WhatsApp calling
Before you start
Section titled “Before you start”Calling has to be switched on for your WhatsApp number. That is a setting on Meta’s side, and whatbot doesn’t have a switch for it. If you open the call button on a chat and see Calling is off for this workspace, ask whatbot support to turn calling on for your number.
Calls run in your browser. Allow microphone access when the browser asks. If it’s blocked, the call shows Microphone blocked and won’t connect. Inside the CRM, the CRM page also has to allow the microphone for the embedded whatbot window.
Inbound calls
Section titled “Inbound calls”A customer can call your business number from WhatsApp at any time. They don’t need permission, and inbound calls are free.
The call rings on every page of the dashboard for everyone signed in to the workspace. It shows as a card with the caller’s name (or UNKNOWN if they’re not a saved contact) and their number. Click Answer or Decline. Decline only stops it ringing for you; it keeps ringing for everyone else. The first person to answer takes the call, and the card disappears for everyone else. A call nobody answers within 30 seconds is recorded as Missed.
While you’re on a call, a bar stays docked in the dashboard with the call time, a mute button and End call, so you can keep working in the inbox.
Outbound calls and call permission
Section titled “Outbound calls and call permission”You can’t simply dial a customer. WhatsApp requires the customer to allow calls from your business first, and Meta limits how often you can ask.
- Open the chat and click the phone icon in the chat header (or the phone icon on a row in Call Logs).
- If you don’t have permission yet, the card says Permission needed. Click Request permission to call. The customer gets a message in WhatsApp asking whether you may call them, and the chat shows Call permission requested.
- While you wait, the card says Waiting for a reply. The customer’s answer appears in the chat as Call permission granted or Call permission declined.
- Once granted, the card says Permission granted with the date it lasts until. Click Call.
The call goes out from the number of the customer’s most recent chat with you, which is the number they gave permission to.
Meta’s rules for permission
Section titled “Meta’s rules for permission”| Rule | Limit |
|---|---|
| Permission requests to one contact | 1 per 24 hours and 2 per week |
| How long an approval lasts | 7 days, then you have to ask again |
| Unanswered calls in a row before permission is withdrawn | 4 |
| A customer calls you | Counts as permission to call them back for 7 days |
If you’ve hit a limit, Request permission to call is greyed out and the card says why.
If a customer declines, you can’t call them. If they call you later, you can call them back.
After 4 unanswered calls in a row, whatbot stops you calling that contact, even if their 7 days aren’t up. That clears when the customer calls you. An answered call resets the count.
Permission and the 24-hour window are separate
Section titled “Permission and the 24-hour window are separate”The 24-hour messaging window and call permission are two different things:
- An open messaging window doesn’t let you call. You still need the customer’s permission.
- Call permission doesn’t let you message. Outside the 24-hour window you can still only send approved templates.
- The permission request is a message, so it can only be sent while the 24-hour window is open. If the window is closed, ask the customer to reply first. Sending a template doesn’t reopen the window, only their reply does.
Countries where calling isn’t available
Section titled “Countries where calling isn’t available”You can’t ask for permission or place a call when either side is blocked:
| Not available | |
|---|---|
| Customers with numbers in | Cuba, Iran, North Korea, Syria |
| Your business number is in | USA, Canada, Egypt, Vietnam, Nigeria |
whatbot checks this before a permission request goes out, so a blocked contact never uses up one of your requests.
Call history
Section titled “Call history”Call Logs in the sidebar lists the workspace’s calls, newest first. Each row shows the customer, whether the call was incoming or outgoing, its result (Answered, Missed, Declined, Failed, or Ringing / In progress while live), when it happened and how long it lasted. Filter with All, Missed, Incoming and Outgoing. The list updates by itself while a call is happening. The page shows the most recent 100 calls.
From a row, the chat icon opens the conversation and the phone icon calls the customer back, with the same permission checks as the chat header.
Each finished call also appears in the customer’s chat, like it does on a phone: Incoming call, Missed call, Outgoing call, No answer and so on. A call from a number that has never messaged you has no chat yet, so it appears only in Call Logs.
What calls cost
Section titled “What calls cost”Inbound calls are free. Meta charges for outbound calls that are answered, counted in 6-second steps, at a rate that depends on the customer’s country. Calls that ring out, are declined or go unanswered are free. Calls are not taken from your whatbot wallet.
Calling over the API
Section titled “Calling over the API”Request permission, place calls and read the call log from your own systems,
and get call.* events on your webhook. See the
Voice Calls API and Webhooks.