Chat from WhatsApp
The WhatsApp card on Integrations shows the number your organisation messages. Centrus matches that message to the mobile number stored on a person's profile.
Checked against the app on
What the WhatsApp card does
WhatsApp on Integrations is the number people message to reach Centrus from a phone. The card always reads Active. There is no key to paste, no Connect button and no step to add in Agent Builder. Everyone in the organisation sees the same card.
Connect and manage external services
Connect your organisation's Xero account. Other users can then Enable it for chat.
- List and look up sales invoices and bills
- Find contacts, accounts and tax rates
- Create invoices and repeating templates
Send and receive messages through WhatsApp.
Connect with Centrus using the WhatsApp number below.
+44 7462 836662
3- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from any WhatsApp-enabled device
- Maintain conversation history
Message Centrus through the Microsoft Teams platform.
Get answers without leaving your workflow.
- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from desktop and mobile
- Maintain conversation history
- 1Integrations, in the menu on the left.
- 2The WhatsApp card. The badge reads Active.
- 3The number to message.
- 4How to Use, the filled button. Learn More sits beside it.
The badge uses your organisation's primary colour, the Centrus navy unless Branding has changed it. How to Use is filled in that colour. Learn More is the outline button, and it opens the help articles inside the app. Asking questions, choosing a tag, and sending voice notes, photos and documents are covered in Message Centrus on WhatsApp. How the other cards on this page connect is in Integrations overview.
Before you start
Centrus decides who sent a message by comparing the sender's number with Phone on a user. The comparison is exact: the stored value has to be the same characters as the number WhatsApp sends, which is a plus sign, the country code and the rest of the digits, with no spaces. For Dylan Hughes at Meridian FM that stored value is +447700900456.
You set it yourself. Open Settings, stay on Account, type the number in Phone and click Save changes. The field has no placeholder and no country code in front of it, and Centrus stores whatever you type, including a stray space. Profile and sign-in covers the rest of that tab. The form itself is also shown in Message Centrus on WhatsApp.
An administrator can set the number in Edit users and roles, in the Edit employee window, under Contact information. There, Phone has a fixed +44 in front. Centrus keeps digits only, drops a leading 0 or 44, keeps at most 10 digits, and stores +44 in front of what remains. Typing 07700900456 for Dylan saves +447700900456. A mobile from another country should be entered on Settings, Account. Saving that person in Edit employee afterwards rewrites the number as a +44 number.
Settings, Account
Phone
Dylan Hughes, Engineer. Saved with Save changes, exactly as typed.
The number WhatsApp sends from
- 1Phone on Settings, Account, stored exactly as typed.
- 2A leading 0, and no country code, does not match the stored number.
The same number can be stored on one Centrus account only. If it is already on an account, saving it shows Phone number already used by another account. The message does not name that account. The card reading Active does not mean a phone has been recognised yet. Recognition happens when a message arrives.
The number on the card
The number in the middle of the card is the one you message. It is the same for everyone in the organisation. It is not the mobile number on your profile. Your profile number is the one you message from.
When the organisation has no live branded number, the card shows Centrus's own number, +44 7462 836662, which every organisation shares. An administrator requests a number for the organisation on Settings, Branding, under WhatsApp Branding. The card switches to that number only when branding is turned on and the status is Live. While the request is Pending or Rejected, and while the status is None, the card keeps showing Centrus's own number. Branding covers the picture, the request and those statuses.
No live branded number
Send and receive messages through WhatsApp.
Connect with Centrus using the WhatsApp number below.
+44 7462 836662
- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from any WhatsApp-enabled device
- Maintain conversation history
The card shows Centrus's own number, the same for every organisation.
Branding on, status Live
Send and receive messages through WhatsApp.
Connect with Centrus using the WhatsApp number below.
+44 7700 900789
- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from any WhatsApp-enabled device
- Maintain conversation history
The card shows the organisation's number instead. This one is a sample.
- 1Centrus's own number, shown until a branded number is Live.
- 2The organisation's number, shown when branding is on and the status is Live. A sample.
On a phone the cards stack in one column under the same Integrations heading. The number, How to Use and Learn More are unchanged. On a narrow screen the two sentences under the title are separated by a space rather than a line break.
Centrus
Connect and manage external services
Send and receive messages through WhatsApp.
