How Wapify works
The three things Wapify does, the two pieces that power them, and how an order becomes a WhatsApp message.
Every feature in Wapify is a variation on this loop: a Shopify event in, a WhatsApp conversation out, and something useful back.
Wapify is a WhatsApp app for Shopify stores, built for markets where cash on delivery is normal and WhatsApp is where customers actually reply. It installs into your Shopify admin — there is no separate dashboard to log into, no code to paste, and no WhatsApp Business API account required to start.
The three things Wapify does
Almost everything in the app belongs to one of these three, and the rest exists to support them.
Automations
Seven messages that send themselves when something happens to an order — confirmation, shipping, reviews, cancellations, upsells, restock alerts and abandoned carts.
Inbox
One real-time inbox for the replies, sitting alongside your Messenger and Instagram DMs, with the customer's Shopify orders attached and an AI assistant on hand.
Campaigns
One-off WhatsApp broadcasts to a segment you build from your own order history or from a Shopify customer segment.
Two more areas read the results back to you. The Feedback Center collects what customers said — product reviews and cancellation reasons — and can publish the good reviews to your storefront. Analytics and Logs tell you what was sent, what landed, what got replied to, and which orders came out of it.
Underneath all of it sits Channels — the engine. Channels decides which WhatsApp number your messages come from and which other Meta apps (Facebook Page, Instagram) feed your Inbox. Nothing sends until a channel is in place, which is why it is the first thing the setup guide asks you about.
What makes it different from email automation
WhatsApp is not email, and three of its rules shape how the whole app behaves. They are worth understanding before you configure anything, because most "why did that happen?" questions trace back to one of them.
1. You can't write whatever you like
To message a customer who hasn't written to you first, WhatsApp requires a template — a message whose exact wording was submitted to Meta and approved in advance. Only the variables (name, order number, total) change per send.
Wapify ships every template it needs, already approved, so on Wapify's shared number there is nothing for you to write or submit. If you connect your own number, the same templates are submitted to your account automatically. See Templates & Meta review.
2. Free replies only last 24 hours
When a customer messages you, a 24-hour session window opens. Inside it you can reply with anything — free text, photos, product cards. Once it closes, you're back to templates only. The Inbox shows you exactly where each chat stands and never lets you send something that would be rejected.
3. Messages are billed, and quality is watched
Meta charges per conversation and rates every sending number on how customers react to it. A number that gets blocked or reported loses quality rating and eventually its ability to send. That is why Wapify applies rules you can't switch off, like quiet hours, and why marketing messages have their own smaller monthly allowance than order updates.
Utility vs marketing messages
Meta puts every template into a category, and the category decides the price — a marketing message costs many times what an order update costs. Wapify's plans follow the same split, with a separate monthly allowance for each.
| Category | Automations | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| Order updates | COD Confirmation, Fulfillment, Cancellation reasons, Ask for review | Messages about an order the customer already placed. Cheap, high-volume, and rarely unwelcome. |
| Marketing | Upsell, Abandoned Cart, Back in Stock, and all Campaigns | Messages that try to sell something. Far more expensive per send, so the monthly allowance is much smaller. |
The two allowances are separate buckets and never borrow from each other. Running out of marketing messages doesn't stop your COD confirmations. See Message limits.
English and Arabic, natively
Every automated message exists in English and Arabic, and the Arabic is not a translation of the English — it is written in neutral spoken Arabic that reads naturally in Cairo, Riyadh and Amman alike. One picker sets the language for all automations at once, and it can also follow the customer's own language automatically. See Message language.
The Wapify admin itself is also fully bilingual: switch the app to Arabic and the entire interface, including layout direction, flips with it.
What you need before you start
- A Shopify store. Any plan. Wapify installs from the Shopify App Store.
- Nothing else, to begin with. The Free plan sends from Wapify's verified WhatsApp number with pre-approved templates, so you can have a real confirmation message going out within a few minutes of installing.
- Optionally, a Meta Business account — only if you want to send from your own WhatsApp number, or connect Facebook and Instagram to the Inbox.