Configuring Vonage WhatsApp for Testing

In addition to the SMS and Text-to-Speech configuration set up, you can configure WhatsApp for Vonage either in the testing (sandbox) mode or in the production mode, which uses WhatsApp Business Account.

To configure Vonage WhatsApp for testing:

  1. Go to https://dashboard.nexmo.com/messages/sandbox and click Add to SandBox in the WhatsApp section.
  2. Join the Sandbox by either scanning the QR code, or using the passphrase from your WhatsApp number.
  3. Open Workbench and in Project Explorer, expand your project > Alarms and Notifications > Alert Notifications.
  4. Expand Vonage Configurations and double-click the default Vonage configuration that you have set up for sending SMS and Text-to Speech, or create one. Learn more

  5. In Default WhatsApp Number, enter the number to be used for sending WhatsApp messages via Vonage. Do the following:

    1. Go to the WhatsApp Numbers tab and select Click here to add new item.
    2. Name the new item in the Name column and in the WhatsApp Number column, enter the sandbox phone number.
    3. In the Token/Password column, enter the account APISecret.
    4. Go back to the General Settings tab and in Default WhatsApp Number, select the newly added phone number from the drop-down list. This is the From Phone number for this Vonage configuration.
  6. Select the Use Vonage Sandbox for WhatsApp Numbers and Use Basic Authentication for WhatsApp numbers checkboxes, and then click Apply.

  7. Test the functionality by sending a test WhatsApp message.

    1. Click Test WhatsApp next to the Default WhatsApp Number box to open the Send a test message form.
    2. In To, enter the desired receiving phone number, and then click Send Message. You should receive the WhatsApp message to the selected number as expected.
    The sandbox validation expires in 24 hours, so you need to test within that time frame or join the sandbox again.

    You should have a 24 hour customer session open with the To Number by sending a message to the default WhatsApp Number to initiate a test message from Workbench.

What's Next?

Configuring Vonage WhatsApp for Production