Update Nov. 14
Adding to groups, getting avatars and orders, guaranteed hooks and lowering the risk of blocking
Adding different members to a group
Adding a contact to a WhatsApp group who has not banned it (in the privacy settings) and is present among your contacts is quite easy. It is enough to call the method https://whapi.readme.io/reference/addgroupparticipant, specifying the number of the participant.
Everything changes if this number is not among the contacts in your phone. WhatsApp is very finicky about this and with a high probability you will get an error in response to the addition.
This is not API related, you can try to do the same from your phone and you will get the response "Couldn't add %the number%. You can invite them privately to join this group".
Previously, in such a case, all you could do was send a private message with a link to join the group. Now, you can add a number to your contacts list in advance. And you can do it through the API.
We suggest you use our Google Contacts integration. You will need to synchronize your phone with your Google account and one method to add an array of all the numbers you need. They will immediately appear in your WhatsApp, after which you can easily add any contact to the group.
How to connect and what kind of request to send contacts is described here:
Automate your work with groups to the fullest! You can send a link to invite a user to a group or add them to a group automatically! Create groups, assign and view members, receive notifications on any changes in groups and messages in it.
Receiving an order
Upon receiving a shopping cart from a customer in WhatsApp you will receive a notification (just like a normal message), with type="order".
Using the "Get order items" method you will be able to automatically parse which items and in what quantity were ordered by the customer.
Automate the operation of your store right in WhatsApp! Take orders in messenger, forward them to your CRM, send order statuses back to WhatsApp. Your customer will be delighted with this clear process and the proximity of their favorite store.
Guaranteed Webhooks
Webhooks, also known as HTTP callbacks, are a user-defined mechanism for sending automatic notifications between systems when certain events occur.
But what if, at the time you received the notice, you weren't following up? For example, you had a server outage. Or the program stopped working for some reason. This is where webhooks come to the rescue, and they are guaranteed to be delivered to you.
In the documentation, three parameters have been added to the Update channel settings method:
callback_backoff_delay_ms- delay in milliseconds, default is 3000, incrementable, i.e. delays will be 3, 6, 9, 12, 15 seconds, etc.max_callback_backoff_delay_ms- delay of the last attempt, default is 900000 milliseconds, i.e. the last attempt will be in 15 minutes.callback_persist- the actual parameter responsible for on/off, by default it will be off.
Connection of individual and mobile proxies
We issue a proxy server for each channel and change it if the channel with a particular proxy gets blocked.
Proxy servers change the IP address, which increases anonymity and security by allowing you to personalize each connection. Using proxies reduces the likelihood of WhatsApp account blocking because they ensure that IP addresses are changeable, making user activity less suspicious.
Now, we have adapted the operation of channels to mobile proxies as well. With a mobile proxy you eliminate any chance that you will be blocked for the difference in time zones between your phone and our server, geo-positioning, IP address matching, etc. Take care of the marketing, and on the technical side, we've got you covered!
At the same time, mobile proxies do not behave like ordinary proxies, they require an individual approach. Other API providers have channels with mobile proxies that are constantly reloaded and require constant monitoring. We do not have such a problem!
Note: Mobile proxies with IP of your region will need to be purchased separately
And also, to reduce the risk of blocking, when authorizing the phone connection is made through different browsers. You can notice this by looking at the connected sessions in WhatsApp's Connected Device Settings
Receive profile pics and notification of changes
After authorization, the channel checks chats and contacts, trying to load their pics. If the link to the picture is outdated, we update this information. The upload speed is 1 picture every second, so for 120 contacts the upload will take ~2 minutes.
If a contact changes their picture or group avatar, this information will be updated.
You will also receive a webhook and the contact will be updated on the channel (requires customization in hooks: {"type": "contacts", "method": "patch"})
If you change your avatar in the group - you will receive a webhook and the avatar will be updated on the channel (requires setting in hooks: {"type": "contacts", "method": "patch"}).
Autonomous channel launch
Sometimes this happens. The channel failed to initialize on the server, there was some failure and you are waiting for the QR code not a couple of seconds as usual, and it does not appear. Usually it is solved in a couple of minutes by contacting our support or entering the personal cabinet, but for those customers who work with channels autonomously - it is not convenient.
We have added a separate "wakeup" parameter to the /health method. It is responsible for checking the channel's operability and starting it. Thus, you can autonomously check the status of your channel and, if necessary, force it to work.
Fixed
Added a limit on sandbox channels: 10000 requests per month;
Creating a group now returns full group data, not just the group ID;
Invalid links when sending a file will return a 400 error instead of 500;
Fixed source code in bots on gitHub:
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