Connect with Centrus using the WhatsApp number below.
+44 7462 836662
1- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from any WhatsApp-enabled device
- Maintain conversation history
Message Centrus through the Microsoft Teams platform.
- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from desktop and mobile
- 1The number, in the middle of the card.
- 2How to Use. Learn More is beside it.
Send a first message
Save the number from the card into your phone's contacts, then send any message to it, such as Hi. Centrus answers at once with Message received, generating response, please wait… so you know the message arrived. If Phone matches a user who has at least one tag, the next message asks you to pick a tag.
+44 7462 836662- 1The first reply, sent as soon as the message arrives.
- 2The tag list for Dylan Hughes. Reply with the number or the exact tag name.
If that first message is already a tag number, or the tag name with the same capitals, Centrus selects it straight away and replies Tag selected: followed by the name and How can I help you today? A parent tag is written with a grouped note and the number of child tags it holds. Child tags are not listed on their own. A reply that matches neither a number nor a name gets the Hello list the first time, and Please select a valid tag. if you try again within about five minutes.
How to Use lists the same path. The window title is How to use WhatsApp with Centrus. If an administrator has set an AI name on Branding, the card and this title use that name instead of Centrus. The button at the foot of the window is Close.
- 1Add this number as a contact in your phone.
- 2Ensure your mobile number is correctly set in your user profile with country code (e.g. +44 for UK numbers).
- 3Send a message to Centrus via WhatsApp.
- 4Centrus will recognise your number and ask you to confirm which tag you want to use.
- 5After selecting a tag, you can chat normally as you would in the web app.
Under the steps, the window prints Special commands: Type RESTART CHAT (case insensitive) to reset the conversation. A smaller line under that is the credit note, quoted under Credits.
- Add this number as a contact in your phone
- Ensure your mobile number is correctly set in your user profile with country code (e.g. +44 for UK numbers)1
- Send a message to Centrus via WhatsApp
- Centrus will recognise your number and ask you to confirm which tag you want to use
- After selecting a tag, you can chat normally as you would in the web app
Special commands: Type RESTART CHAT (case insensitive) to reset the conversation
2Please note: WhatsApp messages cost the selected model's message credits plus 1 credit for the WhatsApp delivery.
3- 1Step 2. The number has to match Phone exactly, including the country code.
- 2RESTART CHAT, the only command the window names.
- 3The credit note, in smaller type.
Step 4 on the window says Centrus will ask you to confirm a tag. What arrives is the numbered list, and you reply with a number or the exact name. There is no separate confirmation. What you can ask after Tag selected:, including sources and files, is in Message Centrus on WhatsApp.
Using it day to day
Once a tag is chosen, you ask in ordinary language. The answers use the same knowledge, the same integrations and the same Agent Builder chat tools as a chat on the web, with the same permissions as on your user. This card does not add tools of its own, and there is no tool list for it under Settings. Tags, voice notes, photos, documents, long answers and reading the conversation in Chat on the web are all in Message Centrus on WhatsApp.
RESTART CHAT
The only command the card names is RESTART CHAT. The window says: Type RESTART CHAT (case insensitive) to reset the conversation. Capitals do not matter, and spaces at the ends are ignored. The whole message has to be those two words. Sending restart chat works. Asking Centrus to start again in other words does not.
Centrus closes the current WhatsApp conversation and replies Chat restarted! Please select a tag to start chatting again. Then it asks you to reply with the number or tag name, and lists your tags. The earlier conversation stays in Chat on the web. It is closed, and it is kept. Sending RESTART CHAT before a tag has been chosen does not restart anything. Centrus reads those words as a tag name, so you get the Hello list, or Please select a valid tag.
On How to Use
Special commands: Type RESTART CHAT (case insensitive) to reset the conversation
1After you send restart chat
- 1The line on How to Use. Any mix of capitals works.
- 2The reply. The tag list follows, without the reminder that was on the first Hello.
An administrator can also turn on WhatsApp Auto-Restart in Edit employee, and choose a quiet period from 1 hour to 1 week (1, 2, 4, 8, 12, 24 or 48 hours, or 1 week). The next message after that long with nothing sent gets the tag list again. Where the switch sits, and what the conversation looks like afterwards, is in Message Centrus on WhatsApp.
