The WhatsApp Inbox

The Communication page (sidebar → Management → Communication, then the Inbox tab) is a two-pane chat for the WhatsApp messages your company receives. Anyone with the Manage Settings permission can open it.

Make sure the integration is set up first — see Setting up the WhatsApp integration.

Layout

Pane	What it shows
Left	Conversation list — one row per employee or unknown number, most recent activity at the top, with unread indicators and "needs review" badges.
Right	The selected conversation, oldest message at the top, with a reply box at the bottom.

The conversation list covers your most recent 500 messages. Messages are grouped by employee when the sender's number matches an employee's cell number, and by phone number when it doesn't. While the page is open and visible, it checks for new messages every 10 seconds, so they appear without a manual refresh.

Sending a reply

1. Click a conversation in the left pane.
2. Type in the reply box at the bottom.
3. Click Send.

The message goes out from your own WhatsApp number, or from Timed's shared number if you haven't connected your own. Under each message you send, its delivery status (sent, delivered, read) updates as WhatsApp reports back.

Free-form replies are only allowed within 24 hours of the person's last message (Meta's "customer service window"). Once that window has closed, the reply box is disabled and you'll need to send a template instead — see Sending WhatsApp broadcasts.

Unknown senders (conversations grouped by phone number) work the same way — your reply goes to that number. Once the person is added as an employee with a matching cell number, their new messages appear in their employee conversation instead.

Read receipts

Opening a conversation marks its unread messages as read on WhatsApp, so the sender sees the blue ticks — just as if you'd opened the chat in the WhatsApp app.

The small unread dot next to Communication in the sidebar shows while your company has unread WhatsApp messages, and clears once you've opened them. It only reflects your current company's messages.

Finding messages that need review

Some incoming messages are flagged for a person to review — usually by the WhatsApp AI Copilot when:

• The sender isn't a manager, so the Copilot replies "I have flagged your message for a manager to review".
• The AI couldn't answer confidently and wants a person to follow up.

Click Show human review only above the conversation list to show only those conversations (click it again to show everything). Open a conversation and read the latest message. When you've dealt with it, click Mark reviewed on the message to clear the flag.

Search

The search box above the conversation list matches any part of:

• An employee's first name, last name, or cell number
• The phone number a message was sent from or to
• The message text

It's a quick way to find a specific person or conversation.

Messages you've sent

Every message Timed sends — replies, broadcasts, template messages, and AI Copilot answers — is kept alongside the messages you receive, so each conversation shows the full back-and-forth in order, including automated replies. AI-written messages are marked AI.

If a message fails to send (for example, invalid template variables or expired credentials), it still appears in the conversation, marked Failed. Search for the recipient to see the failed attempt.

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Likely cause
Inbox is empty even though you've received messages on WhatsApp	The webhook isn't configured in Meta yet, or it's pointing at a different URL. See WhatsApp integration.
Replies aren't being delivered	Your WhatsApp credentials are wrong, or the 24-hour window has closed (Meta only allows free-form replies within 24 hours of the person's last message). Use a template for older conversations.
New messages don't appear without a refresh	Checking for new messages only happens while the browser tab is visible. Switch back to the tab to resume.
Can't open the Communication page	You need the Manage Settings permission. Ask whoever set up your account.
Conversation shows a phone number instead of the employee's name	The sender's number doesn't exactly match any employee's cell number. Update the employee record so their next message is matched.

If something still looks broken, contact Timed support with the phone number involved and roughly when the message was sent.