Keep your WhatsApp Business app and add Boss: what to know
Your phone keeps working as before. Boss and the AI answer from the same number. It takes about 10 minutes.
Comes into Boss
- One-to-one chats from the last 6 months (the text)
- The names you saved in your phone contacts
- Every new message from now on, on the phone and in Boss together, the AI's replies too
Stays on the phone only
- WhatsApp labels. Boss has its own customer tags: paste the numbers of one label into Customers, then Tag many customers at once.
- Group chats
- Photos and files from older chats
- Catalogue, quick replies, greeting and away messages
Changes on the phone
- Broadcast lists can only be read. Send blasts from Boss instead.
- Disappearing messages, view once and live location turn off in one-to-one chats.
- WhatsApp Web on your computer logs out once. Open WhatsApp on the phone, go to Linked devices and scan the QR code again.
Remember
- The phone needs the WhatsApp Business app (on personal WhatsApp, move to Business first; your chats stay).
- Do not log out or delete the app, and open it at least once every 14 days, so the link stays on. The phone can be off: the AI keeps answering.
Cost
- Replies you type in the WhatsApp Business app on the phone: free, the same as now.
- Replies sent from Boss (by you, your staff or the AI) within 24 hours of the customer's message: each number gets 1,000 free a month from Meta, then about RM0.06 each.
- Add a payment card in your Meta account, so replies after the free 1,000 still go out.
Changed your mind?
- Disconnect in Boss. The phone keeps every chat and works as before.
How to connect
- Before you start: update the WhatsApp Business app on your phone to the newest version, back up your chats once (Settings, Chats, Chat backup), and fill in your SSM number in Boss (Admin, then Company profile).
- Add the numbers the AI should not answer, such as family, friends and suppliers: Auto reply settings, then Numbers the AI does not answer.
- In Boss go to Customers & sales, then Inbox, then Auto reply settings, then WhatsApp, and choose Connect my WhatsApp Business app number.
- In Meta's window sign in to Facebook, pick your business and the number. Your phone shows a message from WhatsApp: agree, and choose to share your chat history.
- Keep the WhatsApp Business app open on the phone until the old chats show in Boss. This is usually a few minutes, sometimes a few hours.
- Done. The AI answers in Boss, and you can still reply from the phone.
Questions bosses ask
Will the AI answer my family and friends?
Not if you add their numbers first, under Numbers the AI does not answer. Their messages still show on the phone and in Boss, the AI stays quiet, and they get no blasts or follow-ups. For anyone you missed, press Pause AI in this chat in that chat.
I use normal (personal) WhatsApp, not WhatsApp Business. Can I connect?
First move to the free WhatsApp Business app on the same phone. WhatsApp lets you move your number and keep your chats. Then connect it to Boss.
Can I see on the phone what the AI says to customers?
Yes. The AI's replies show in the WhatsApp Business app on your phone too, so you can follow any chat from the phone.
Does my phone have to stay on? Can I log out of WhatsApp?
The phone can be off or without internet: the AI keeps answering. Do not log out, delete the app or move the number to another phone without telling us, because that ends the link. Open the app at least once every 14 days.
So the phone app and Boss work together on one number?
Yes. It is the same number in both places. Every message shows on the phone and in Boss, and you can reply from either one.
If I reply on the phone, does Boss see it? Will the AI reply too?
Boss shows your reply in the same chat. The AI then stays quiet with that customer for 12 hours, so you never talk over each other, and it reads your reply the next time it answers.
If I can still reply on the phone, why use Boss?
On the phone you type every reply yourself. With Boss the AI answers at once, day and night, your staff share the number, and you get blasts, follow-ups, quotations with a pay button and one customer list. Many bosses still answer their special customers on the phone and let the AI take the rest.
Will the phone app's greeting and away messages still go out?
After connecting, Boss sends the automatic replies and the app's greeting and away messages stop, so a customer never gets two.
Why can one number be in both places? Is it safe?
It is Meta's own way of connecting the WhatsApp Business app to a system, made for small businesses that want to keep their app. It is official, so the number is not at risk.
How do I back up my labels, group chats and old photos?
Nothing is deleted. They all stay on your phone and keep working. To be extra safe, back up first in WhatsApp: Settings, Chats, Chat backup, to Google Drive or iCloud, with videos. WhatsApp cannot export labels, so take screenshots of your label lists or tag those customers in Boss.
Open this in Boss Next guide: Connect Facebook, Instagram, Telegram and the website chat