Reminders: recurring WhatsApp messages on a schedule

Reminders send the same WhatsApp message to a number or a group again and again on a schedule, such as every weekday at 9:00 AM or on the 1st of every month. Use them for rent and payment reminders, team check-ins or a regular newsletter. A reminder keeps sending until you pause or delete it.

Each reminder goes to one number or one group. To remind many people, import a sheet with one row per person, or send to a group.

Who can do it: Owners and Editors create, change, pause and delete reminders. Analysts can see the list, but its buttons are grey. Reminders are part of the Lite, Standard, Advanced and Enterprise plans: see Plans and billing. Each message a reminder sends uses one message from your plan (waiting and sent ones count; failed and cancelled ones don't).

Open Reminders under Send in the sidebar, or go to /reminders/.

Before you start#

• A WhatsApp number showing Connected on WhatsApp numbers. See Connect your WhatsApp number.
• Messages left on your plan: without them, runs are skipped.
• To remind a group, a number that is a member of the group and allowed to send in it.

Create a reminder#

1. Open the dialog

   On Reminders, click New reminder.

   

2. Name it

   Type a Name you'll recognise in the list, such as Rent due. Recipients only see it if the message contains {reminder_name}.

3. Choose who gets it

   Under Send to, type a number, such as +91 98765 43210, or the exact name of a WhatsApp group. Under Send from, keep Any connected number or choose one of your numbers. The line under Send to shows where it goes, such as "Will send to +91 98765 43210 (India)". See Recipient and sending number.

4. Write the message

   Keep Message type on Text, or choose Image or File and add its link (see Images and files). Type the Message (up to 3,000 characters; the caption for an image or file). For dates and names that fill themselves in, see Fill in dates and names.

5. Set the schedule

   Under Repeat, choose a preset such as Weekdays at 9:00 AM, or Custom (cron) for any other schedule. Under Time zone, choose the clock the schedule follows. See Schedules and time zones.

6. Check and create

   The green line under the fields repeats the schedule in words, with its time zone and the next three times it will send: check them. Click Create reminder. You see "Reminder created", and the reminder is listed as Active.

For when the first message goes out, see When reminders send.

Recipient and sending number#

• Numbers: +, spaces, brackets, dots and dashes are removed, and a leading 00 counts as +. +91 98765-43210 is saved as 919876543210. 7 to 15 digits must remain.
• Numbers without a country code, such as 98765 43210 or 09876543210, get the country code of the Send from number. With Any connected number, they get the workspace's Country for numbers without a country code in Settings → Workspace (not the country of the number that then sends it), or, while none is saved, the country of most of your WhatsApp numbers. The reminder is saved with the full number.
• Will send to: the line under Send to shows the number as it will be sent, with its country, or "Will send to the WhatsApp group “…”" for a group.
• Groups: anything that isn't a number is a group name. Type it exactly as WhatsApp shows it: a partial name, or a contact with the same name, fails with "Group not found".
• Any connected number sends from the workspace's first connected number (the one added first). For a group, choose the number that's in the group instead.
• A number you choose must be connected when you save. If it disconnects later, the reminder's messages wait until you reconnect it, and Edit shows it as "… – disconnected".

Images and files#

• Choose Image or File under Message type, then paste a public link into Image link or File link (up to 1,000 characters), or choose one of your 24 newest images (or files, for File) under Pick from the Media directory. For an older one, copy its link in the Media directory.
• The link must open the file without a login. Wbiztool downloads it every time the reminder sends, so keep it there while the reminder runs. The Media directory won't delete a file that an active reminder uses.
• A file from your Media directory arrives with the name it was uploaded with, any other with the last part of the link. For the .pdf that's added to unusual names and for size limits, see Images and files.

Schedules and time zones#

Repeat has five presets:

Custom schedules#

For any other day or time, choose Custom (cron) under Repeat and type a cron expression in the Cron expression field that appears. It has five parts, separated by spaces:

minute (0–59) · hour (0–23) · day of the month (1–31) · month (1–12) · weekday (0–7: 0 and 7 are Sunday, 1 is Monday)

* means every value, 1-5 a range, 1,15 a list and */15 every 15th. Cron help opens crontab.guru with your expression.

• If an expression sets both a day of the month and a weekday, the reminder sends on either: 0 9 1 * 1 sends every Monday and on the 1st. The line under the fields and the list say so: "At 9:00 AM, on day 1 of the month or on Monday".
• An invalid schedule turns the line under the fields red, for example "Not a valid schedule: It needs 5 parts: minute hour day month weekday.", and Create reminder stays grey.
• When the minute part is * or */1 to */9, the line warns "Runs at least every few minutes – each run sends a message and uses a credit." * 9 * * * sends 60 messages every morning.

