Conversations & filters
The chat list, unread and follow-up state, channel filters, AI badges and the 24-hour reply window.
Filters and AI badges narrow a busy list to the chats that need you. Leads first, questions second, everything else later.
A busy inbox is only useful if you can find the conversation that matters. Wapify's chat list combines search, filters, unread state and AI triage so the ten chats worth answering right now are one click away from the two hundred that aren't.
The chat list
Chats are sorted by most recent activity. Each row shows the customer's name or handle, a preview of the last message — prefixed with You: when you sent it — the channel it belongs to, and any badges it has picked up.
Chats load as you scroll, so a long history never delays the list.
Names
Wapify uses the best name it has: the customer's name from the matching Shopify order, their WhatsApp profile name, or their Instagram or Messenger handle. Contacts with no name at all show as an Instagram or Facebook user with their handle, so the row is never blank.
Search
One search box, covering name, phone number and order number. Searching an order number finds the chat of whoever placed it, which is usually how you get from "customer emailed about #1043" to the right conversation.
Filters
Filters combine, and the list header shows how many are active with a one-click Clear all filters.
Marking chats
Each chat's ⋯ menu carries the actions you'd expect, and they're yours alone — nothing is sent to the customer and nothing changes on their side.
- Mark as read / unread — unread is the closest thing to a to-do flag. There's also Mark all as read for the whole list.
- Follow up — flag a chat you need to come back to, then filter to those flags later.
- Mark as lead — override the AI when it got it wrong, or tag a chat it hasn't read yet. This is the only way a chat becomes a lead by hand.
- Mark as solved — close off a support conversation. It stays in the list; it just stops asking for attention.
- Reopen chat — undo that.
- Open in WhatsApp / Messenger / Instagram — jump to the same conversation in the native app.
The 24-hour reply window
This is the rule that shapes how the Inbox behaves, and it comes from WhatsApp and Meta rather than from Wapify.
When a customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens. Inside it you can send whatever you like. Once it closes, WhatsApp only accepts pre-approved templates — and Messenger and Instagram accept nothing at all until the customer writes again.
Every chat shows its state: Within 24h window with the time it closes, or Outside reply window. When the window has closed the free-text composer is disabled, so you can't compose something that would be rejected — on WhatsApp, the template picker takes its place. See Replying to customers.
The window resets every time the customer writes. A conversation that goes back and forth stays open indefinitely — it's silence that closes it.
Reply context
When someone replies to something specific, the Inbox shows what it was as a card above their message:
- Replied to your story — with the story image.
- Replied to your post or reel — with the thumbnail.
- Came from your ad — the ad they clicked through from.
- Quoted message — the specific earlier message they replied to.
Without this, an Instagram story reply arrives as a bare "how much?" with no way to know what they're asking about. The thumbnails are re-hosted by Wapify, so they don't vanish when Meta's temporary links expire.
Message types
The thread renders what the customer actually sent — text, images, documents, and reactions. Automated messages Wapify sent on your behalf are marked Automated reply, and template messages render as the customer saw them, buttons included.
Where chats come from
- Replies to automations — someone answers a COD confirmation or a shipping message with words instead of a button.
- Replies to campaigns, with the campaign message shown in context.
- Direct messages to your WhatsApp number, Page or Instagram account.
- Chats you start — from an order in Shopify, or with New chat in the Inbox. Starting a conversation is Pro-only, and outside a customer's window it has to begin with a template.