Channels

By the end of this page your practice's messaging accounts will be connected, tested, and receiving patient replies into the shared inbox.

What a channel connection is

A channel connection is a send/receive account the inbox uses: a WhatsApp Business number, an SMS number, an email address, a Telegram bot, your Facebook Page and Instagram account, or a TikTok Business Account. Connect them under Settings → Channels.

Connect a channel

Click Add channel, choose the channel and follow its setup. Connected accounts stay at the top of the page, under Connected, each with Test and Edit beside it. Open Connection details at the bottom of a card for its technical addresses; Disconnect is under the ⋯ menu beside Edit.

Every channel you have not connected yet is listed underneath, under Not connected, with one line on what connecting takes and a Connect button that opens the same setup. Email is never in that list — every practice has its built-in email sender from day one; connect your own domain under Sending domains.

Connect Messenger, Instagram and comments

Smileline uses the same Meta app for EU and US practices. Incoming messages pass through shared intake storage in the EU before reaching your practice's region. If delivery is interrupted, the payload stays available for recovery. An account connected in conflicting regions is held for support review; contact Smileline support if its messages do not arrive after connecting.

Connect Messenger & Instagram opens Meta's own login, where you pick the Facebook Pages to grant. For every Page you select, Smileline creates the connections your app review currently allows: Messenger DMs, Facebook comments, and — when an Instagram professional account is linked to the Page — Instagram DMs and Instagram comments. Instagram surfaces need Meta's instagram_basic permission beside the messaging or comments one, and Instagram comments also need pages_read_engagement; a grant missing them connects the Facebook surfaces only and the connect reports partial, so reconnect, tick the Instagram account in Meta's dialog and allow Instagram messages. A Page with no linked Instagram account connects normally without Instagram surfaces.

Every Page you granted is connected, however many there are: a very large grant finishes within the hour after the login returns (the remaining Pages appear on the channel list as they are connected). A Page can belong to one practice at a time. If another practice already connected a Page you selected, that Page is skipped and the banner reads partial — disconnect it there first, then connect again here.

Meta's login can issue a short-lived token; Smileline trades it for Meta's 60-day token before storing anything, and the connection card shows when the grant expires (the earlier of the token's expiry and Meta's 90-day data-access window). Expires soon on the card means reconnect the Page in Meta's login before that date; Access expired means it has lapsed already.

Private replies to comments ride Meta's messaging permission (pages_messaging for a Facebook Page, instagram_manage_messages for Instagram). A grant without it still receives comments and posts public replies, but the composer offers no Private reply option on that connection — reconnect and grant messaging access to enable it. Instagram DMs are limited by Meta to 1,000 bytes of text (emoji and accented letters count for more than one).

If a send fails because Meta reports that the Page token expired or was revoked, that a permission was removed, or that the Page is restricted, the connection stays active so inbound keeps arriving, but the card shows Meta's reason and a notification is raised — reconnect the Page, or fix it in Meta and press Test. If Meta could not confirm the Page's webhook subscription when the Page was connected, Smileline retries hourly; should those retries run out, the card says messages will not arrive until Test or a reconnect succeeds — pressing Test confirms the subscription and clears that reason (or fails with it and restarts the hourly retries).

Disconnecting a Meta connection shrinks the Page's webhook subscription to whatever still uses it (native lead ads keep working), and releases the Page for another practice once its last connection here is gone. If Meta cannot be reached at that moment, the Page token stays on the archived connection until the subscription change is confirmed (retried hourly); a change that never confirms is written on the archived (dimmed) card in the channel list. Removing Smileline from your Facebook account (Meta's app settings), or requesting data deletion through Meta, archives every Page, Instagram account and WhatsApp number that login granted, and the deletion request is tracked to completion on Meta's confirmation page.

Why a conversation shows a number instead of a name

Messenger and Instagram message notifications can contain only the sender's platform ID. Smileline asks Meta for the profile name after saving the message. If Meta does not provide it, the inbox shows the ID. This is a platform identifier, not necessarily a telephone number.

Profile access is separate from the connection test. A Ready connection does not prove that Meta has approved profile access or messaging for people outside the app's test roles. Contact Smileline support if names remain missing; reconnecting alone cannot grant an app feature that Meta has not approved.

Smileline tries the profile lookup again when another message arrives on a conversation that still has no name. Opening or refreshing an older conversation does not currently fetch its profile. Linking the conversation to an existing patient uses that patient's name.

Connect TikTok

Connect TikTok opens TikTok's own login for the Business Account whose direct messages you want in the inbox. Sign in with that account, tick every permission TikTok lists (the messaging permissions are required: a grant without them is refused on return and nothing is stored), and click Continue. You land back on this page with the connection created and named after the account. Only TikTok Business Accounts can be connected, and the account's direct-message privacy setting (TikTok app → Settings and privacy → Privacy → Direct messages) must allow messages from everyone, or patients cannot start a conversation.

