Changes to Message Sending on the WhatsApp Cloud API

This is an update to the previous announcement about the Cloud API migration posted here.

What has changed?

As we've progressed with the Cloud API migrations, we have observed a few previously undocumented differences between it and the On-Premise API. Previously, we had communicated that no action was required of our customers for this migration. We have since uncovered that for a limited group of customers, this is no longer the case. Please review your API calls per the following observations and remove any extra keys that aren't support.

New errors when sending Message Templates: The Cloud API now surfaces new errors if a WhatsApp Message Template has unnecessary keys or missing parameters. This only impacts Sunshine Conversations license holders who leverage WhatsApp Message Templates. Customers should be able to see the actual message related to the error code. The following list includes the most common errors we've observed. If you're unsure how to correct the error, please refer to WhatsApp's documentation or contact Advocacy. We recommend that regardless of which WhatsApp API you use, that you practice proper template sending. 

1. (#100) The parameter interactive['footer']['text'] is required.
2. (#100) Unexpected key "provider" on param "template['components'][0]['parameters'][0]['image'].
3. (#100) Param type must be one of {AUDIO, CONTACTS, DOCUMENT, IMAGE, TEXT, TEMPLATE, VIDEO, STICKER, LOCATION, INTERACTIVE, REACTION}.
4. (#100) Unexpected key "ActionInterface" on param "interactive['action']". "
5. (#100) Unexpected key "localizable_params" on param "template".
6. (#100) Unexpected key "baseUrl" on param "template['components'][1]['parameters'][0]".
7. (#100) Unexpected key "hasUrlParameters" on param "template['components'][1]['parameters'][0]".

No support for Turkish numbers on the Cloud API: Customers with Turkish WhatsApp numbers will not be migrated to the Cloud API due to a limitation on WhatsApp's side. Additionally, messages from any Cloud API numbers to end-users with Turkish numbers will fail. If your primary business is with Turkish end-users please note that there is no near-term solution to this problem.

Including a provider key when sending media via a URL: This only impacts a small number of Sunshine Conversations license holders. Previously, when sending media over WhatsApp as a URL, it was possible to include a provider key. This key was never supported by Sunshine Conversations and customers should delete this field from their API calls to bypass the related error.

Extensions must include the filename: This only impacts a small number of customers. Please check that when you're sending media over WhatsApp that the URL contains the filename. Here's a fake URL which contains the filename image1.jpeg at the end, this format will send over WhatsApp. https://media.smooch.io/apps/1b2c34bkj34kg54gj3k4gj56u43g6/b9df7v8gud5gc7d868hg7/image1.jpeg

We apologize for any inconveniences that these errors may have caused. Please note that these new errors are primarily due to the Cloud API's validation being more sensitive. We will continue to update this article if any new errors are uncovered. Communications for customers who have not yet been migrated will be handled separately as to ensure that the impact to our customers is minimized.