Credits
The smaller line at the foot of How to Use reads: Please note: WhatsApp messages cost the selected model's message credits plus 1 credit for the WhatsApp delivery.
That is the charge for an answer. The model's share is the same as a reply on the web, and 1 credit is added for sending the answer on WhatsApp. Message received, generating response, please wait…, the tag list, Tag selected: and RESTART CHAT are not charged. A turn that fails before any answer is written is not charged either. When the answer runs code, for example to build a file, Centrus adds 2 credits on top of the model's credits and the delivery credit. Each image Centrus creates in the answer also adds credits, set by the image quality. Choose the AI model lists each model's message credits. Credits and browser minutes explains the allowance, and Plan and usage is where an administrator reads what the organisation has used.
An answer, once a tag is chosen
The model's message credits
The same charge as a reply on the web.
Sending that answer on WhatsApp
1 credit
Added on every answer that is sent.
The messages before an answer
No credits
Please wait, the tag list, Tag selected and RESTART CHAT.
Limits and good to know
Exact characters
Phone is compared with the sender's number as a whole. A space, a leading 0 or a missing country code misses.
One account
The same number cannot be saved on a second Centrus account. Saving it shows Phone number already used by another account.
1,600 characters
A longer answer is split into several WhatsApp messages, sent one after another.
15 seconds
Photos and documents sent with no caption are held, so several can be read as one message.
- Phone has to match character for character. 07700900456 and +44 7700 900456 are not the same as +447700900456.
- One number, one Centrus account. The check is not limited to your organisation. The error does not say which account already has it.
- Answers longer than 1,600 characters are sent as several messages, one after another.
- Photos and documents with no caption are held for 15 seconds, so a few sent together are read as one message. A caption sends them straight away.
- An image, a PDF or a Word document is accepted. Anything else, after the please wait message, gets That attachment type is not supported yet. Please send an image, PDF, or Word document.
- There is no Settings switch for WhatsApp. What you can ask follows the tag, and the integrations already enabled on your user. Voice notes and the files Centrus sends back are in Message Centrus on WhatsApp.
Stop WhatsApp recognising a phone
The buttons on the card stay How to Use and Learn More. To stop Centrus recognising a phone, clear Phone on Settings, Account and click Save changes, or ask an administrator to clear it in Edit employee. Do the same when someone changes their mobile, then save the new number in the exact form.
The card
Send and receive messages through WhatsApp.
Connect with Centrus using the WhatsApp number below.
+44 7462 836662
- Fast and secure messaging
- Access from any WhatsApp-enabled device
- Maintain conversation history
Settings, Account
Phone
Cleared, then saved. Centrus no longer matches this phone.
- 1The card is unchanged. How to Use and Learn More stay where they are.
- 2An empty Phone, then Save changes.
Conversations already held on WhatsApp stay in Chat on the web, and they stay on the phone until someone deletes them in WhatsApp. Clearing Phone does not remove them. Message Centrus on WhatsApp shows the read-only note those conversations carry on the web.
When a message gets no answer
Every message, including one Centrus cannot match, gets Message received, generating response, please wait… first. What follows depends on whether the number is on a user.
Message from
+447700900999
1No profile stores this Phone. Dylan Hughes has +447700900456.
The only reply
Message received, generating response, please wait…
2Nothing is sent after that.
- 1A sender number that is not stored on any user.
- 2The please wait message. No tag list and no answer follow it.
- Only the please wait message, then nothing. No user's Phone is exactly the sender's number. Open Settings, Account and compare Phone with the number WhatsApp is using, including the plus sign and with the spaces removed.
- You don't have any tags, or Chat restarted, but you don't have any tags. The number matched, and the user has no tag Centrus can offer. Child tags are not listed. Ask an administrator to add one in Edit users and roles.
- Please select a valid tag. The reply was not a number on the list and not the exact tag name. Send the number. This follows a first reply that already showed the list, within about five minutes.
- Sorry, your organisation has reached its message limit. Please contact your account administrator to upgrade your plan or purchase additional message credits. The allowance is used up. The please wait message still arrives first. An administrator can check Plan and usage.
- Sorry, there was an error processing your message. Please try again later or contact support if the issue persists. Centrus could not answer that message. A tag deleted since the conversation began is one cause. Send RESTART CHAT and choose a tag again.
