Unibox inbox: answer your WhatsApp chats as a team

The Unibox inbox collects the chats of your WhatsApp numbers in one place in the dashboard. Your team reads every conversation and replies from the browser, and each reply goes out from the number the customer wrote to, without passing a phone around.

Who can use it: Owners and Editors of a workspace with the Unibox add-on. Analysts don't see Unibox inbox or Inbox numbers in the sidebar. The add-on comes on top of a paid or lifetime plan, and each one covers one WhatsApp number: $20 a month or $200 a year at US list prices (an Owner sees your own price on Billing & plans). Everyone who can open the inbox sees the same conversations.

Click Unibox inbox in the sidebar, or go to /unibox/inbox/.

Before you start#

• The Unibox add-on. An Owner adds Unibox Phone Number under Add-ons on Billing & plans, one for each number you want in the inbox, or picks them in Add a shared inbox (Unibox) when buying a plan. Add-ons can't be bought on the free trial. See Add-ons. Without the add-on, the inbox shows Unibox add-on required and a See add-ons button instead of conversations.
• A connected WhatsApp number, linked with a QR code or a pairing code. See Connect your WhatsApp number. A number connected through the browser extension can't be added to the inbox. A connected Telegram account can be added like a number: see Telegram chats.
• The number in the inbox. On Inbox numbers, click Add number to inbox, choose the number under WhatsApp number and click Add number. You see "Number added – its chats start syncing within a few minutes." The webhook fields in that dialog are optional: Incoming message webhooks explains them and the rest of that page.

Reply to a conversation#

1. Open the conversation

   Click it in the list. Its newest messages show, with your side's messages on the right.

2. Write your reply

   Type in Type a message, up to 5,000 characters. Enter sends, Shift+Enter starts a new line. Type / to put in one of your saved replies.

   

3. Add a file (optional)

   Click the paperclip (Attach a file) and pick one photo, video, audio file, PDF, Word or Excel file of up to 64 MB. Its name shows above the box: click ✕ to take it off. Your text goes with the file as its caption. See Send a file.

4. Send

   Click Send. The reply shows at the bottom of the chat straight away, with 🕓 while it's being sent and ✓✓ once it has gone out.

A reply is an ordinary WbizTool message:

• It's sent from the WhatsApp number the conversation is on: the number after via under the contact's name. You can't pick another one.
• It joins that number's queue: while the number is sending a campaign, your reply goes out after the messages already waiting.
• It counts as one message, appears in Message history. It's usually not posted to the number's webhook, because the inbox already has it (Incoming message webhooks).
• If your workspace uses sending hours with Inbox (Unibox) replies ticked, a reply written outside them waits until they start.
• A reply that can't go out within 24 hours, for example because the number stays disconnected, expires.
• If the person or group isn't in Contacts yet, they're added under the chat's name.

Send a file#

How a file arrives on WhatsApp depends on its type:

Other video and audio formats, such as MKV, WMV or FLAC, arrive as a document with .pdf added to the name, so convert them to MP4 or MP3 first.

When a reply isn't sent#

A reply that couldn't be sent shows Not sent in red, with the reason under it (see Troubleshooting). Click Retry to send it again as a new message, or Dismiss to remove a reply that was refused before it was queued. If there's no Retry, for example under a file the number couldn't send, attach the file again.

Saved replies#

Save the answers your team gives often, such as opening hours, delivery times or how returns work, and put one into the reply box in a moment. Everyone who can open the inbox shares the same list.

• Type / at the start of the reply box, then part of a saved reply's name: /gi finds "Gift note". Choose with ↑ and ↓ and press Enter, or click one. Escape closes the list and keeps what you typed. When no name matches, the list closes and Enter sends your text as usual.
• Or click ⚡ Saved replies next to the paperclip, then search (names and messages) and click one. It goes where the cursor is, so you can add it to what you've already typed.
• The saved reply goes into the reply box, not straight to the customer: change it if you like, then click Send.
• The contact's name goes in by itself where a saved reply has one (see below): "Hi Emma!". A business gets its whole name. In a group, or a chat known only by its number, the name is left out: "Of course, Emma!" becomes "Of course!".

Add, change or delete saved replies#

Click Manage saved replies at the bottom of the list.

• Add saved reply: type a Name, up to 60 characters (it's what / searches), and the Message, up to 5,000 characters, then click Save. Two saved replies can't have the same name.
• The contact's name: under Message, click + First name or + Full name to put the name where the cursor is. It shows as {first_name} or {name} while you write, and as a First name or Full name label in the list.
• Edit changes one; Delete removes it once you confirm.
• A workspace keeps up to 200 saved replies. Owners and Editors can change them, and changes show for the whole team.

