Safe sending
How to send to many people without getting your WhatsApp number restricted, and the safety settings WAFlow gives you.
WhatsApp can restrict numbers that send many similar messages quickly. WAFlow cannot promise that a restriction will never happen, because WhatsApp decides. What it can do is make careful sending easy, and put limits in place so a mistake does not run away with you.
A new or lightly used number should start with small lists, sent slowly. Build up over days. Test each new message on your own number first.
The safety features in WAFlow#
| Feature | What it does | Where |
|---|---|---|
| A wait between people | A random pause between a minimum and a maximum number of seconds. Default 5 to 12. | Send Message, broadcasts |
| A longer break | Pause for a set time after every few contacts. | Same |
| Random message from a list | Each person gets one of several versions, so messages are not identical. | Same |
| Most automatic messages per hour | A safety net: when the limit is reached, sending pauses. Zero turns the limit off. | Module settings |
| Typing indicator | Shows "typing…" before replies, so automatic replies feel natural. | Module settings |
| Pause all automations | One switch stops chatbots, message bots, the AI assistant, broadcasts and schedules. Your own messages still go out. | Settings menu |
| No duplicates | A person in two lists still gets one message. | Send Message, broadcasts |
| Reports | A CSV of every result, so you can see who did not receive it. | Progress window |
Good habits#
- Keep delays natural. Five seconds or more between people, and use a longer break on big lists.
- Personalise. Use
{{firstname}}and your own fields. Vary the wording with the random-message option. - Send to people who expect to hear from you. Customers, people who asked, people who opted in.
- Give people a way out. In a chatbot, set opt-out words that stop the bot. Honour requests to stop.
- Check your numbers first. The number validator tells you which numbers are on WhatsApp, before you message them.
- Test first. Send to yourself before a big list.
- Watch the progress. If many messages fail, pause and find out why before you continue.
- Keep WhatsApp Web open while a send runs, so it is not interrupted and resumed unevenly.
Why WhatsApp Web must stay open#
WAFlow runs inside your browser, next to WhatsApp Web. Schedules, broadcasts, bots and reminders only run while WhatsApp Web is open in Chrome. If a scheduled item's time passes while it is closed, it runs when WhatsApp Web opens again, only if you ticked Send automatically even if the scheduled time has passed.
Where the limits show up#
- If you set an hourly limit in Module settings, the broadcast preview shows a banner that explains it.
- Settings → Module settings → Diagnostics shows how many automatic messages went out in the last hour.
- Recent activity lists what your automations did.