WhatsApp reminders

The system reminds tenants of rent installments on WhatsApp: before an installment is due, on its due date, and once it is overdue. The messages are fixed texts WhatsApp has approved, carrying your office's name and phone, and each one is paid from your account's message balance. This article explains how to set it up, who receives the messages, what the tenant sees, and what is never sent.

Setting it up

Setup is six steps, all starting from Settings:

1. Switch the module on. Under Settings → Configuration → Modules switch on WhatsApp messages. It is included in the Solo, Starter and Professional plans and not in the Free plan. The module's card keeps a Finish setting up WhatsApp messages link until setup is complete.
2. Open the sending status. Under Settings → Configuration → WhatsApp messages the Sending status panel comes first: one sentence saying whether messages will go out and when, then one line per requirement with its state (Ready, Warning or Missing). Each missing line carries a button to what it needs: Go to office details, Top up balance, Add tenants, and Edit schedule if WhatsApp rejected a wording in your schedule. If the sending number is down, its line says why. When everything is in place you read Everything is ready., and the balance line stays because the balance goes down with every message.
3. Enter the office details. In the Office details in the message card, type the office name and contact phone as the tenant should read them, pick the default message language, then press Save in the bar that appears at the bottom of the page. Nothing is sent before both are saved, because every message shows them.
4. Top up the balance. Under Settings → Subscription → Message balance, top up a pack with the card saved under Payment methods on the same tab. With no balance, messages stay Waiting for balance until you top up, or expire unsent with nothing charged.
5. Add the recipients. From the WhatsApp messages page with the Add the tenants button, for many contracts at once (see Adding the tenant on many contracts at once), or from the WhatsApp messages section on a contract page (see Who receives the messages).
6. Turn on automatic sending. The Automatic sending switch at the top of the tab acts at once and needs no Save. Before it turns on, a window states when the first sending is, how many messages it carries, to how many people on how many contracts, the estimated cost against your balance, and anything still missing. You cannot turn it on before the office details are saved. You can turn it on with too little balance; messages then wait until you top up. Turning it off is immediate, with no question.

Sending by hand from the contract page always works, even with automatic sending off (see Sending by hand). To decide who on your team sees the messages, chooses the recipients and sends, see Who can see, choose and send.

The balance and the price per message

The message balance is a prepaid, account-level balance. You top it up in fixed packs from the saved card, and every top-up issues a tax invoice. The price of a message is deducted when it is accepted for sending and returned automatically if sending fails. Under Settings → Subscription → Message balance you find the current balance, the price per message and the history, where each line names the message's wording and the number it went to. The account owner is told when the balance runs low. Topping up is done on the web only; details in Plans and billing.

Automatic top-up. In the same place you can let the balance refill itself: choose the level that triggers it (for example below SAR 20), the pack to add, and a monthly limit for automatic charges. Whenever the balance drops below that level, the pack is charged to your saved card and added at once, with an invoice for each charge, and a held reminder goes out about a minute later. Automatic charges never go past the monthly limit in a calendar month (manual top-ups do not count toward it); when the limit is reached you are told once, and it starts again next month. If the card declines, it tries once more after 24 hours; a second decline, a bank asking for extra verification, or a missing card stops it until you switch it back on, and you are told each time. The account owner, or anyone who manages the subscription, can switch it on, change it or switch it off.

Who receives the messages

A message goes only to a person you added on the contract, on the number saved on their contact card. You manage this in the WhatsApp messages section of the contract page.

At the top of the section, one line says what happens next for this contract:

• Next message: its kind, day, time and who gets it, for example "Next message: Reminder before the due date, Thursday, November 19, 10:00 AM, to Ahmed." If the balance cannot pay for it, the line adds "It will wait until the balance is topped up."
• Or why nothing goes: "Add a recipient so the messages reach someone.", "Automatic messages for this contract are paused.", or a reason for the whole workspace, such as automatic sending being off or the message schedule being empty. Whoever manages the WhatsApp settings sees a link beside it to them, and a workspace admin sees a link to topping up.
• Or "No automatic messages coming up for this contract." when no message is close.

Adding a person

Press Add a person to open the add panel; it opens by itself while the contract has nobody. The top of the panel holds the confirmation every add makes:

By adding this person you confirm they agreed to receive rent notifications on WhatsApp from {your office} via Aqarflow.

That confirmation is what sending rests on, because WhatsApp requires the recipient's consent. Do not add someone who has not agreed. The system records who added them and when, shown under their name.

