Setting Up WhatsApp Web

This article helps you to setup WhatsApp Web as channel to your picky assist project

WhatsApp Web Automation is a paid Channel once purchased you will able to connect your WhatsApp Web with Picky Assist as Channel and able to send and receive WhatsApp messages right from the Picky Assist Web Console or API. Please Click Here to know more about WhatsApp Web Automation.

Pre-requisite

1. WhatsApp Personal / Business App installed on a Mobile Phone

2. WhatsApp Web Automation Adon Enabled in your Picky Assist Project

Limitations

1. Not able to sync the media messages sent manually from the phone.

2. Not able to send messages to the broadcaster list already created by you

3. Not recommended for sending high-volume messaging, especially mass one-way notifications

4. Not reliable service can expect long downtime whenever the WhatsApp Web version gets updated till we patch the update

5. Can expect a delivery ratio only between 85% to 95%

Getting Started

Once the WhatsApp Web automation channel is purchased you need to scan the QR code from your WhatsApp App from Settings -> Channels -> WhatsApp Web Automation as seen below;

After completing the payment process the page will be redirected to the WhatsApp Web Automation channel settings page for scanning the QR code to connect the number.

Connect WhatsApp Number

In the settings page please "Select the Data Centre" which is near your country then click on the "Activate WhatsApp Web" button as shown below.

Scan the QR Code

1. Open WhatsApp on your phone

2. Tap Menu or Settings and select "Linked Devices" and click on "Link A Device"

3. Point your phone to this screen to scan the code

The QR Code keeps changing every 5 seconds so please don't take a screenshot and share it with others to pair it, instead use the QR Code Connection URL to share the QR code. It will take 1 -2 minutes to connect the WhatsApp Web with your Picky Assist Project depending on how many open chats you have on the phone, so please wait until it redirects automatically to the next page.

QR Code Connecting URL or Whitelabel URL

If the WhatsApp phone is not with you or you are using the services for your customers then you can use the QR Code Connecting URL.

You need to enable the Status then only the user can scan the QR code, once the status is enabled you can simply share the URL with your customers and guide them to open the WhatsApp App and scan the QR Code.

Please note that this URL will work only when your WhatsApp Web Adon is in pairing mode i.e. not connected with a number.

Settings & Configuration

Once the WhatsApp Web is successfully connected with the Picky Assist Project you will able to see the settings menu as shown below ;

1. Here we can see the connected WhatsApp number and the connection status of the number with your automation server

2. Shows the WhatsApp Web Version you are connected to Picky Assist.

3. Connected Channel id which is required when using API for the connected channel

4. Channel connected date and expiration date.

Quick Glance of Settings Menu

Reboot server

This will restart the server allocated to you, the restart process takes 5-10 minutes to complete so please check the status after 10 minutes. This needs to be performed only when you are continuously facing issues with your WhatsApp Web Automation

Restart App

This will restart the WhatsApp Web Server and may take 30 seconds to 2 minutes to reconnect. If you want to disconnect the current number and restart then please enable the option in the confirmation message. If you like to clear the queue & message while rebooting then please enable the option in the confirmation message.

Reset server

This will disconnect any previous session and clear all messages in the queue if any. It will take 3 to 5 minutes to complete the server reset.

Disconnect & Connect Another Number

If you wish to disconnect the existing number and connect to another number then please follow the below guide;

First, click on "Disconnect" as shown below

This will prompt a new confirmation popup as below;

If you wish to delete all the queue and message history from the WhatsApp Server then please check the "Clear Queue & Messages", still you will have the message history in the Picky Assist Account, and the message history will get deleted only from WhatsApp automation Server and not from the Picky Assist history/

In case you want to disconnect and connect again with the same or different number and process the pending queue then please uncheck this option, when a new/same number is connected the pending queue messages will get processed.

After clicking on the "Continue" button it may take 1-2 minutes to show another QR code, please refresh the page to see the new QR Code.

If your number was blocked then we recommend to please factory reset the mobile phone in which the number was running earlier, if you just change the SIM card and try to connect to WhatsApp again you are likely to be blocked again as WhatsApp keeps the previous log in your device.