Time zones#

The schedule follows the Time zone you choose, daylight saving time included: 0 9 * * * in Europe/London sends at 9:00 London time all year. Common lists 15 zones with their current UTC offset, such as UTC, Asia/Kolkata and America/New York; All time zones has the rest. A new reminder starts with the time zone you chose last in this browser, or else your computer's.

Fill in dates and names#

These words in the Message are replaced each time the reminder runs. Type them with single braces, exactly as shown. Words that are filled in for you under the message box lists all of them, with examples.

For example, Good morning team, here's the plan for {current_date_formatted}. arrives as "Good morning team, here's the plan for October 5, 2026." Dates and times are in the reminder's time zone, at the moment it runs, even if the message then waits. {current_date_formatted} is English in every language; use {current_date} for a date without words.

Import reminders from a sheet#

To create many reminders at once, import a CSV or Excel sheet with one reminder per row and the column names in the first row. Sample CSV in the import dialog downloads an example.

• Spell the column names exactly like this, in lower case. Other columns are ignored. Save a CSV as UTF-8, with commas between the columns.
• Up to 1,000 rows per file: a longer file is refused as a whole, and nothing is imported. Each row is checked like the New reminder dialog: the number, the five-part schedule, the time zone, the link, and the length of the name (100 characters), the message (3,000) and the link (1,000). A row that fails is skipped; empty rows are ignored.
• The sample's links, group and whatsapp_client_id values are placeholders, and it has no timezone column (so its times are UTC): change them before importing.

1. Open the dialog

   Click Import sheet.

2. Add your sheet

   Drop a .csv, .xls or .xlsx file on the box, or click browse and choose it. The box shows "Chosen:" and the file name.

   

3. Import

   Click Import. If every row was imported, you see, for example, "3 reminders imported." If some were skipped, the dialog stays open with "3 reminders imported. 2 rows were skipped:" and one line per skipped row with its number in the sheet and why, such as "Row 4 – message is empty".

Imported reminders are Active at once and send at their next time. To add the skipped rows, fix them and import a sheet with only those rows: the others are already imported, and importing them again creates them twice.

Manage reminders#

The list shows the newest reminders first, 25 to a page, including those created with the Create reminder API. Filter with All, Active and Paused, or type in Search name, number or message.

• Reminder: the name, the start of the message, who it goes to and from which number ("from any connected number" when none is chosen).
• Schedule: Active or Paused, the schedule in words, and Next with the next run in the reminder's time zone. "Not scheduled" means it won't send: it's paused, your plan doesn't include reminders, or its schedule never comes (possible for an imported one, such as 31 February).
• Last run: when it last ran, or "Not yet". It counts skipped runs too, so click it to check in Reports whether a message went to that recipient.

Pausing, editing or deleting a reminder doesn't touch a message it already created. To stop one that is still Waiting, cancel it in Reports. Resuming or editing a reminder just after one of its times can send for that time: see When reminders send.

When reminders send#

Wbiztool checks reminders every minute. When a reminder's time comes, it creates one message to the recipient, which shows in Reports like any other and usually goes out within a minute. If a check runs late, the run is still made up to 10 minutes after its time (1 minute for a reminder's first run), and never twice. So a new reminder first sends at its next time, not straight away. If you resume or edit a reminder less than 10 minutes after one of its times, it sends for that time straight away, unless it already has.

A run is skipped, and not made up later, when:

• No messages are left: "Active reminders aren’t sending: you have no message credits left. They’re skipped until that’s fixed." Owners also get a Messages running low or used up alert (at most once every 3 days). Click Get credits, or wait until your plan renews.
• No number is connected and the reminder uses Any connected number: "Active reminders aren’t sending: no WhatsApp number is connected. They’re skipped until that’s fixed." Click Connect a number.
• The plan doesn't include reminders, for example after a plan change: "Your plan doesn’t include reminders – they’re paused until you upgrade." Until then you can only pause or delete them. After an upgrade they start again by themselves at their next time.

The message waits and goes out later when:

• The reminder's own number is disconnected: "Some reminders send from a number that’s disconnected – their messages wait until it’s reconnected." Every run made meanwhile waits, uses one message from your plan, and goes out back to back once you reconnect it: a daily reminder left disconnected for a week sends 7 copies at once. Cancel the extra ones in Reports before you reconnect.
• It's outside the workspace's sending hours with Reminders ticked. It goes when the hours start, in the workspace's time zone, which can differ from the reminder's.
• Other messages from the same number, such as a campaign, are going out first.

Troubleshooting#

Related#

• Connect your WhatsApp number
• Plans and billing
• Workspace & team: sending hours
• Reports & message history
• Media library
• Timezone reference
• API: Create reminder, Cancel reminder and List reminders