Under the confirmation are three ways to add someone:

• Suggested: the tenant, the company representative named on the Ejar contract, and the people you added on the tenant's other contracts, each with an Add button.
• A search of your contacts by name or number.
• New person, at the end of the search results: type their name and mobile number. If the number is already saved on a contact, that contact is added; otherwise a new contact is saved.

A Saudi mobile number can be saved the usual way (05…) or in international form; WhatsApp does not reach a landline. The same number cannot be added twice on one contract, even when two contacts carry it, so no message arrives twice.

The recipients in the list

Each recipient shows their number and two choices:

• Receives: All messages or Overdue only (see Overdue only).
• Language: the workspace's default message language, or the other language.

When a recipient cannot be messaged, the reason shows beside them: Asked to stop messages if the tenant asked to stop them, Not on WhatsApp, or Invalid number. Remove asks first, because removing ends their consent record; adding them again needs a new confirmation.

When a contract is renewed, the same recipients with the same confirmation carry over to the new version; you do not add them again.

Adding and changing recipients needs the Choose WhatsApp recipients permission; a workspace admin always can. Someone who can only see the messages sees the list without the editing buttons.

Overdue only

Pick Overdue only for someone who only needs to hear about arrears, such as a guarantor or the tenant company's manager. They get no reminder before the due date or on it, automatic or by hand, and every overdue message.

Pausing one contract

Under the recipients list is the Automatic messages for this contract switch, with its state beside it: On or Paused. It is on by default, so the contract's messages go on the message schedule. Switch it off to pause the automatic messages of this one contract without removing its people, for example for a tenant you agreed a payment plan with. The system asks first, because pausing cancels this contract's automatic messages waiting to go out, at no charge. Sending by hand stays available.

Once paused, the switch shows when the messages were paused and by whom. A message from today that is still waiting and also covers other contracts of the same person is withdrawn, and the system sends about the other contracts at its next hourly check. A message waiting since an earlier day is cancelled for all its contracts. The pause covers every version of a renewed contract, so no message goes out about arrears on its earlier version, and when the contract is renewed later the pause carries over to the new version. Switch it back on to resume automatic messages; a message that fell due while the contract was paused, yesterday or today, may then go out.

Who asked to stop messages

When a tenant asks to stop the messages themselves, Asked to stop messages shows beside their name, and the Asked to stop messages choice on the Recipients tab gathers them. You are not notified; that tab is where you follow it (see When a tenant stops the messages). The difference from a pause: a pause is your office's decision for one contract, while asking to stop messages is the tenant's own decision, and nobody else can lift it.

The WhatsApp messages page

The WhatsApp messages page in the sidebar, directly under Contracts, brings the recipients and the messages of every contract together. Its top line is the same sending status sentence as in Settings, and whoever manages the WhatsApp settings also sees the balance and a Sending status and settings link. The page has two tabs:

• Recipients: each contract, its tenant, and who receives its messages, with their numbers. Pick No recipient to see the contracts with nobody added, Paused for the contracts whose automatic messages are paused, and Asked to stop messages for the people who asked themselves; each choice shows its count. Click Edit, or the row itself, to open under it the same recipients editor the contract page has; on a contract where you cannot choose recipients the button reads View instead. A row also has a Send button for whoever can send on that contract, once someone on it can receive.
• Messages: every message on the workspace's contracts, newest first, the last 30 days by default. Search by the recipient's name or number, press Needs attention for the messages that failed or are waiting, or filter by property, status, wording and how it was sent. Click a message to see it as it arrived on WhatsApp, with when it was sent, delivered and read, and why it failed, in plain words, if it did not go.

The page and both tabs are for whoever holds any of the WhatsApp permissions, and each person sees only the contracts on the properties open to them (see Who can see, choose and send).

Adding the tenant on many contracts at once

When some contracts have nobody added, a line such as "12 contracts have nobody receiving their messages." sits above the list with an Add the tenants button, the same place the recipients line of the sending status takes you. It opens the Add the tenants window with those contracts, each one's tenant ticked. Contracts with no tenant, a tenant with no valid mobile number, or a tenant who asked to stop messages are shown greyed out with the reason. Untick what you do not want, then press the add button, which names the count, such as Add 12 tenants. One confirmation covers every ticked contract, recorded with your name and the time on each.