Clear queue

This action will clear all queued messages in the server.

Reboot Server & App Restart Don't get confused with Server Restart & App Restart both works differently, so let's understand the difference before using the commands. Restart App: This is the automation app that runs in the WhatsApp Server, mostly Restart app solves the issues like QR code Not Showing, Connection Timeout, Low message sending speed, etc.

Reboot server : This is the dedicated server allocated to your project to connect WhatsApp Numbers, generally server restart is not required until suggested by our support team. Server restart will take 5 to 10 minutes so once the command is given please wait for 10 minutes to perform the next action

Settings Name	Description
Connected WhatsApp Number	This is the number of your Connected WhatsApp
Queued Messages	This will show messages which are in queue , you can click on the refresh icon to get the latest queue count, for any reason if you wish to delete queued messages then you can use the "Clear Queue" button , this will clear all messages in the queue and there will no refund process for these messages.
Connected Status	This helps you to identify whether the connection between your phone and our server is established or not, below are the possible status. Connected = Connection Established Timeout = The connection is not timeout, maybe you need to scan the QR code again Unpaired = WhatsApp Web is not paired with our Server, you need to scan the QR code again No Response = Our Server is not giving response, please click the "Restart App"
Connected Date	On which date the number is connected with your project.
Incoming Message	This helps you to disable the incoming messages , once disables incoming messages will not be processed by Picky Assist (you will also not be billed).
Outgoing Message	This helps you to disable the outgoing messages, once disables you will not able to send messages out. (messages will fail).
Queue Limit	This is one of the important value which helps you to queue the messages after it reaches certain count, for example if you set the value to 10 then whenever you send more than 10 messages at a time then system will automatically queue the message and start processing as per the delay between the message you configured
Delay b/w Messages	This is the value used to process messages from the queue , i.e if you set to 10 seconds then the system will wait 10 seconds to send next message in the queue, the recommended delay between messages is 10 seconds in order to avoid blocking of WhatsApp number.
Download Incoming Video	If you would like to download the video files then please enable this, enabling this will slow down the regular message sending and receiving speed of your Server.
Group Incoming Messages	If disabled the incoming messages from groups will be ignored, if you don’t use groups with Picky Assist then its recommended to turn off the same to overcrowd your WhatsApp Web Automation server.
Group Outgoing Messages	If disabled then you will not able to send messages to WhatsApp Groups.
Keep Online	This will show the number always online and this also helps to track the disconnection event more accurately
Service Monitoring Tool	When this tool is enabled we will send an automated message 'status_check' to our dedicated WhatsApp number '[phone]' in every 5 minutes from your Connected WhatsApp Number to check the service status.
Sync Contacts	You can sync contacts from your WhatsApp by clicking this button, please make sure you have enough contact limit as per your plan.
Disconnect Event Alert Email Address	Specify the email addresses to get an alert when the connection is lost.

Session disconnection from WhatsApp Mobile App

If the number is forcefully disconnected from the WhatsApp App or for some reason if the connection between the automation server and WhatsApp web is lost then you may not see the option to disconnect instead it will show a box as below;

If you are seeing this option then please click on "Restart App" then you will able to see below options

If you tick "Disconnect Existing Number & Restart" this will destroy the last connected number session and you need to scan the QR code again to reconnect the number.

If you tick "Clear Queue & Messages" this will destroy all the queue and message history from the WhatsApp Server.

Even after restarting the app if you are unable to connect or see the QR code to scan then please repeat the restart process 2-3 times or until you see the QR code.

Monitoring Disconnection Events & Alerting

This feature helps you to get alert when the WhatsApp number is disconnected or difficult to connect with our Server.

To make this feature works more accurately you need to enable the "Keep Online" status on , when you turned this on your connected WhatsApp number will show always Online

This feature helps you to get alert when the WhatsApp number is disconnected or difficult to connect with our Server.

How Service Monitoring Tool Works

When you enable the "Service Monitoring Tool" as shown below our system will automatically send an automated WhatsApp message "status_check" to our dedicated WhatsApp number "[phone]" in every 5 minutes from your Connected WhatsApp Number.

