Linking your number, what sends automatically, groups, pausing and troubleshooting.
Read the walkthrough script for this guide
- Settings, WhatsApp. This screen is the heart of the automation — everything the platform sends goes through the number you link here.
- Press Link and a QR code appears. On your restaurant phone: WhatsApp, Settings, Linked devices, Link a device — scan. Done: the status flips to connected.
- Two groups to set: your managers' group gets every order ticket, your riders' group gets every dispatch. Create the groups in WhatsApp first, then pick them here.
- From now on: confirmation to the customer, ticket to managers, dispatch to riders — automatically, from YOUR number, so customers recognise who is writing.
- The Message centre shows every message the platform sent or tried to send, with plain-English reasons when something didn't go through.
- If you ever need silence — say the group changed or a phone was lost — the platform can pause sending; paused messages queue and are released when you're ready, never lost.
Step by step
How to link WhatsApp for the first time
Everything the platform sends goes through the number you link here. Do this on the phone that lives in the restaurant.
- Open Settings → WhatsApp. If you have never connected before, press 'Create WhatsApp instance'.
- A QR code appears under the Connection heading and refreshes itself every few seconds — leave the page open.
- On the restaurant phone: WhatsApp → Settings → Linked devices → Link a device, and scan the code on screen.
- Wait for the badge beside Connection to flip to 'Connected' — the page then says order notifications send from this number.
- If the QR never loads, open 'Not scanning? Reset or relink the connection' and press '↻ Refresh status' first; 'Create a new connection' only if the status stays stuck.
- Place one small test order on your own storefront and check Message history for a row marked sent.
How to set your managers and riders groups
Two WhatsApp groups decide where every order ticket lands. They appear here once the connection is live, and every change is written to your change log.
- In WhatsApp on the linked phone, create the two groups first — one for the kitchen or counter, one for riders — and add only staff.
- Go to Settings → WhatsApp and confirm the badge says 'Connected' (the pickers are hidden until then).
- Under 'Order notification groups', choose your kitchen group in 'Managers group'.
- Choose your delivery crew in 'Riders group' — leave '— none —' if you do not deliver; table orders never dispatch a rider either way.
- Press 'Save groups'.
- Take a test order and check the ticket arrived in both groups; if a group send fails later, re-pick it here — a deleted group is the usual cause.
How to work out why a customer says they got nothing
Every attempt is recorded, so 'did they actually get told?' always has an answer. Start at the history, not at the customer.
- Open Settings → WhatsApp → Message history (also a tab on the Orders board).
- Set Status to 'failed' and press Filter to see only the attempts that did not go out.
- Read the red line under the row — plain English, e.g. 'That phone number isn't on WhatsApp' or 'WhatsApp isn't connected — the link has expired'.
- Press 'Show message' to read the exact text that was meant to go out, so you can phone or resend it yourself.
- If the reason mentions the connection, re-scan the QR under Settings → WhatsApp; if it mentions the group, re-pick it under 'Order notification groups'.
- If the row says 'paused' instead of 'failed', nothing is broken — see the held-messages guide.
How to deal with messages held during a pause
When platform-wide sending is paused, messages are recorded instead of sent. They never release themselves — someone has to decide, which is the point.
- Set your preference first: Settings → WhatsApp → 'Messages held during a pause' → choose Ask me each time, Recommend sending them or Recommend discarding them, then Save.
- When messages are waiting, an amber bar appears on the Orders board and the WhatsApp messages page with the count and the oldest one's age.
- Press 'View these messages' to read them before deciding — the filter opens on Status = paused.
- Press 'Send these now' to release them; they go out one every 2 seconds once messaging is running again.
- Or press 'Discard' if they are stale — they stay visible in the history marked discarded, so there is still a record.
- Clicking twice is safe: the second click finds nothing and tells you someone may have handled them already.
Common questions
How do I connect WhatsApp?
Settings → WhatsApp → Link: a QR code appears; scan it from the WhatsApp app on your restaurant phone (Settings → Linked devices → Link a device). Messages then send from your own number — customers see YOUR name, not a stranger's.
Why does sending from my own number matter?
Customers recognise and trust the sender, replies come to you, and your restaurant's messaging reputation is your own. Even marketing messages use your number — the platform only queues and paces them.
What sends automatically?
Per order: the customer's confirmation, the managers' group ticket and the riders' dispatch — then status updates on confirm, out-for-delivery (with rider name) and delivered, and a cancellation message with your reason. Later: the review request and the re-order nudge. Marketing (campaigns, win-backs, promos) only ever goes out through your marketing settings and caps.
What are the manager and rider group IDs?
Two WhatsApp groups you create — one for the kitchen/counter, one for riders. Pick them under Settings → WhatsApp; every change to them is recorded in the audit log (they decide where customer data flows, so changes are never silent).
The QR code expired or the screen says 'relogin required' — what now?
Just link again — press the link button and scan the fresh QR. This happens when WhatsApp drops the session (phone off for long, app reinstalled). The page tells you the state in plain words and offers re-linking or re-provisioning when an instance is genuinely dead.
Can messages be paused, and by whom?
Two different pauses exist. YOURS: 'Pause all marketing' on the Marketing review screen stops your whole marketing lane — campaigns, win-backs, nudges, on WhatsApp and wallet cards alike — immediately, including messages already approved; everything waits as pending and resumes when you switch back on. Order confirmations, delivery updates and rider messages are a separate pipeline your pause never touches. THE PLATFORM'S: the operator can pause all outbound sending (and the system pauses itself if failures spike) — during that kind of pause you control what happens to held messages under Settings → WhatsApp: Ask me each time, Recommend sending, or Recommend discarding. In every case messages are recorded, never silently dropped.
