A WhatsApp Channel sends alerts to one phone number on WhatsApp. Each message costs credits, so before the first alert we send the number a code, to make sure it is yours.
What it costs
Section titled “What it costs”Each WhatsApp message costs 1 credit, wherever the number is. The code that verifies the number costs the same as a message. Your Organization pays from its credits: see Credits.
When your Organization has no credits left, WhatsApp alerts are not sent, and are not sent later either. Your email Channels keep sending, and their alert says which phones missed it.
Adding a WhatsApp Channel
Section titled “Adding a WhatsApp Channel”- In Project settings, open the Channels tab and press Add a Channel.
- Choose WhatsApp, then Continue with WhatsApp.
- Give the Channel a Name, such as “On-call phone”.
- Under Phone number, choose the country and type the number, or type it with its country code. The dialog then says what each message to it costs.
- Confirm you are a person, then press Send code.
- WhatsApp brings you a code. Type it under Code and press Verify.
The number must be a mobile number in a country we send to. The dialog says so when it is not.
A number your Organization has verified already, in any Project, needs no code: the dialog says This number is already verified, and Add Channel adds it at once.
The code
Section titled “The code”A code works for 10 minutes, and allows 5 wrong tries. A code typed wrong is not given back.
If it does not arrive, or has expired, press Send a new code. The earlier code then stops working. To keep codes from piling up, we send at most 3 codes to one number, and 10 codes for your whole Organization, in 1 day, with at least 1 minute between two codes to one number. Past that, the dialog says when you can ask for another.
If you close the dialog before you verify, the Channel waits on the Channels tab. Open its menu and choose Enter the code.
Rules that send to WhatsApp
Section titled “Rules that send to WhatsApp”A WhatsApp message is never the only alert. A Notification rule that sends to a WhatsApp Channel must also send to an email Channel. Otherwise the rule editor says: “A rule that texts a phone must also email someone, so a missed text is never the only alert.”
Warnings never reach a phone, so they never cost credits. A rule that sends a phone only warnings is refused too: “Warnings are never texted, so this rule would send nothing to its phones.”
Each reminder about an outage is a message, and costs credits too. The rule editor says what one outage that stays open can cost each phone. See Notification rules.
Sending limits
Section titled “Sending limits”So that an outage of many Monitors at once cannot spend all your credits in minutes, we send at most 20 messages for your whole Organization, by SMS and WhatsApp together and codes included, and at most 10 to one number, in the space of 1 hour.
A message past a limit is never thrown away. It waits, and is sent as soon as the limit allows. A code past a limit is refused instead, since a code that arrives late is no use.
When a number stops working
Section titled “When a number stops working”If the number is no longer on WhatsApp, or can no longer receive, the messages to it fail, and the Channel is turned off after a while. See When a Channel is turned off.