Rida replied to a chat the salon started
Your own WhatsApp number in RaabtaHQ (unofficial)
Scan a QR code and the number your customers already have saved brings its chats into your team inbox. Because this link is unofficial, you can message people first and send free-text broadcasts, and RaabtaHQ paces every send to protect the number.
- QR code or pairing code
- No Meta approval or templates
- Sending limits you control
Unofficial means this link does not use Meta's WhatsApp Business API, and WhatsApp can restrict a number. Read what that means for you below.
One request, start to finish
The salon links the number its customers know, and reaches people first
- 1
Link it by QR code Or by a pairing code. Give the number a label and pick which assistant answers it.
- 2
Message a customer first Any time of day, with no 24-hour window to watch.
- 3
Limits you choose A preset for each broadcast, set to protect the number.
- 4
Health you can see A score out of 100, and an automatic pause if things go wrong.
01: LINK
The number on your shop sign, in your team inbox
Many businesses here have one WhatsApp number that customers have saved for years. It is printed on the shop sign and the visiting cards, and it sits on one phone at the front desk. Linking it to RaabtaHQ puts its chats in the inbox your whole team works from, without changing the number.
You link it the way you link WhatsApp Web: scan a QR code with the phone, or type a pairing code. It works with normal WhatsApp and with the WhatsApp Business app. You can link more than one number. Each shows its status live, from Connecting to Connected, and numbers reconnect by themselves after a restart without a new scan.
A name and an assistant for each number
Give each number a label your team recognises, switch its AI on or off, and choose which assistant answers it. One number can have a different assistant from the rest of the channel.
No number left uncovered
The AI overview shows which numbers use the default assistant, which have their own, which are set to people only, and which nobody covers, marked in amber.
Ad leads are still tracked
When someone taps a click-to-WhatsApp ad and writes to this number, the ad is captured, because the ad details travel inside WhatsApp itself.
What unofficial means for your business
It does not use Meta's official WhatsApp Business API
There is no Meta approval and there are no templates. That is why it can do things the official API cannot, such as messaging a customer first.
WhatsApp can restrict a number
The status list includes Banned, because it can happen. The sending limits on this page lower the chance. They cannot rule it out.
Old chats stay on the phone
History from before you linked is not brought in. When an old customer writes again, the last 20 or so messages of that chat come in, marked Earlier on WhatsApp.
You can use both kinds
Your official WhatsApp number and your linked numbers work side by side in the same inbox.
02: MESSAGE FIRST
Start the conversation yourself, at any hour
On the official WhatsApp API, Instagram and Messenger, a business can only answer. On a linked number you can write first. Press New chat in the inbox, find the contact by name or phone, pick which linked number to send from, and you land in their thread with the normal composer. When they reply, it comes into the same thread.
There is no 24-hour window on this channel, so the countdown chip is hidden and you can reply whenever suits you. New chat opens one conversation at a time. For a whole list, you use a free-text broadcast with sending limits, further down this page.
Replies from the phone show up too
Anything typed on the phone or on WhatsApp Web appears in the thread marked Sent from phone, with its ticks, and the chat passes from the assistant to your team. Reading a chat on the phone clears its unread badge in RaabtaHQ.
Customers see a person at work
They see typing while an agent types or the AI writes, and recording before a voice note. Blue ticks go when someone on your team actually opens the chat, not the moment the message arrives.
Voice notes, written out
When an admin switches it on, voice notes are written down word for word, including ones recorded on the linked phone. The assistant can answer with a voice note here, and your team can use Send as voice.
A clear warning if the phone drops off
If no number on the chat is connected, the composer says so and holds sending. Typing and AI drafts still work, so the reply is ready when it reconnects.
03: SHARED OR PRIVATE
Shared numbers for the team, private ones for you
A shared number belongs to the business, and its chats appear in the team inbox. A private number belongs to one team member, such as a salesperson's own line. Its chats appear only in that person's My inbox and to the account's admins.
The two never mix
Private chats never appear in the shared inbox, and shared chats never appear in My inbox. A member with several private numbers sees them in one stream, with a chip to filter each number.
Private leads stay private
A shared number cannot open a chat with a private contact, so one person's lead is not shown to the whole team.
Your figures stay fair
The dashboard and the business summary leave private chats and contacts out, so everyone sees the same numbers.
Decide carefully
Only the member can make their number private, and it cannot be turned back into a shared number. Private numbers are switched on for your account by the RaabtaHQ team; on the study abroad edition they are on from the start.
04: BROADCAST WITH CARE
Broadcasts at a pace your number can take
Free-text broadcasts need no template approval. Pick a linked number, build the message, choose the audience (all contacts, a tag or a saved list) and send. A message can have several parts: text, photos, videos, voice notes and documents, sent one after another in the order you set. A voice note recorded in the browser arrives as a real WhatsApp voice note, and photos arrive as photos, not links. {{name}} and {{phone}} are filled in for each person.