What is the Message centre?
A full history of every message: recipient (groups shown by name), kind, status, time, and — for failures — a plain-English reason. It is the first place to look when someone says 'I didn't get it'.
What does 'this number is not on WhatsApp' mean?
Exactly that — the customer's number cannot receive WhatsApp. UAE landlines are already rejected at checkout for this reason; a foreign number without WhatsApp passes checkout but the send then fails, and the Message centre shows it so you can phone them instead.
Are messages sent in bursts?
No — sends are paced with a small gap between them, deliberately. Machine-gun bursts are what get numbers flagged by WhatsApp; pacing is part of protecting YOUR number.
Is there protection against a broken send-storm?
Yes. A usage guard watches failure rates and pauses sending automatically if most messages start failing (a classic sign of a dead number list or a dropped link) — you get alerted rather than burning your number's reputation while nobody's looking.
Do marketing messages have extra rules?
Several: a weekly per-customer cap you control, a review queue that HOLDS a customer matched by multiple campaigns at once for your approval, sending windows (10:00–21:00 local) enforced at the moment of sending, and automatic exclusion of numbers that recently failed. Customers with your loyalty card in their phone wallet get free wallet notifications first, WhatsApp second.
Can I message a customer manually from the platform?
The platform automates order and marketing flows; for one-off conversations just reply from your own WhatsApp — the customer's messages arrive on your linked number like any chat.
What is the platform sender?
A separate platform-owned number used ONLY for platform business — for example your own trial/welcome notifications. It is never used for your customers' order messages; those always come from your number.
My WhatsApp shows 'connected' but nothing sends — first checks?
Open the Message centre and read the newest rows — the failure reason is written there in plain words. Then check the pause switch isn't on, and that the group IDs still point at real groups (a deleted group fails sends to it). Re-scan the QR if the state says relogin.
Does linking here log me out of WhatsApp elsewhere?
No — it uses WhatsApp's normal 'linked devices' mechanism, alongside your phone. Your existing chats and other linked devices continue as before.
What happens to messages when my subscription or trial pauses my page?
A paused restaurant stops taking orders, so order messages naturally stop; nothing is sent on a suspended page. Loyalty cards already in customers' wallets keep their stamps — nothing a customer earned is lost.
Can the delivery ticket leak my customer's details?
Tickets go only to the two groups YOU configured, and the rider's mark-delivered link is single-purpose: it can close its one order and nothing else. Group membership is yours to control — treat the groups as staff-only spaces.
Why did a message send at 10am that I queued at night?
Marketing respects the 10:00–21:00 local window at the moment of SENDING — a message queued at midnight waits for morning by design. Order messages (confirmations, dispatch) are not marketing and send immediately at any hour.
What is 'WhatsApp down' on my dashboard?
The platform periodically verifies your link is alive; 'down' means the last check failed — usually a dropped session. Re-scan the QR from Settings → WhatsApp; the state refreshes on the next check or when you press refresh.
What is the "Orders hand-off number" and how is it different from the linked number?
Under Settings → WhatsApp → Orders hand-off number you set the number that receives the customer's own order summary when they tap the WhatsApp button right after checkout. The linked instance is what the system sends FROM; this is where a customer's message lands. Leave it blank and it uses your storefront's public phone number — it must be a WhatsApp mobile, because a landline cannot receive the hand-off.
What is the Tracked links page?
Settings → WhatsApp → Tracked links shows every short link the system sent on your behalf — review requests, the map pin on manager and rider tickets, referral links and group-order links — with Links sent, Clicked and Click-through at the top. Because a link is minted per order, the table names the order and the customer who tapped it. It is the honest answer to "did anyone actually open the review request?"
Held messages don't send by themselves — so what do I do?
An amber bar appears on the Orders board and on WhatsApp messages saying how many were held and how old the oldest is. 'Send these now' queues them and they go out one every 2 seconds; 'Discard' marks them discarded but leaves them visible in the history so you can still read what would have gone. Your standing choice only highlights a button — nothing sends or is dropped until someone clicks.
What do the five statuses in the Message centre mean?
sent (WhatsApp accepted it), failed (with a plain-English reason under the row), paused (held while sending was off, not sent), queued (you released a held message and it is waiting its turn) and discarded (you refused it). Filter by Status or Type at the top, 50 messages per page, newest first, in your restaurant's timezone.
The Message centre says "The WhatsApp group is missing or invalid" — what happened?
The group that ticket was addressed to no longer resolves — usually it was deleted, or the linked phone was removed from it. Re-pick it under Settings → WhatsApp → Order notification groups and save. The same wording appears when a group message times out, which is what a wrong group id looks like from our side.
Why did my managers' group get a 🚨 DELIVERED ORDER CANCELLED message?
Because someone cancelled an order that had already been delivered. The alert names the invoice, the amount, who cancelled it and why, so an after-delivery cancellation can never happen quietly. It also reminds you that stock was restored and any coupon or reward went back to the customer — if cash was already collected, the refund is yours to arrange.
Does the customer get a link to follow their order?
Yes — every order confirmation carries "📦 Track your order" pointing at that order's own status page, plus a link back to your menu. Treat it like a receipt: it is that one order's page, so a customer who forwards it is showing someone their own order.
