Before you connect WhatsApp

ReminderApp can send your appointment reminders from your practice's own WhatsApp number. Setting it up takes about ten minutes, but only if a few things are ready first. Read this page before you press Connect WhatsApp.

1. Decide which number reminders will come from

This is the most important decision, and the one most practices get wrong.

Once a number is connected to ReminderApp, it stops working in the WhatsApp app on your phone and on WhatsApp Web. Patient replies arrive in ReminderApp's inbox instead. Your staff can no longer chat from that number on a phone.

So you have two choices:

Use a separate number for reminders. A spare SIM or your practice landline both work. This is what we recommend. Patients still see your practice name, not the number.
Move your existing WhatsApp number. Only do this if you are happy to stop using WhatsApp on the phone for it. Before connecting, you must delete the WhatsApp account from that phone: open WhatsApp, go to Settings, Account, Delete my account. The connect flow will refuse the number until you do.

Whichever you pick, the number must be able to receive a text message or a phone call during setup. For a landline, choose the call option when asked. If the landline answers with a menu, the call has to reach a person who can read out the code.

The connect button opens a Meta window and asks you to log in to Facebook. It must be the personal Facebook account that manages your practice's Meta Business Portfolio. That is Meta's record of your practice as a company, and it is not the same as your Facebook Page.

Common mix-ups:

The receptionist's personal Facebook usually does not manage it.
Being an admin of the practice's Facebook Page is not enough.
The portfolio was often created years ago by the owner, a previous staff member, or a marketing agency, under their login.

To check: log in to Facebook, then open https://business.facebook.com/select. It lists every business portfolio that login manages. If your practice is listed, use that login. If the list is empty and you have never set one up, that is fine, the connect flow creates one for you. Just make sure the person clicking is someone the practice controls, not an outside agency.

3. Have your business details ready

If a portfolio needs to be created, Meta asks for:

Your legal practice name, exactly as registered, for example "Smith Family Practice (Pty) Ltd" or "Dr J Smith Inc".
Physical address, phone number and email.
Your website, or your Facebook Page if you have no website.

4. Choose your display name

This is the name patients see at the top of the chat. Meta reviews it and it must clearly match your registered practice name. "Smith Family Practice" for a company registered as Smith Family Practice (Pty) Ltd is fine. A nickname, a slogan, or a web address will be rejected.

5. Pick a six-digit PIN

At the end of setup ReminderApp asks you for a six-digit PIN. WhatsApp attaches it to your number as two-step verification. Choose one and write it down somewhere safe. If your number already had a two-step PIN, you will need that same one.

6. Have a bank card ready

Meta charges your practice directly for each reminder conversation, at Meta's published rates. ReminderApp does not add to this. After connecting, you add a card in WhatsApp Manager. Reminders stop once the free allowance runs out if no card is on file.

7. Use a computer

Do the setup on a laptop or desktop in Chrome or Edge, with popups allowed for reminderapp.io. It does not work well on a phone.

Ready? Go to Connecting WhatsApp step by step.