What is Sinch's WhatsApp Upscale offering?

[Sam_Williams]

Sinch’s WhatsApp Upscale solution allows businesses to seamlessly transition from SMS to WhatsApp without additional costs or integration changes. This feature gives you access to the benefits of the WhatsApp channel, including branded sending identities, delivery confirmations, and increased character limits per single message.

For devices and languages that aren’t WhatsApp-enabled, we proceed with sending SMS to guarantee messaging reach.

So, it’s WhatsApp when we can and SMS when we can't, ensuring messages are always delivered!

Note the following:

• Currently, WhatsApp Upscale is only available for WhatsApp utility traffic. Marketing and authentication SMS messages (for example, two factor authentication SMS messages) cannot be automatically upscaled to WhatsApp using this service.
  
  
• Additional recipient opt-in is not required as long as the corresponding recipient has already opted in to receive messages via SMS.
  
  
• Currently, language codes zh_CN, zh_HK, zh_TW, ja, ko, th, lo, ml, and ar are not supported for WhatsApp Upscale.
  
  

How does it work?

• SMS API customers send their SMS request to Sinch as normal, hence no integration changes for existing customers wanting to onboard to our WhatsApp Upscale solution.
   
• Sinch checks whether WhatsApp Upscale is configured. If the answer is yes, Sinch first attempts to deliver the message using WhatsApp.
  
  
• If the delivery fails or the delivery is not done within 30 seconds then Sinch fallbacks to SMS and sends the message accordingly:
  
  

 

What does it look like?

The image below is an example of a utility message sent using WhatsApp Upscale:

Getting Started with WhatsApp Upscale

Step 1 - Request WhatsApp Upscale using the Sinch Build dashboard

1. Log in to the Sinch Build Dashboard and select the WhatsApp option from the menu in the left panel. The WhatsApp - Project overview page is displayed.
   
   
2. Scroll down to the Explore WhatsApp section. Click Request WhatsApp Upscale.
   
   
3. You will see a confirmation showing you that your request has been sent. Your Sinch Account Manager will contact you when the request has been processed and approved.
   
   
   

For more information on Sinch's WhatsApp service, visit the Sinch WhatsApp product page.