Voice notes:
| Option | What happens |
|---|---|
| Transcribe them so the assistant can answer (default) | The words are shown in the Inbox and answered like a typed message. |
| Always pass them to a person | The client gets “Got your voice note — a person will reply shortly.” and the chat goes to your team. |
If a voice note can’t be transcribed, the client gets the same “a person will reply shortly” message and the chat is handed to your team.
Cost
WhatsApp messages don’t use your texts. Meta charges its own fees for some WhatsApp messages (mainly templates sent outside the 24-hour window). These are passed through at cost, with no markup. See Plans & pricing.