Patients must write first: a TikTok conversation cannot be started from Smileline. Replies are allowed for 48 hours after the patient's last message and are text-only (see channel rules). TikTok issues a short-lived token that Smileline renews automatically while the connection is in use; if the renewal grant expires or is revoked, the card shows an error asking you to reconnect. Incoming messages keep arriving in the meantime.

Test checks the account with TikTok and re-registers the app's message webhook, so a changed address is repaired. Disconnecting removes Smileline's copy of the token; the grant itself stays in your TikTok account until you remove it there. A TikTok account can be connected to one practice at a time.

WhatsApp guided signup

Choose Add channel → Connect WhatsApp. Select the option that matches your number:

• Keep using my WhatsApp Business app keeps the app and connects its number to Smileline. New messages sent from the app appear in the inbox as outbound messages; they do not trigger automations, create unread notifications or open a WhatsApp reply window. Previous chats are not imported. Open the Business app at least once every 14 days to keep the connection available.
• Use my Smileline texting number reuses the number Smileline already texts from (see the SMS tab above). Choose the number if you have several and click Copy. In Meta's window choose to add a new number, enter that number and pick SMS for the code. Meta texts the code to your number; it appears in the Smileline dialog as soon as it arrives (and in the inbox as an ordinary text), so type it into Meta's window. The number keeps texting exactly as before — WhatsApp and SMS share it. If no texting number is ready yet, Get a texting number opens the SMS setup. Meta's phone-call option only works for a voice number with texting enabled, because a standalone texting number cannot take calls.
• Connect an existing WhatsApp API account lets you select the existing account. Meta explains any migration or verification requirements.

Have access to your Meta business portfolio and the phone number. Click Connect with Facebook, then follow Meta's steps to confirm your business details, select the account and grant access. If Facebook cannot load, allow it in your browser and click Retry. If guided connection is unavailable in your environment, contact Smileline support; Advanced setup remains available for existing credentials.

Submitted progress is saved. If verification, display-name approval or account subscription is incomplete, the card shows the remaining action. Complete that action, then click Continue setup to retry with the saved grant. Reconnect through Connect with Facebook when the grant has expired or access has been removed.

If the number has two-step verification and Meta reports a PIN mismatch, enter its six-digit PIN in Existing two-step verification PIN. Meta limits registration attempts, so correct the PIN before retrying. Business App connections are registered by Meta during their own signup and do not use this registration step.

When the connection is ready, send a WhatsApp message to its number from another phone. Open the inbox and reply through Smileline to check both directions.

Within a few minutes of the connection becoming active, Smileline submits your WhatsApp templates to Meta for approval — the standard reminder set every practice starts with, and any WhatsApp template you have written under Settings → Templates — and imports any template you already created in WhatsApp Manager. The token needs the whatsapp_business_management permission for this; without it the templates show Needs attention with the reason, and reconnecting with that permission clears it. See Message templates for the approval statuses.

To disconnect a Business App connection fully, also open WhatsApp Business → Settings → Account → Business Platform and disconnect Smileline there. Your conversation history in Smileline is kept.

Move channels from another inbox

Connect the same business accounts under Settings → Channels. Connecting an account does not import the previous inbox's contacts, conversation history, workflows or assignments. Keep access to that history and arrange any required import separately.

• Messenger and Instagram: select the existing Facebook Page and linked Instagram account. Confirm that Meta has approved the required app access. Check Meta's conversation routing so new conversations are assigned to Smileline, then verify an incoming message and a reply using a staff test account.
• WhatsApp: choose Connect an existing WhatsApp API account to keep the same number. Use the business portfolio that owns it and follow Meta's migration and verification steps. Do not disconnect or deregister the number before the replacement connection is ready. If guided setup is unavailable, contact Smileline support before removing the old connection.
• Telegram: use the existing bot's token. Connecting it registers Smileline as the bot's webhook destination, redirecting new bot messages from the previous inbox. Do this when your team is ready to handle those messages in Smileline.
• TikTok: sign in with the existing Business Account. Confirm its registered region and messaging eligibility; an account can appear connected while TikTok prevents API messaging. The region restriction above still applies when moving from another inbox.

Use Test to check each connection, then verify an incoming message and a reply before retiring its previous inbox connection. A successful connection test alone does not verify the full message journey.

Connect a Gmail or Outlook mailbox

Connect Gmail and Connect Outlook link a mailbox your practice already uses — the address patients already write to — instead of a forwarding address:

Replies you send from Smileline leave from the connected address and appear in the mailbox's own Sent folder, so the mailbox remains a complete record. Mail your team sends directly from Gmail or Outlook shows up in the conversation too, labelled as sent outside Smileline.

