Objective
This article shows you how to activate the Twilio WhatsApp sandbox, link your own phone to it, and send your first WhatsApp template message from the Twilio Console.
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.
- The first time you open it, an Activate your sandbox step appears. Select the checkbox to accept the sandbox terms, then select Continue. Continue stays disabled until the checkbox is ticked.
- If your phone is not linked yet, the connect step appears with a join code. Copy the code — for example join twilio-trial — and send it as a WhatsApp message from your phone to the sandbox number shown.
- Once Twilio detects your message, the send form opens.
- Check that To shows the recipient you want to message. On a trial account this is a read-only field showing your active verified recipient.
- Pick a message from the Template list. The most recently approved template is selected for you — for example Appointment Reminders. Select another, such as Order Confirmations, if you prefer.
- If the template has placeholders, fill in each Customize Variable field. None of them may be left empty.
- Select Send message.
- A confirmation appears naming the recipient — for example Message sent to +1 555 555 1234 — along with how many free messages you have left. The message also appears on the Logs tab.
Additional Information
- WhatsApp requires pre-approved templates, so on a trial account you cannot type free-form message text.
- If you leave a template placeholder blank, the send is blocked and an inline error appears telling you to provide a value for that variable. Filling the field in clears the error.
- The panel remembers the last recipient you messaged and reopens on that recipient. If that recipient is no longer verified, it falls back to the first verified recipient on your account.
- The API tab shows the equivalent API request. Both To and From are addressed as WhatsApp channel numbers, prefixed with
whatsapp:. - If the message is accepted but then fails at the carrier, a Message not delivered notification appears.
- Trial limits apply in two ways: You've reached your trial limit means your total free WhatsApp allowance is used up, and Daily limit reached means you have hit the per-day cap and can send again tomorrow. Both are cleared by upgrading.
- After you upgrade, To becomes editable and From becomes a list of your own WhatsApp senders that are online.
This content was generated by AI and reviewed, edited, and verified by a human.