Documentation / WhatsApp channel
Phone manager and default agent
In short: For a WhatsApp number in coexistence mode, you designate a Phone manager: the colleague who manages the primary phone with the WhatsApp Business app. That colleague is the first to receive a reminder when the app has not been opened for too long, and may reconnect the connection themselves. With Assign new tickets to you also choose who new tickets from this number are assigned to automatically.
Where to find this
Go to Organisation > Channels > WhatsApp > Settings. Both lists are in the Coexistence status block, which is only visible if this organisation’s number is connected in the Coexistence: Business app + aishaa mode. With a Full Cloud API connection, these fields are not on the page.
Who: from the Organisation admin role upwards. Colleagues without that role only see the chosen values as text (Phone manager: and Assign new tickets to:). The settings apply per organisation and per connected number.
The Phone manager and Assign new tickets to lists in the Coexistence status block under Organisation > Channels > WhatsApp > Settings, with the Save phone manager button.
Phone manager
The phone manager is the person who physically has the primary phone on which the WhatsApp Business app is installed. For coexistence, Meta requires that this app is opened regularly (see Coexistence: the WhatsApp Business app and aishaa together). That is why aishaa directs the first reminders to this person.
What the phone manager can do and receives:
- After 10 days without activity from the app, is the only one to receive the notification As a precaution, open the WhatsApp Business app (in aishaa, as a push notification and by email). If no phone manager has been set, this notification goes to the organisation admins.
- After 12 and 14 days, receives the follow-up notifications together with the organisation admins.
- May use the Open WhatsApp Business app, Reconnect connection and Disconnect WhatsApp buttons on the WhatsApp page, even without the Organisation admin role. That way the person with the phone can restore the connection themselves.
- Sees the Reconnect button in the red bar WhatsApp connection may be broken.
The phone manager cannot start a new connection or change any other channel settings; that still requires the Organisation admin role.
Setting the phone manager
- Open Organisation > Channels > WhatsApp > Settings and scroll to the Coexistence status block.
- Choose a colleague in the Phone manager list. The list shows the user name and email address. You can choose from colleagues who have access to this organisation and from account admins.
- Click Save phone manager. You see the confirmation Phone manager saved.
If you no longer want a phone manager, choose the empty option at the top of the list (called None in the app) and save again. The reminders then go to the organisation admins.
Assign new tickets to
With Assign new tickets to you choose a colleague to whom every new ticket from this WhatsApp number is assigned automatically. The help text for the field says: Empty leaves new tickets on this channel unassigned.
- Choose a colleague in the Assign new tickets to list. The list contains colleagues to whom tickets can be assigned in this organisation.
- Click Save phone manager. This button saves both fields at once.
| Option | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Empty, the None option (default) | New tickets from this number arrive unassigned in the workload. Anyone can pick them up. |
| A colleague | Every new ticket from this number is assigned to this colleague straight away. |
The setting only applies to newly created tickets. Existing tickets do not change owner. You can always change an assignment manually in the ticket (see Assign, support group, important and urgent).
Good to know
- The phone manager and the default agent may be the same person, but do not have to be. The phone manager is about the phone; the default agent is about handling tickets.
- If you cannot choose a colleague as phone manager, check whether that colleague has access to this organisation (see Manage users).
- If you cannot choose a colleague under Assign new tickets to, that colleague cannot be assigned tickets in this organisation, for example because of the Viewer role.
- With a Full Cloud API connection there is no primary phone and therefore no phone manager. The Assign new tickets to field is then not on the WhatsApp page either.