Only mail written by a person becomes a conversation. Newsletters, no-reply notifications, auto-responders and delivery reports are left in the mailbox and skipped here — they are never deleted or moved, so nothing is lost. Each skip is counted on the connection's card — 12 emails skipped under its status line, shown only once the count is above zero; hover it for the reminder that Newsletters, notifications, auto-replies, spam and oversized messages stay in the mailbox — they are kept out of the inbox by design. The count includes mail Gmail has labelled spam or trash and any message over the 25 MiB limit, and because every skip is recorded, that mail can be brought in later if the rules change. For Gmail mailboxes, a delivery-failure report also marks the message you sent as failed in the thread. Sync covers the inbox and sent mail; messages that rules file into other folders stay in the mailbox.

If the account's password changes or access is revoked, the connection shows an error — click its connect button again to re-authorise; Smileline stops syncing that mailbox until you do. If access was restored on the provider's side instead (an administrator re-approved the app, for example), press Test — a successful test resumes syncing without a reconnect. If syncing stops after repeated failures, the card says the sync is parked: press Test — a successful test resumes it — or reconnect. Mail that arrives while the connection is in error is kept and delivered once it is active again. A mailbox can be connected to one practice at a time.

Google and Microsoft keep a change log for a limited time. If a mailbox goes unsynced for longer than that log covers, the card shows Sync fell behind — recovering mail since followed by the date of the last sync: Smileline lists the mailbox from that date and brings the missing mail into the inbox over the next syncs, alongside new mail, and the message clears when the recovery finishes. Nothing is lost in the mailbox itself either way.

Both providers push new mail to Smileline as it arrives; if that push cannot be renewed, the card says so and mail keeps arriving on the regular 15-minute check while Smileline retries daily. Disconnecting a mailbox stops the push and discards Smileline's copy of the access token; the grant itself stays in your Google or Microsoft account until you remove it there.

The webhook URL and inbound address

Some providers need to know where to deliver incoming messages — that's what the copyable fields on each connection card are for:

• Webhook in Connection details — the URL the Twilio number POSTs inbound events to (SMS). Smileline sets it on the number for you when you connect; it is shown for reference.
• Reply-to — the inbound email address patient replies route through (email connections).

Both are derived from a routing token minted when you connect, unique to the connection. WhatsApp and Telegram show neither: Smileline subscribes the WhatsApp Business account and registers the bot's webhook itself when you connect.

Credentials are write-only

Tokens and secrets you enter are encrypted at rest and never shown again — not in the app, not through the API. If a credential rotates on the provider's side, enter the new value; there is nothing to "reveal" or copy back out.

Test a connection

Click Test on a ready connection card. Use Continue setup for WhatsApp connections whose setup has not finished. Smileline pings the provider with the stored credentials and reports back:

• Success — "Connection is healthy." and the status badge turns Ready (a WhatsApp number whose guided signup has not finished stays pending until Continue setup completes it).
• Failure — the provider's error appears on the card and the badge turns error. A WhatsApp number that answers but cannot send — display name declined, or under review with no approved name yet, or registration on the Cloud API required — fails for that reason rather than reporting a healthy connection. A Messenger, Instagram or comments connection whose Page webhook subscription could not be confirmed at connect time has it confirmed by Test: a successful test writes the subscription and clears the reason; if Meta still cannot confirm it, the test fails with that reason and the hourly retries start again.

Run a test right after connecting, and again whenever messages stop flowing. On a Gmail or Outlook mailbox, Test checks that the stored grant still opens the right mailbox; a successful test also resumes a sync that was paused after repeated failures. It does not re-run a recovery or import older mail.

Edit a connection

Click Edit on a connection card to change its Name and its number or From address — and, on a WhatsApp connection created before the account ID was required, its WhatsApp Business Account ID (it can be added once, never swapped for another account: moving a number to a different WhatsApp Business account goes through disconnect and connect again, which re-checks that the account owns the number). Credentials are not touched — to replace those, disconnect and connect again.

Email switches onto your own domain by itself once it has verified. On the built-in email connection the From address is guided: type the part before the @ and choose the domain from your verified sending domains — with a single verified domain it is simply shown after the @. Until a domain verifies, the field takes a full address and the dialog reminds you that email keeps sending from the shared Smileline domain.

A practice with more than one location also sees a Location field. Leave it on All locations and the connection serves every site. Assign a location and sequences and reminders send from it for patients and appointments at that site, falling back to the All locations connection for everyone else. The assigned location shows on the connection card.

Disconnect

Open the ⋯ menu on the card and click Disconnect. Sends through it stop, and later inbound events are held for review — but conversation history is kept in the inbox. Connecting the same account again later creates a fresh connection.

Disconnecting a WhatsApp API-only number detaches Smileline from the WhatsApp Business account (unless another connected number shares it) and deregisters the number from the Cloud API. A Business App connection is not deregistered: finish disconnecting it from the Business App as described above. As with Meta Pages, the token stays on the archived connection until Meta confirms, and a change that never confirms is shown on the archived card.