If your WhatsApp automation server is connected to a WhatsApp number and we have not received "status_check" messages in the last 5 minutes then we can consider there must be a problem in the Connection.

In order to avoid any confusion of sending any automatic message by default this monitoring tool is disabled in your account, we request you to please enable this from your Settings -> Channels -> WhatsApp Web Automation -> Service Monitoring Tool (enable this) as shown in the below image;

Once you enable this monitoring tool we will be able to analyze the disconnection event and take the following actions which solve most of the problems related to the WhatsApp automation server.

1. Automatically restart the automation app as in most cases we observed that the automation app restart solves the problem related to Connection issues.

2. Inform you through Email for manual actions.

3. Automatically reset the automation server if the app restart does not solve the issue then send an email to you so that you can scan the QR code again to establish the connection.

Customize channel Name & Icon

You can change the channel name, description, and icon as well. You can choose the attractive channel icons from the given channel icon list or from the fontawesome icons.

Dashboard

Once the WhatsApp web number is connected in your project you can see the dashboard which show the quick stats of your connected number, you can access this from the Settings -> Channels -> Click on the gear icon then click on Dashboard as shown below;

Filter

By default the dashboard shows the current month data, you can filter the data using the Filter options, you can group the data by day, week, month or year that is useful if you selecting long date periods

Subscriber Quick Informations

You can see quick stats how many subscriber you have in your WhatsApp Channel, a subscriber will be added when someone sends a new message or your manually add a contact by selecting WhatsApp Web Automation Channel as default channel for them.

Subscribers Statistics

You can see day,week,month,yearly wise subscriber count as per your group condition as show below, you can also see the subscriber which are deleted by you during the period

Messaging Stats

Here you can see messaging stats to find how many incoming messages are coming to your number, how many messages are sent, delivered, read and failed as shown below;

Most Common Problems & Solutions

This is the list of most common problems and it's solutions, if the issue facing by you is not listed there then please feel free to contact us by sending an email to [e-mail]

Status Showing as Connected but Incoming or Outgoing Message not working

This is the issue start observing from Feb 2022 onwards after WhatsApp released a major update to support it's new feature "MultiDevice" please follow below troubleshooting method to fix the issue;

1. Update WhatsApp Mobile App to the Latest Version from Google Play Store

2. Go to Picky Assist Account Settings -> WhatsApp Web Automation -> Click on WhatsApp Icon -> Click on Restart App

3. Please wait for 2 minutes then refresh the Picky Assist page and try sending an incoming or outgoing message to check its working or not.

If the above step don't solve the issue then please an email to [e-mail] mentioning your project name in which you are facing the problem to troubleshoot further

Getting Error "Couldn't scan code. Make sure you're on web.whatsapp.com and scan again" after scanning the QR Code

This error could be because the QR code is expired, you can simply click on the Restart button to generate a new QR Code, please make sure you are scanning directly from the phone to the QR Code, taking a screenshot of the QR code and sharing won't work since the QR code keeps changing in every 10 seconds.

From February 2022 onwards we have observed that WhatsApp Web feature is not available to certain Phone Model & OS Versions mostly old devices and outdated phone software version, to check and confirm this please open web.whatsapp.com in a computer browser then try to link your phone by scanning the QR code, if this shows any error it means the WhatsApp Web feature is not available to the phone.

Even after restarting the App if the issue is not getting solved then please contact us [e-mail]

Showing Connection Status as "Timeout" Incoming and outgoing messages are not processing.

The timeout status means we are unable to communicate with your phone, make sure the phone is connected to the internet and the phone is switched on, if the phone is connected to the internet then please do any of the following actions

1. Restart the phone network sometimes solves the issues like Turn off the Wifi or Mobile data and on again or Switching to flight mode and turn back.

2. Disable all power saving modes in your phone as sometimes if the power saving mode is enabled phone restricts background usage of data and as a result the WhatsApp will work, so highly recommend disabling power saving mode in your phone

3. Close WhatsApp from the background and open it again

4. Restart the Phone

Incoming & Outgoing Messages are not processing

👉 The very first thing here is to check your phone internet connection and make sure the phone is turned on and connected to the internet, please send a WhatsApp message to your connected number and ensures it's showing in your phone.