When messages are sent

WhatsApp messages have a schedule of their own, separate from the team's reminders in the Notifications tab. The default schedule sends four messages about each installment:

• Three days before the due date: a reminder of the date and the amount.
• On the due date: a reminder that the installment is due today.
• Three days after: a gentle reminder that the payment has not arrived yet.
• Ten days after: a firm notice of the overdue amount.

The overdue messages go only about an installment that is still unpaid, so a tenant who pays on time gets none of them, and a tenant who paid an installment in advance gets no reminder about it. The default schedule has no final notice; you can add one (see Changing the schedule and the sending time). The court notice is never sent on WhatsApp and stays on its current channels.

• One message a day: a person gets at most one automatic message a day about a given contract. When two messages fall on the same day, the overdue one goes and the other waits until the next day.
• One message for a tenant of several units: when you add the same person (the same number) on several contracts and the same message about the same date falls due for them on the same day, they get one message with the number of units and the total, for example "3 units at Al Nakheel Building and Yasmin Tower" for SAR 10,500. Each contract's history shows it was one message for those contracts. A final notice still goes about each contract on its own, and messages sent by hand are never combined.
• Imported contracts: they get messages like any other contract, as soon as you add a recipient on them. Nothing is sent about a contract with no recipient.
• A lease that ended with money owed: when a contract ends or is terminated with installments still unpaid, the overdue messages about each of them carry on to the last message of the schedule; after that the decision is yours, a manual send or an enforcement request.
• Installments taken to court: no messages are sent about them, since the case now carries the follow-up.
• A missed day: if sending was down for a whole day, that day's message goes the next day, except the due-date message, because it says "today".

Changing the schedule and the sending time

A workspace admin, or a member given Manage WhatsApp messages, changes the schedule under Settings → Configuration → WhatsApp messages, in the Message schedule card. The card shows the schedule in one sentence, such as "4 messages: 3 days before the due date, On the due date, 3 days after the due date, 10 days after the due date.", with the sending time under it. Press Edit schedule to open it:

• Sending time: the hour the automatic messages go out, on your workspace's clock (see Time zone), from 9 AM to 8 PM, 10 AM by default. The workspace's messages are spread over the half hour after it, so tenants do not all get them at the same moment, and each recipient keeps the same minute in it. The system reads the installments an hour before the sending time, so a tenant who paid before then gets no message about the installment.
• The messages: each row is one message. Pick When from a set of days: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10 or 14 days before the due date, the due date itself, or 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 10, 14, 21, 30, 45 or 60 days after it. Then pick the Wording among those that fit its day: before the due date a formal or friendly reminder, on the due date its own reminder, after it a gentle reminder, a formal or firm notice, or a final notice. The schedule holds at most six messages per installment, and no two on the same day. Add a row with Add a message, remove one with Remove, and bring back the four default rows with Reset to the default schedule.
• WhatsApp's approval: a wording WhatsApp has not approved yet shows its state in the list (awaiting approval, rejected, or not reviewed), and its row says it will not send before approval. You can pick it, but it does not send until WhatsApp approves it. The Stronger final notice appears only once WhatsApp has approved it.
• The preview: under the schedule, the row you pick is drawn the way the tenant sees it on WhatsApp: the sender's name and picture, the message with sample figures and your saved office name and phone, the grey line under it, and the Stop messages button.

There is no longer a "What is sent" choice in Settings. To stop a message, remove its row from the schedule; to stop all the messages before the due date, or all the overdue ones, remove their rows. If your workspace had switched one side off before, that side's rows were removed from its schedule for you, so what is sent stayed the same. If both sides were off, the schedule became empty, and no automatic message goes until you add one.

Changes to the schedule and the office details are saved together with the Save button in the bar that appears at the bottom of the page on any change, and leaving the tab before saving asks first. The Automatic sending switch acts at once, with no Save.

Sending by hand

Anyone with the Send WhatsApp messages permission can send a message themselves with the Send WhatsApp message button, from four places: the WhatsApp messages section on the contract page, the rent collection task beside Log follow-up, a row's menu on the Receivables page for an overdue installment, and the Send button on a contract's row on the WhatsApp messages page. When sending is not possible from the contract page, the button stays visible with the reason beside it, such as "Add a recipient first."

