New in Smooch this month: WhatsApp Business API is finally here! We’re super excited to be an official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider and we can’t wait to help you connect your software to the world’s #1 messaging channel. We’ve also shipped a detailed capability guide for Facebook Messenger and made a few updates to our SDKs and APIs.
What’s new 🎉
Get ready for WhatsApp
Big news in the messaging world! WhatsApp has officially launched an early-access API for businesses to message customers over the chat app. For the past several months, we've been working closely with the team at WhatsApp to make connecting your software to their platform as quick and easy as possible. We’re super proud to be powering the vast majority of customer engagement platforms that are part of the early access program, including Zendesk, Lithium, Sparkcentral and Clarabridge, in addition to leading brands like Four Seasons Hotels and Resorts.
As an official WhatsApp Business Solution Provider, we’re happy to report that all Smooch-connected customer experience platforms will be ready to support businesses on the channel as soon as those brands are approved by WhatsApp. We can also support WhatsApp-approved brands directly.
Read our announcement to learn more about the ins and outs of the WhatsApp Business API and how features like end-to-end encryption and paid notifications have impacted how WhatsApp has architectured its enterprise solution. Trust us, it’s not that simple 😏
Check out our new WhatsApp channel guide and let us know you’re interested in WhatsApp by registering your interest.
Facebook Messenger capabilities guide
In May we shared our plans to add a new section in our docs that details the capabilities of every messaging channel. Our new Facebook Messenger guide is now ready. Easily visualize all the different content types, actions, structured messages and indicators that are supported by the channel, as well as the support level (full support, partial support or not supported). Check it out!
Other API & SDK updates ⚙
- LINE update: We’ve updated our integration to support short-lived access tokens. Read our LINE guide to learn more.
- Source schema update: App user messages now have an
integrationIdin the messagesourceindicating which integration the message was sent from. Learn more here. - Web Messenger update: v4.12.10 fixed an issue where an uploaded file would display a cryptic filename; added “Tap to view image” functionality for images over 2MB; added ability to retry loading images that failed to download; fixed dark border sometimes appearing around a custom Messenger button; and fixed carousel behavior on Internet Explorer 11.