WhatsApp Business Coming Soon to iOS

WhatsApp Business is currently available on Android,and is free to download. WhatsApp Business was created so businesses could interact with customers easily by using tools to automate, sort and quickly respond to messages. With an uncanny resemblance to its consumer counterpart, WhatsApp, the business version of the app has seen huge Android adoption but iOS have been left wanting.

WhatsApp Business for Android was launched in January this year and already has over 3 million users globally. Naturally, the business is looking to provide the same experience for users on iOS. Apple suggests there are now over 1.3 billion iOS users in the world. The sample of those that are in some form is business is not available. However, it’s not wrong to assume there’s a huge market that WhatsApp Business could be penetrating.

WhatsApp Business

The look and feel of WhatsApp Business replicates the experience in the consumer app. We keep one to one messaging, calling and group chats. There are also some key features that the business version has introduced.

Business Profiles: Create a business profile with helpful information for your customers like your address, business description, email address, and website
Labels: Organise your contacts or chats with labels, so you can easily find them again
Quick Replies: Quick replies let you save and reuse messages you frequently send so you can easily answer common questions in no time
Automatic Responses: Set an away message when you are unable to answer so your customers know when to expect a response.
Greeting Messages: Create a greeting message to introduce your customers to your business
Analytics: Access important metrics, such as how many of your messages were successfully sent, delivered, and read

Security

As with any business tool, security plays a huge element in selecting a collaboration tool. As expected, iOS users should receive the same level of protection from WhatsApp Business as we see in the Android version.

Fully expect to see end to end encryption for both messages and calls. With unique features in WhatsApp like sharing your live location, a unique potential threat needed to be resolved that wouldn’t usually associate with other collaboration apps like Slack or Cisco Webex Teams.

New Consumer Features

New consumer features have been recently announced. These include Vacation Mode and Silent Mode. These are features that users have been calling for. WhatsApp users have recognised the importance of switching off from both social and business communications from time to time.

We also see the introduction of Linked Accounts. Here, you will be able to utilise both your Facebook and Instagram accounts. These will be used for account recovery access, with the possibility of logging in and further linking uncertain.

It is not yet clear if or when these features will be rolled out to WhatsApp Business. But with the consistent experience across both consumer and business platforms, it will certainly be an expectation.

WhatsApp Business are yet to confirm the release date for the app on iOS. One thing’s for sure though, it can’t come soon enough for iOS users.

Source: uctoday

Industry: Unified communication news