Authentication

  1. Open a private chat with the bridge bot. Usually @whatsappbot:your.server
  2. Send login qr to start the login.
    • To log in by entering a 8-letter code on your phone instead of scanning the QR code, use login phone instead and send your phone number when prompted.
    • In old versions of the bridge, just use login instead of login qr (and login +123456789 for phone code login).
  3. Log in by scanning the QR code or entering the pairing code. If the code expires before you scan it, the bridge will send an error to notify you.
    1. Open WhatsApp on your phone.
    2. Tap Menu or Settings and select Linked devices.
    3. Point your phone at the image sent by the bot to capture the code.
      • If logging in with pairing code, tap "Link with a phone number instead".
  4. Finally, the bot should inform you of a successful login.
    • The bridge will start creating portal rooms approximately a minute after login. The amount of backfill can be configured before login, the default is to create portals for all chats from WhatsApp and backfill 50 messages in recent chats.

Please note that the bridge uses the web API. If the phone is offline for >2 weeks, linked devices will become disconnected: https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/download-and-installation/about-linked-devices. The bridge will warn you if it doesn't receive any data from the phone in over 12 days.

N.B. WhatsApp is known to ban accounts that are too suspicious. Just using the bridge shouldn't cause any bans, but getting banned is more likely when combining the bridge with other suspicious activity (running WhatsApp in an Android emulator, using VoIP numbers, using a newly created account, initiating DMs to non-contacts, etc).

Logging out

Simply run the logout management command.