In the send window:

• What to send: the messages live on the contract's schedule right now, each with its installment's date and amount. From the rent task and the Receivables page, the overdue notice is picked to start with.
• Wording: the formal wording is picked to start with. To change it, press Change the wording and pick the tone, such as friendly, gentle or firm. A wording WhatsApp has not approved yet shows disabled.
• Recipients: pick who gets the message. A recipient on overdue only shows, but gets no reminder before the due date.
• Preview: the message as it will look on WhatsApp; you can switch the Preview language.
• The cost: whoever manages the WhatsApp settings sees a line such as "About {cost} comes off the {your balance} balance." If the balance does not cover it, sending is blocked, and a workspace admin sees a Top up button. Someone who sends without seeing the balance is told when it is empty; their message waits for the balance and nothing is charged.
• The send button names who gets the message: Send to Ahmed, or Send to 3 people.

A message sent by hand goes within minutes, inside the sending hours; it does not wait for the automatic sending time. It works with automatic sending off, on a paused contract, on imported contracts, and on an ended contract with money still owed. At most one reminder per recipient goes about the same installment in 24 hours. A manual send is recorded in the contract's collection follow-ups so the team knows what went out.

Sending hours and statuses

Messages are sent between 8 AM and 9 PM Riyadh time only; anything queued outside those hours waits for the morning. Automatic messages go at the sending time you chose within those hours (see Changing the schedule and the sending time).

The message history on the contract page shows each message's status: Queued, waiting for a reason (Waiting for balance, Waiting for the number, or Held by support), Sending, Sent, Delivered, Read, Failed with the reason in plain words and then WhatsApp's detail, Expired unsent, or Cancelled. An automatic message that could not be sent within 72 hours expires (the due-date reminder at the end of its day), a manual one within 24 hours, and nothing is charged for a message that was not sent.

What the tenant sees

The tenant receives a fixed text in the language set for them, such as:

Reminder from {your office}: the rent installment for unit A-12 at Al Nakheel Building of SAR 3,500 is due on 1 November 2026. For any questions, please contact {your office phone}. Thank you.

Sent via Aqarflow

The reminders before and on the due date state what is still owed on that installment. The overdue messages state the contract's whole overdue balance and the oldest unpaid due date, like the message three days after the due date:

Reminder from {your office}: we have not yet received the rent for unit A-12 at Al Nakheel Building; SAR 7,000 has been due since 1 August 2026. For any questions, contact us at {your office phone}. If you have already paid, please ignore this message.

Sent via Aqarflow

The text cannot be edited; only the office name, the contact phone, the unit and property names, the amount and the date change. A unit with a name of its own is called by it, and a contract of several units by their count, such as "3 units at Al Nakheel Building". The message closes with the line "Sent via Aqarflow". Every message has a Stop messages button under it, so the tenant does not need to type anything to stop them. Replies to the message do not reach you; the system answers the tenant automatically, once a day at most, pointing them to your office phone.

When a tenant stops the messages

Every message has a Stop messages button under it. If the tenant taps it, or replies STOP or إيقاف, their messages stop at once on every contract in every workspace that messages them from the platform number, and their status shows as Asked to stop messages on the contract page. The confirmation they receive carries a Resume messages button, so they can turn the messages back on whenever they like. You cannot add them again; only the tenant lifts it, by tapping Resume messages or replying START or ابدأ. This is a condition of the service staying available to everyone.

Tenants who cannot be reached

If WhatsApp reports that the number is not on WhatsApp, messages to it stop and Not on WhatsApp shows beside it on the contract page. Correct the number on the contact card, then remove and re-add the recipient.

Who can see, choose and send

Each part of WhatsApp messages is its own permission, so you decide who does what:

The first three are boxes in the role editor (Settings → Configuration → Roles, in the WhatsApp messages group), and each applies on the properties where the person holds that role. Choosing recipients and sending both include seeing the messages. Seeing or editing a contract does not, on its own, show its messages.

For someone who handles the messages for the whole workspace, such as a collections officer, a workspace admin can give access from the member's page instead (Settings → Member Access, in the Workspace access section): See all WhatsApp messages, Message all tenants (see, choose and send on every property, including ones added later), or Manage WhatsApp messages (all of that plus the settings above). This access does not open contract pages, Receivables or Payments, so that person works from the WhatsApp messages page, where each row has a Send button.

Out of the box, the General Manager, Lease Manager and Accountant can see the messages, choose recipients and send; the Property Manager and Treasurer can see the messages.

Related

• Notifications for the team's reminder timing.
• Roles and permissions and the permissions reference for the WhatsApp permissions.
• Plans and billing for the message balance.