Overview
AutoWA turns WhatsApp into a native messaging channel inside your CRM. It registers as a conversation / SMS provider, so when a sub-account selects it, every outbound “Send SMS” — manual or in a workflow — is delivered over WhatsApp instead. Replies thread straight back into your conversations.
How it works
- You connect a WhatsApp number to a sub-account by scanning a QR code.
- You set AutoWA WhatsApp as that location’s SMS (Telephony) provider.
- Outbound “Send SMS” actions are intercepted, queued, paced, and delivered over WhatsApp.
- Delivery receipts (sent → delivered → read) and inbound replies are pushed back into the conversation.
Each location runs its own isolated WhatsApp session, so connecting, resetting, or losing one number never affects another.
Install & connect a number
Install AutoWA from the Marketplace onto a sub-account, then:
1 · Open the WhatsApp Connection page
Inside the location, open AutoWA → WhatsApp Connection. The first time, it shows an empty state with a Connect button.
2 · Set AutoWA as your SMS provider
In the sub-account, go to Settings → Phone System → the Advanced Settings tab → the Telephony Provider tab, choose AutoWA WhatsApp (custom connector) and Save. This is the one switch that routes your “Send SMS” actions over WhatsApp. To send, open Conversations, set the chat channel to SMS, and send.
Reinstalled the app after removing it? Your subscription stays active — just reconnect the number (scan the QR again) and re-select AutoWA WhatsApp here.
3 · Scan the QR code
Click Connect, then on the phone holding your business number open WhatsApp → Settings → Linked Devices → Link a Device and scan the code. It refreshes about every 30 seconds — if it expires, just scan the new one.
Sending
Any “Send SMS” — from a workflow, a bulk action, or typed by hand in a conversation — is delivered over WhatsApp once the provider is set. Messages are:
- Queued and paced with jittered ~3-second spacing per location, to protect your number.
- Status-tracked — the message shows
sent, thendelivered, thenreadas receipts arrive. - Idempotent — a retried send never produces a duplicate WhatsApp message.
Media & attachments
Outbound images, documents, audio and video are supported. Each location sends within safe per-minute, per-hour and per-day caps that widen as the number warms up (see Deliverability).
Receiving replies
Inbound WhatsApp messages thread back into the same CRM conversation, tagged as WhatsApp:
- Text arrives as a normal message.
- Images, documents, voice notes, video, stickers, locations and shared contacts map to a clear, typed line in the thread.
- Read receipts are sent back so your contacts see the blue ticks.
How messages are routed
Your “Send SMS” actions are delivered over WhatsApp. AutoWA tells you exactly what happened with each one:
- On WhatsApp — delivered over WhatsApp, with sent → delivered → read receipts on the thread.
- Not on WhatsApp — reported as failed on the conversation, so you can follow up your way. AutoWA does not silently send it as SMS. Prefer those contacts to receive a normal text automatically? Enable the optional SMS fallback via your own Twilio.
- Disconnected — sending pauses and messages are held (never rerouted to SMS); they send in order the moment you reconnect.
SMS fallback via your own Twilio (optional)
Some contacts simply aren’t on WhatsApp. Out of the box, AutoWA reports those messages as failed so you can follow up your way. If you’d rather they automatically receive a normal text message, connect your own Twilio account — from then on, contacts on WhatsApp get WhatsApp and contacts who aren’t get an SMS from your Twilio number. Nothing else changes.
What you’ll need
- A Twilio account — sign up at twilio.com (a few minutes, card required for a paid account).
- An SMS-capable Twilio phone number (a small monthly fee, billed by Twilio).
- Two values from your Twilio Console: the Account SID and Auth Token.
Step-by-step setup (~5 minutes)
- Open your Twilio Console. Sign in at console.twilio.com. New to Twilio? Create the account first — note that a trial account can only text numbers you’ve verified and stamps “Sent from a Twilio trial account” on every message, so upgrade it before using fallback with real contacts.
- Get a sending number. In the Console go to Phone Numbers → Manage → Buy a number, tick the SMS capability, pick a number local to your audience, and buy it. Already have a Twilio number or a Messaging Service? Use that instead.
- Copy your credentials. On the Console home page, the Account Info panel shows your Account SID (starts with
AC) and your Auth Token (click to reveal). Copy both. - Paste them into AutoWA. Open the WhatsApp Connection page in your sub-account, find the Message routing card, and click Enable SMS fallback. Paste the Account SID, the Auth Token, and your Twilio number in international format (e.g.
+44…) — or a Messaging Service SID (starts withMG) if you use one. - Save & enable. AutoWA verifies the credentials with Twilio before saving — a typo is rejected on the spot, nothing half-configures. Routing flips to WhatsApp + SMS fallback and the card shows the number it will send from.
- Test it. Send any “Send SMS” (workflow or manual) to a number that is not on WhatsApp — it arrives as a normal text from your Twilio number, with delivery receipts threading back onto the conversation.
