Calls

WhatsApp calls are available on WhatsApp Business API numbers. They are not available on numbers paired by QR, and not on numbers that run in coexistence with the WhatsApp Business app on the phone.

Two things have to be in place. The WASync app in Bitrix24 needs the telephony permission; when Bitrix24 offers an update of WASync in the Market, install it and calls start working with nothing to reconnect. And calls need a browser tab with Bitrix24 open, in Chrome, Edge or Bitrix24 Desktop: the voice runs in that tab, so a closed browser cannot answer.

Turning calls on for a number

Calls are a setting of each connection. Open the WASync app, go to Connections, and use the WhatsApp calls button on the number. The window shows Incoming calls as ON or OFF; choose Turn on or Turn off. The setting is read from WhatsApp every time the window opens, so it always shows what customers really see. Connections paired by QR show the button as WhatsApp calls — WABA only and cannot be switched on.

With calls on, customers see a call button on that number in WhatsApp. Turn it on only when someone is available to answer: a call nobody picks up shows the customer a missed call.

Calling a customer needs their permission, and WhatsApp asks for it with a call-permission request:

• Tick Also ask permission for a WhatsApp call after sending in the template picker, or choose a template that carries the call-permission card.
• Add the Ask permission to call step to a Chat Flow.

The customer sees a card in the chat asking whether you may call them. Their answer is recorded on the contact. In the CRM widget and in WASync Chat the phone icon turns green while the permission is active, and a chip beside the name reads Calls allowed or Calls declined.

Who is rung for an incoming call

In Settings, administrators find the Incoming calls card. It decides who is rung first when a known customer calls.

Incoming calls

Who rings first on an incoming call

The contact's responsible person

Only people who are online in Bitrix24 and have access to the number are rung. Access to a number means being in its Open Channel queue or having the number in Connections → Staff; either is enough. Bot users are never rung.

If the person who should ring first is missing, offline, or does not handle the number, the call goes straight to everyone online who handles it, up to 5 people at once. The same happens when the first person has not answered after 8 seconds: everyone online who handles the number is rung while the first card keeps ringing. The 8 seconds are fixed. The first to answer takes the call, and the other cards close with Taken by and that person's name.

When nobody who handles the number is online, the call is saved as missed.

Answering in the Bitrix24 call card

A WhatsApp call rings as an ordinary Bitrix24 incoming call. The card shows the customer's name and number as the title, with WhatsApp and the line under it. Use Bitrix24's own buttons:

• Answer takes the call. The card switches to connected and Bitrix24's timer runs.
• Ignore declines the call.
• Mute and End work from the card.

When the call ends, the card says why for a few seconds: Call ended, Missed — the caller hung up, Call declined or The call could not be connected.

The card has a tab named WASync. It shows a status line (Incoming call, then Connected with a timer) and, under it, the WhatsApp conversation with the caller on the number they called. You can read the history and write to the customer while the phone rings or during the call; new messages from the customer appear by themselves. An operator without access to the called number sees only the call status. The conversation stays in the tab after the call, until the card is closed.

The voice runs in the browser tab where the call was answered, inside Bitrix24's own frame. Keep that tab open: the card tells you so, and the browser asks before the tab is closed or reloaded.

If the browser blocks the microphone, the WASync panel opens and offers the call window instead. The call window is also what you use to call a customer.

Calling a customer

Place a call from the chat: use the Call button in the WhatsApp widget of the CRM record. The call window shows Ringing… with the customer's name while the phone rings, and switches to In call only when the customer picks up. The timer starts then, so the duration is talk time only.

When the customer does not pick up, the window says why: No answer, Call declined or Line busy. The last two appear only when WhatsApp reports them.

Calling needs the customer's permission, as described under Turning calls on for a number.

Incoming calls are free; outgoing calls are billed by Meta.

What is logged

Every call is written in Bitrix24 with the CRM record attached:

• The call appears in the timeline of the matching contact, lead or deal.
• A call that was answered keeps its talk time as the duration.
• A call that was not picked up is saved as an unanswered outgoing call with no duration.
• A missed incoming call is saved on the responsible employee.
• The call is also listed in the Telephony section of Bitrix24 (call details). This is the part that needs the telephony permission; if call details stay empty, update WASync from the Market.