👉 Please check the Connection Status from the Picky Assist Web Console -> Settings -> Channels -> WhatsApp Web Automation -> Settings

👉 If the connection status is other than "Connected" then please click on the "Restart App" please wait 5-10 seconds after Restart the refresh the Connection status by clicking the refresh icon. Even after the connection is not established then please click on the "Disconnect" and try to pair your WhatsApp again by scanning the QR Code.

👉 Always makes sure the WhatsApp Web is not paired in any other computer, in case you have paired then please go to WhatsApp & Click on WhatsApp Web then tap on "Log out from all devices" after that pair your number again with us. - Not Applicable if you are using Multi Device Feature

In most situations a Restart App will solve almost all connection related issues.

Taking a longer time to Connect WhatsApp Web, frequent disconnection & Incoming Message Missing

This issue could be because of the following issues

1. High Open Chats or too many WA Groups

2. Actively sending or receiving status updates

3. High messaging volumes

4. Sending / receiving large media files

More than 1000 Open Chats or too many WA Groups

WhatsApp saves all your incoming and outgoing messages in your mobile phone storage and when you connect the WhatsApp Web the open chat details and history will be synched from your Phone to the connected computer and further it saves in the computer / browser cache, so here if you have a lot of open chats and groups it may take longer time to complete the sync and sometimes your phone becomes unresponsive during this process, the syncing speed depends based on your phone configuration and internet upload speed. By keeping these things in mind we suggest the following maintenance for your phone and WhatsApp App to operate smoothly with Whatsapp Web.

Finding Open Chat Counts

Open the WhatsApp App then select a contact and then from the 3 dotted menu click on "Select All" and you able to see the total open chat count as shown below;

Deleting One by One

Open the WhatsApp App select one contact and delete it

Deleting Multiple Selected Chats

Open the WhatsApp App then long press on the contact and mark multiples to then tap on Delete as shown below

When using Select All if any groups are in the chat window then the delete option will not display, so manually find the groups and unselect those to get the delete button visible as shown above.

Delete All Chats

This is the recommended method , open the WhatsApp click tine 3 doted -> Settings -> Chats -> Chat History -> Delete All chats as shown below;

Please note Archive Chats will not help.

Actively sending or receiving status updates

If you have large number of contacts saved in your phone and you are actively putting status or your contacts are putting status then the WhatsApp Web Automation likely to become slow as the automation server need to process all these status update which requires very high load and a result you the automation server keep crashing which results in messaging missing during the crash period

Our system automatically restarts the automation server whenever the server is crashed and message missing are generally happens during this period

The best solution to address this issue is not to set status for your number and if you are not setting status still incoming status to your phone from the contacts also create similar load so delete all the contacts from your phone that helps the phone don't receive any status, still you can manage all your contacts in the Picky Assist platform

High messaging volumes

If you are sending and receiving high messaging volumes then the automation servers get overcrowded and as a result it may keep crashing and messages will continue to miss during these period.

Since WhatsApp Web Automation don't have any scalability option you need to consider our WhatsApp Official Solution that is highly reliable and scalable. Read More

Sending / receiving large media files

Media files requires huge process to download and upload especially when you are sending messages out with file size more than 100 KB and the process are more complex for video's so if you are sending and receiving large media files the automation server is likely to crash very frequently.

The best solution is to keep your media files under 100 KB, refer the media guidelines here Consider our WhatsApp Official Solution that is highly reliable and scalable. Read More

Experimental Scalability Option

We have an experimental feature of upgrading your existing WhatsApp Server configuration to a higher spec which may help to minimize the disconnection frequency and reconnect faster after disconnection, in order to do this option your phone should also be upgraded apart from the servers since the phone is primarily responsible for synching the messages and when the phone becomes unresponsive the WhatsApp Web get disconnects. Please note this is an experimental feature and we don't guarantee whether this approach works with your setup and this will cost you $49 extra per month.for each 10k open chats and when your open chat increases you need to upgrade again your phone and servers , you can consider 10k open chats costs you $49 per month (We provide free 7 days trial to check whether this upgrade works for you or not)