- That attachment type is not supported yet. Please send an image, PDF, or Word document. The file was not an image, a PDF or a Word document.
- Phone number already used by another account, under Save changes or in Edit employee. Another Centrus account already has that number. It has to be cleared there before it can be saved here.
Card text and commands
The card has no tools and no endpoint of its own. These tables are the words on the card, the words in How to Use, and the replies those steps produce. Where an administrator has set an AI name, the card and the window title use that name instead of Centrus.
| What you see | Where | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Card title | The messaging number. There is nothing to connect. | |
| Active | Badge, top right | Always. The colour is the organisation's primary colour. |
| Send and receive messages through WhatsApp. | First line under the title | On a narrow screen the two lines are one sentence, with a space between them. |
| Connect with Centrus using the WhatsApp number below. | Second line | Uses the AI name when one is set. |
| The number, centred | Under the description | Centrus's own number, or the organisation's number when branding is on and the status is Live. |
| Fast and secure messaging | Bullet | As written on the card. |
| Access from any WhatsApp-enabled device | Bullet | As written on the card. |
| Maintain conversation history | Bullet | As written on the card. Restarting closes the current conversation and keeps it on the web. |
| How to Use | Filled button, with an info icon | Opens How to use WhatsApp with Centrus. |
| Learn More | Outline button, with an external-link icon | Opens the help articles inside the app. |
| What you see | Where | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| How to use WhatsApp with Centrus | Window title | Uses the AI name when one is set. The button on the card is How to Use. |
| Add this number as a contact in your phone | Step 1 | The number in the middle of the card. |
| Ensure your mobile number is correctly set in your user profile with country code (e.g. +44 for UK numbers) | Step 2 | Phone on Settings, Account, stored exactly, including the country code. |
| Send a message to Centrus via WhatsApp | Step 3 | Any first message. A tag number or exact tag name selects that tag at once. |
| Centrus will recognise your number and ask you to confirm which tag you want to use | Step 4 | The reply is a numbered list. You answer with a number or the exact name. |
| After selecting a tag, you can chat normally as you would in the web app | Step 5 | Same knowledge and tools as on the web. Day to day use is in Message Centrus on WhatsApp. |
| Special commands: Type RESTART CHAT (case insensitive) to reset the conversation | Under the steps | The whole message, any mix of capitals. It closes the current conversation and asks for a tag again. |
| Please note: WhatsApp messages cost the selected model's message credits plus 1 credit for the WhatsApp delivery. | Smaller line under the command | The model's credits, plus 1. Code that builds a file adds 2 more, and a created image adds its own. The tag list and this command are not charged. |
| Close | Foot of the window | Closes it. Nothing is saved, because the window does not ask for anything. |
| What you see | Where | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Message received, generating response, please wait… | First reply to every message | Sent before Centrus has matched the number. Not charged. An unmatched number gets nothing after it. |
| Hello and the numbered tag list, ending with type 'RESTART CHAT' | First reply once the number matches | Shown when the message was not already a tag. Not charged. |
| Please select a valid tag. | A later reply that still is not a tag | Within about five minutes of the Hello list. The list is repeated. |
| Tag selected: and the tag name, then How can I help you today? | After a number or an exact tag name | The conversation starts. The next question is charged. |
| You don't have any tags | The number matched, and the user has no tag | Ask an administrator to add one. A parent tag is listed. A child tag on its own is not. |
| RESTART CHAT | The whole message, any capitals | Closes the current conversation and keeps it on the web. Then the restarted tag list. |
| Chat restarted! Please select a tag to start chatting again. | The reply to RESTART CHAT | The numbered list follows. The Hello reminder does not. |
| Chat restarted, but you don't have any tags | RESTART CHAT when the user has no tag | The conversation is closed, and there is no list to pick from. |
| Sorry, your organisation has reached its message limit. Please contact your account administrator to upgrade your plan or purchase additional message credits. | The allowance is used up | The please wait message still comes first. |
| Sorry, there was an error processing your message. Please try again later or contact support if the issue persists. | The answer failed | Send RESTART CHAT if the tag may have been deleted. |
| That attachment type is not supported yet. Please send an image, PDF, or Word document. | A file that is not an image, PDF or Word document | Comes after the please wait message. |
| Phone number already used by another account | Saving Phone | On Settings, Account, or in Edit employee. One Centrus account per number. |