Connecting WhatsApp is the step that pays off the most: with it, the agent answers questions, books trial classes and sends fee reminders, and notices (fees, balances owed, cancelled classes, shop orders) go out automatically from the academy's number.
Where: menu → Agent → Connected channels (or from Getting started, Connect WhatsApp)
Which one to choose
We recommend Connect WhatsApp, which keeps the number only on the WhatsApp API. It works without a phone and has no 14-day limit. Sharing the number with the app makes sense if you need to keep replying from your phone.
- Connect WhatsApp (recommended): the number stays only in DojoTally. Your team replies from the Inbox and no app needs opening. That number stops working on WhatsApp apps.
- Connect the WhatsApp Business app I already use: the number stays in the phone app and in DojoTally, and your chats are kept. Whatever you reply from your phone shows up in DojoTally, and the agent's replies show up on your phone. In exchange, the app has to be opened at least every 14 days.
Connect WhatsApp (recommended)
The number can't be registered on any WhatsApp app. It can be a new number or one you already used: in that case, first follow Move a number from the app to API only.
- Have the line at hand: Meta sends a verification code by SMS or voice call to that same number. A landline works with the call.
- Tap Connect WhatsApp. A Meta window opens (if your browser blocks it, allow pop-ups for dojotally.com).
- Log in with the Facebook account that manages the business and choose the academy's business portfolio, not your personal one.
- Choose or create the WhatsApp Business account, enter the number and type the code you received.
- When you finish, the window closes by itself and the number appears under Connected channels.
Connect the WhatsApp Business app I already use
- Update the WhatsApp Business app on your phone. If the number is on regular WhatsApp, move it to WhatsApp Business first.
- Tap Connect the WhatsApp Business app I already use and follow the steps in the Meta window.
- When the QR code appears, scan it from WhatsApp Business on your phone.
- When you finish, the number appears under Connected channels.
The 14-day limit
With a shared number, Meta cuts the connection if WhatsApp Business goes 14 days without being opened on the primary phone. If that happens, the agent stops replying on WhatsApp and notices wait until you reconnect it.
- Just opening it is enough. You don't need to write anything, but it's best to open it every week rather than wait until the last day.
- Don't uninstall it: that also cuts the connection.
- DojoTally warns you first: at 10 days by email and in the dashboard, and at 12 days by WhatsApp to the owner and admins with a verified number in Team.
- It's an estimate. Meta doesn't report when the app was opened: DojoTally counts from the last message sent from the phone. So you may get the warning even if you did open it.
With Connect WhatsApp, this limit doesn't exist.
Move a number from the app to API only
- If it was connected to DojoTally, disconnect it from Connected channels.
- Turn off two-step verification in WhatsApp, if it's on.
- In the phone app, go to Settings → Account → Delete my account. The number may take a few minutes to become available.
- Tap Connect WhatsApp and follow the steps above.
Once it's connected
- Meta templates. A notice that goes out more than 24 hours after the student's last message needs a template approved by Meta. DojoTally creates them automatically when you connect, using your notice texts, and checks them every day: you don't need to go into WhatsApp. See Notices and texts.
- The agent starts however you leave it. You turn it on or off in Agent, for the whole academy or per channel. See The agent.
- All conversations come into the Inbox.