Find a conversation#

The list shows every conversation with at least one message, the most recent first, 30 at a time. Use Newer and Older at the bottom to move between pages, next to a line such as "1–30 of 112".

Each row shows the contact's name (or number), the time of the last message and its text. You: in front of it means your side sent it, from the inbox, the phone, a campaign or the API. With more than one inbox number, via under the row says which of your numbers the chat is on.

• Search: type in Search name, number or message. A number finds phone numbers, written any way (+1 212 555, (212) 555-01). Text finds names, and with 4 or more characters also the text of messages from the last 30 days.
• Filter by number: with two or more inbox numbers, pick one in the menu under the search box, or All numbers. A stopped number has "(inactive)" after it.
• New messages: while the inbox is open, a conversation that gets new messages moves up the list and shows how many in a green circle until you open it. These marks are only in your browser tab: your teammates don't see them, and reloading the page clears them.
• The page's address keeps the open conversation, search, number and page, so a reload or a bookmark brings you back to the same view.
• On a phone, the inbox shows either the list or the open conversation. Tap ← to go back to the list.

Read a conversation#

A conversation opens at its 50 newest messages. Click Load older messages at the top for earlier ones. Under the contact's name you see their number and the inbox number the chat is on, such as "12125550120 · via 12125550102".

• Photos and stickers show in the chat. Click a photo to open it full size in a new tab.
• Videos, voice messages, audio and documents show as a link, such as "Document: price-list-q4-2026.pdf" or Voice message. Click it to open or play the file in a new tab (files over 15 MB show without a link).
• Other WhatsApp messages show as a label, such as Location, Contact, Poll, Call or This message was deleted. Forwarded messages are marked Forwarded.
• The inbox updates by itself while it's open: new messages appear in the list and in the open chat without reloading.

Group chats#

A group shows Group under its name. Messages from members have the member's name or number on top, and your side's messages are on the right.

A reply in a group goes to the whole group, from the number the group is on. If WhatsApp hasn't shared the group's name yet, the reply is refused with "This group’s name isn’t known yet, so replies can’t be sent from here. Reply from your phone."

Hidden numbers#

WhatsApp sometimes hides a person's phone number and gives the chat only a private ID. Such a chat shows the person's name, or "Private number", without a number, and the reply box says "WhatsApp hides this number – reply from your phone". Reply to them from the phone.

Chats from an earlier number#

If a number is reconnected with a different phone, its old chats stay as history. The list shows "Earlier number" and the old number under them, the chat says "History from …, which this inbox number used before – replies are off for it.", and the reply box says "Replies are off for an earlier number". Chats on the new phone appear as new conversations, even with the same people.

Telegram chats#

A Telegram account added on Inbox numbers uses one of your Unibox add-on's inbox numbers, like a WhatsApp number.

• Its private chats show in the inbox: messages it receives, and messages sent from the phone or by WbizTool. Chats from Telegram show a Telegram mark.
• Files up to 16 MB are copied into the inbox.
• Replies go out from the Telegram account, even to people who hide their number.
• Groups, channels, Saved Messages and Telegram's own service chat (the one with login codes) are never shown.

How messages reach the inbox#

WbizTool reads each inbox number's chats from its WhatsApp Web session about once a minute and copies new messages into the inbox. A new message usually shows within a minute or two.

• Both directions: messages people send you, and messages sent from that number in any way: the phone, campaigns, the API or the inbox. A customer who only got your order updates appears as a conversation too.
• Pauses: checks stop while the number is sending messages (a campaign, for example), while it's disconnected and while it's stopped on Inbox numbers, and catch up afterwards. A check reads up to 500 new messages, oldest first, so after a long pause a big backlog takes a few checks to catch up. After a stop of more than an hour, Start catches up on messages from up to 30 days back, without posting them to the number's webhook.
• Files: photos, videos, voice messages, audio, documents and stickers are copied into private storage. The inbox opens them through links that work for at least 30 minutes. Files over 15 MB aren't copied: they show as a label without a link, so open them on the phone.
• Not copied: WhatsApp status updates, group notices (such as members joining) and system notices.
• Kept for 90 days: messages are deleted permanently 90 days after they were sent or received, and their files can't be opened from the inbox any more.

Inbox numbers shows each number's state and when it was last checked: Syncing when all is well, Not checked lately after 15 minutes without a check, Number disconnected, Stopped or Pending. See Incoming message webhooks.

When a number disconnects or the add-on ends#

Troubleshooting#

Related#

• Incoming message webhooks for inbox numbers, their webhooks and Zapier
• Connect your WhatsApp number
• Plans & billing
• Reports & message history
• Contacts
• Workspace settings, team members and roles