How it behaves — and what it never does
- Recipient-based, never outage-based. SMS is used only because the recipient isn’t on WhatsApp. If your WhatsApp session disconnects, messages are held — they are never rerouted to SMS.
- Your Twilio, your rates. Fallback texts send from your own number and Twilio bills you per message directly — AutoWA adds no per-message markup.
- Receipts included. Sent / delivered / failed receipts from Twilio appear on the conversation thread like any other message.
- No double-sends. Retries are reconciled against Twilio, so a contact never receives the same text twice.
- Off in one click. Click Switch to WhatsApp-only any time — your credentials are deleted and routing reverts to WhatsApp only.
- Stored safely. Your Auth Token is encrypted at rest, scoped to your location, and never shown back or logged.
Connection states
The WhatsApp Connection page always shows one clear state. Each looks and reads differently so anyone can act on it:
| State | What it means | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| Connected | Linked and sending normally. | Nothing — you’re live. |
| Reconnecting | A brief network blip; recovering on its own. Messages are queued. | Wait — it resumes automatically. |
| Disconnected | Sending is paused; messages are held safely (never SMS). | Reconnect when convenient; held messages then send. |
| Logged out | The device was unlinked in WhatsApp. | Open the page and scan a fresh QR to re-link. |
Reconnecting
- Brief blips reconnect automatically — no action needed, and queued messages send once it recovers.
- Logged out (you removed the device in WhatsApp → Linked Devices) shows a fresh QR — scan it to re-link.
- After a deploy or reboot, sessions are restored from encrypted storage — you never re-scan just because the service restarted.
Deliverability & warm-up
A brand-new number sending at full volume is the quickest path to a block. AutoWA enforces a graduated warm-up automatically:
| Number age | Per day | Pacing |
|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | ~20 | jittered, minutes apart |
| Days 2–3 | ~50 | jittered |
| Days 4–7 | ~150 | jittered |
| Mature | up to ~1000 | jittered ~3s |
Caps are per-minute, per-hour and per-day, and a cap is never “unlimited” — even an unconfigured number stays bounded. Over-cap messages wait their turn; they’re never dropped.
Opt-out & STOP
Compliance is handled for you. When a contact replies with a stop keyword, AutoWA suppresses all further outbound to that number until they opt back in:
- Stop:
STOP,UNSUBSCRIBE,CANCEL,QUIT— and Arabicإيقاف,الغاء,توقف. - Re-subscribe:
START,SUBSCRIBE— and Arabicاشتراك,ابدأ.
You’re still responsible for messaging only people who expect to hear from you. See the Acceptable Use Policy.
Security & isolation
- Isolated sessions — one encrypted, single-owner WhatsApp session per location; numbers never cross.
- Encrypted at rest — session credentials and tokens are envelope-encrypted, scoped to the location.
- Tenant isolation — data access is row-scoped per location at the database.
- Authenticated dashboard — the connection page is bound to your location via secure single sign-on.
Troubleshooting
My page shows “Disconnected”.+
What if a recipient isn’t on WhatsApp?+
The QR code keeps refreshing.+
Do I need to rebuild my workflows?+
Billing & cancellation
Subscriptions are billed through Stripe — no card details ever touch AutoWA. How you’re billed depends on how AutoWA was installed:
- Direct — your location subscribed itself and pays for its own plan.
- Agency — your agency pays per sub-account. Each sub-account has its own subscription, billed from the day you add it.
Adding sub-accounts (agency plans)
Every sub-account is added to your plan explicitly — nothing joins your bill silently. The first sub-account is added by the checkout itself when you subscribe. Each sub-account after that shows a one-click “Add this sub-account to your plan” step on its WhatsApp Connection page, with the exact price, before WhatsApp can be connected. Adding it starts that sub-account’s own subscription on your agency’s saved card: billed in full on the day you add it, renewing monthly or yearly on its own date — no proration, ever, and no shared renewal date to puzzle over. Uninstalling stops that subscription’s renewal (you keep the period you’ve paid for) — and if a sub-account is reinstalled after its subscription has ended, it’s asked to be added again before it can reconnect.
Manage your billing
On a direct plan, open the WhatsApp Connection page and click Manage billing. It opens your secure Stripe billing portal, where you can update your card, download invoices, or cancel.
How to cancel
- Direct plan: Manage billing → Cancel plan. Your subscription stays active until the end of the period you’ve already paid for, then simply doesn’t renew. Uninstalling AutoWA does the same automatically — the subscription is set to stop at the period end, with nothing further charged.
- Agency plan: uninstall AutoWA from a sub-account and that sub-account’s subscription simply stops renewing — it stays active until the end of the period you’ve paid for, then ends. Remove your last sub-account and nothing is left billing — no need to contact anyone.
Get support
Join the support community at hub.systemisedtoscale.com — daily messenger support and multiple support calls every week, including our 3x weekly live 1-1 support calls where you can ask anything and get help live.
You can also start with the Getting Started walkthrough, browse the Support page, or email info@systemisedtoscale.com — we reply within one business day.