Objective
This article shows you how to send a WhatsApp message from your own phone into the Twilio sandbox and choose whether Twilio replies for you or forwards the message to your own webhook.
Product
Programmable Messaging
Environment
Twilio Console
Procedure
- In the Twilio Console, select Home in the left sidebar.
- Select Try out WhatsApp on your account home and complete the sandbox activation and phone linking if you have not already.
- Select the Receive a message tab. The connection details and Inbound message settings appear.
- Scan the QR code to auto-draft a WhatsApp message from your phone to the sandbox number, or copy the number shown and message it from WhatsApp directly.
- Choose how Twilio handles what you send:
- Leave Auto-reply set to Standard to get a Twilio hosted reply with no setup.
- Select Custom, enter your endpoint in Webhook URL, then select Save. A Webhook configured successfully confirmation appears.
- Send a message from your phone. Twilio either replies automatically or forwards the message to your webhook.
- To return to the built-in reply, select Standard and select Save again. The webhook fields disappear and the saved webhook is removed.
Additional Information
- The Receive a message tab shows the connection details only — there is no recipient picker here, because inbound messages come from whichever linked phone you message from.
- Your phone must be linked to the sandbox with the join code before inbound messages reach your account.
- After you upgrade, this tab shows Receiving WhatsApp messages on your Twilio phone number with a Numbers & senders link, where you configure inbound handling for your own WhatsApp senders.
This content was generated by AI and reviewed, edited, and verified by a human.