WhatsApp: Prophet’s alert vs. your own gateway
Two ways to send a WhatsApp message. One is official and costs credits per alert; the other is yours — and so is the risk.
Two paths, and they don’t do the same job
Prophet’s alert goes out from the official number, it is short, and it costs credits. Your own gateway goes out from your number, carries text of any length and costs no credits — but the account, the subscription and the risk are yours. Don’t choose by price alone: the official path fits an alert, your own fits a report.
Prophet’s alert (official)
The official Prophet number, through Twilio — the path WhatsApp approves for messaging someone who hasn’t written to you first.
A short template: one subject and one detail — an alert with a link, not a report. Outside a 24-hour window from that person’s last message, only templates are allowed. That is WhatsApp’s rule, not ours.
Your number in Settings → Notifications. No OAuth, no external app, no QR code to scan.
4 credits per delivered alert — 20 if Meta classifies the template as marketing. A failed delivery is not charged: the charge only happens once delivery is confirmed.
Your own gateway
An outside service that links your WhatsApp by scanning a QR code, the way WhatsApp Web does. From then on it sends free-form text to whoever you want.
A gateway account, a subscription you pay for, and your phone scanning the QR code. Ask Prophet to store `WHAPI_TOKEN` and it opens a secure field. Never paste a token into the conversation.
No Prophet credits. You pay the gateway’s subscription separately, directly to them.
The account, the number and the risk are yours. If the phone disconnects, everything stops — and Prophet has no way of knowing.
Side by side
| — | Prophet’s alert (official) | Your own gateway |
|---|---|---|
| Who sends | The Prophet number | Your WhatsApp number |
| Setup | Your number in Settings → Notifications. No OAuth, no external app | A gateway account, a subscription, and a QR code scanned with your phone |
| What fits | Short template: one subject and one detail. Alert + link | Free-form text, as long as you want |
| Cost | 4 credits per delivered alert (20 if the template is marketing). A failed delivery is not charged | No credits. You pay the gateway subscription separately |
| Risk | None: it is the official channel, with delivery status | Against WhatsApp’s terms — the number can be banned. If the phone disconnects, everything stops |
| When to use | A short alert: “it’s done”, “it’s ready”, a report with a link | High volume, long text, internal use where you accept the risk |
Turning on the official alert
It takes a minute and involves no outside app.
- Open Settings → Notifications
- Type your WhatsApp number with the country code and save
- Done. Ask Prophet to message you on WhatsApp when a task finishes, and the alert goes out from the official number
Turning on your own gateway
Prophet neither sells nor runs the gateway — you are the one who hires it.
- Hire a WhatsApp gateway and scan the QR code with the phone that will be sending
- Ask Prophet to store the key: it calls `ask_credential(vault_key="WHAPI_TOKEN")` and opens a secure field. The key is never typed into the conversation
- Write into the automation what it should send. The token is available to it without ever appearing on screen