Every broadcast has a Sending limits panel, because a number that sends too much too fast is the number WhatsApp restricts. Choose Safe for a new number or one that has had a warning, Balanced for everyday use, or Fast when you accept more risk. The panel says plainly that Fast carries a noticeably higher risk of restriction. Custom lets you set each rule yourself.
New people get a smaller share
People who have never messaged the number get their own, lower limit: by default 35% of the day's sends, and never fewer than 10.
A number starts slowly
A newly linked number sends a little at first and builds up as it actually sends, rather than by days on the calendar.
Your hours, not 3am
Sending follows the number's own hours, then your business hours, then 09:00 to 21:00 if nothing is set.
A hello before an offer
For people who have never written to you, Greeting first can send a short text greeting, in Roman Urdu or English by default. Only those who reply get the real message.
The tightest cap wins
A daily cap set on the number always beats a campaign's setting. One campaign reaching its limit does not stop others on the same number, and a change to a running campaign applies from the next message.
Numbers without WhatsApp are skipped
Each number is checked first, so sends are not wasted.
The result is in each thread
Each broadcast is recorded in the contact's own thread, labelled with the campaign, so the assistant reads a reply such as "yes, interested" as an answer to it. It never jumps a chat to the top of the inbox. A person counts as sent only when every part reached them.
Paced to protect the number
05: NUMBER HEALTH
A health score, and a pause when it matters
Each linked number has a health chip and a score from 0 to 100. Behind it are the last week's delivery, reply, failure and refusal rates, today's sends against the cap with new people shown separately, and how far the number has warmed up.
If delivery collapses, or WhatsApp refuses three sends, the number pauses itself and its waiting recipients move to the campaign's other numbers. A paused number shows the reason word for word. Only admins can pause or resume by hand, and resuming warns first: starting again before the cause is fixed can turn a temporary restriction into a permanent ban.
06: STOP MEANS STOP
One word takes a person off your list
When a customer replies STOP, band karo or mat bhejo, in English, Roman Urdu or Urdu script, they are opted out on the spot. Anything queued for them is cancelled and the assistant stops replying to them.
The opt-out is kept against the phone number, so it survives the contact being deleted and imported again. Every broadcast leaves them out, checked again at the moment of sending. Any agent can opt someone out. Only an admin can opt them back in.
The honest part
What it won't do
Make your number official
It stays an unofficial link. For templates and Meta's approval, connect a number to the official WhatsApp API instead.
Promise your number is safe
Limits lower the chance of a restriction. WhatsApp decides, and a number can still be restricted or banned.
Bring in your old chats
Only messages from after linking come in, plus the last 20 or so of a chat when it restarts.
Message a whole list from New chat
New chat starts one conversation at a time. Lists go through a broadcast with sending limits.
Open a private contact from a shared number
A private lead stays with its owner.
Join a customer's Instagram and WhatsApp
Someone who writes on both is two contacts. Meta gives no shared identifier to match them on.
Works with
This page
Your own WhatsApp number
Unofficial
- Your own WhatsApp number · Unofficial
- Shared inbox and My inboxshared chats for the team, private ones for you
- AI assistantits own assistant per number, voice replies
- Saved listsaudiences for free-text broadcasts
- Ad trackingclick-to-WhatsApp ads captured here too
- Opt-outsSTOP works on every number
- Business summarysent from your own number
Questions about your own number
Asked before anyone links a number
What does unofficial mean for my business?
The link does not go through Meta's official WhatsApp Business API. You need no approval and no templates, and you can message customers first. In return, WhatsApp can restrict a number, so RaabtaHQ paces sending with limits you control and pauses a number when its health drops.
Should I use this or the official WhatsApp API?
Many businesses use both. The official API connects in one click, uses approved templates for broadcasts, and only lets you reply within Meta's rules. A linked number lets you write first and broadcast in free text, with the restriction risk explained above. Both arrive in the same inbox.
Can my number get banned?
It can. The limits make it less likely, and Fast is clearly marked as higher risk. If delivery collapses or WhatsApp refuses three sends, the number pauses itself. Fix the cause before resuming, because resuming too early can make a temporary restriction permanent.
What happens when I reply from my phone?
The reply appears in the RaabtaHQ thread marked Sent from phone, and the assistant stands back on that chat. Reading a chat on the phone clears its unread badge in RaabtaHQ.
Will my old WhatsApp chats come in?
Only from the moment you link. When an earlier customer writes again, the last 20 or so messages of that chat are pulled in, marked Earlier on WhatsApp, so your team and the assistant have context.
Can the AI assistant answer on this number?
Yes. Each number can have its own assistant or use the channel default, and it can reply with a voice note. You can also set a number to people only.
Book a demo
See a linked number at work
A 30-minute call. We show a linked number in the inbox, a chat started first, a broadcast with its sending limits and the number's health, and talk through whether unofficial suits your business.
- Linking by QR code
- The Sending limits panel
- Shared and private numbers
We reply in under an hour.