WhatsApp is the third channel in the unified Inbox, alongside email and SMS. WhatsApp conversations appear in the same list with a green WhatsApp badge, and replies from clients land in the shared inbox for the whole team. Like SMS, the WhatsApp channel is provisioned by Nagaris — if the Team Channels card on the Channels page shows WhatsApp as Not connected, contact support to enable it for your firm.
WhatsApp itself (not Nagaris) enforces two rules for businesses:
The first message to a contact must use an approved message template.
Free-form text is only allowed within 24 hours of the contact's last message.
The Inbox reflects this. When you compose a new WhatsApp message you'll see the note: First message must use a template. Free-form text is only allowed within 24 hours of the contact's last message. Inside an existing conversation, the text box unlocks whenever the contact has messaged you in the last 24 hours; outside that window, you'll see Free-form text is only allowed within 24 hours of the contact's last message. Use a template to send the first message or to re-engage.
Templates are your firm's approved WhatsApp templates — only templates with approved status are offered.
Go to Inbox and click the compose button to open the New Message sheet.
Select the WhatsApp tab.
In To, pick a contact — the picker lists contacts with a phone number, and you can add a new contact from the same dropdown.
Choose a Template from the dropdown.
If the template has numbered placeholders, fill in each Variable field — the phone-style preview on the right updates as you type.
Click Send template.
The new conversation opens in your Inbox, and once the client replies you can chat back and forth in free text for as long as each reply falls within the 24-hour window.
Open a WhatsApp thread and use the message box at the bottom:
Within the 24-hour window, type freely (up to 4,096 characters) and send.
Outside the window, the box is disabled and a Templates button appears instead — pick an approved template to re-engage the contact.
Even when free text is allowed, a template button next to the message box lets you send a template at any time.
Outbound messages show the same status icons as SMS: a clock for Pending, one tick for Sent, two ticks for Delivered, and a red alert for Failed. WhatsApp failures often include a specific reason (for example, messaging outside the 24-hour window) — hover over the alert icon to read it.
WhatsApp templates are managed and approved through WhatsApp's own business platform; Nagaris lists what's been approved for your number. If the template list is empty or won't load (Failed to load templates), contact support.
WhatsApp conversations can be archived and restored just like SMS and email threads.
Bulk sending is currently email and SMS only — WhatsApp messages are sent one conversation at a time.
