Channel Overview

Supported Channels

IS-Messenger supports the following channels and the platform will continue to support more channels in the future.

Channels Summary

The table below summarizes on the connection difficulty level, the time needed, applicable cost and requirements for each channel.

Channels		Difficulty	Time Needed	Applicable Cost	Requirements
Facebook Messenger		Easy	15 mins	-	Facebook Page
Instagram		Easy	15 mins		Instagram Business Account (1,000 to 100,000 followers
WhatsApp		Advanced	7 to 10 working days	✔️	WhatsApp Business API
Website Chat		Moderate	15 mins	-	Live Website
LINE		Moderate	30 mins	✔️	LINE Official Account
Telegram		Moderate	15 mins	-	Telegram Bot
Viber		Moderate	15 mins	✔️	Viber Bot
Google Business Messages		Moderate	15 mins		Google Business Profile with verified location
SMS		Moderate	1 to 2 working days	✔️	Phone number provisioned by our partners
Twitter		Advanced	1 to 2 working days	-	Twitter App
WeChat		Advanced	3 to 5 working days	✔️	WeChat Official Account
Other Email		Easy	15 mins	-	Gmail or Gmail for Business account
Custom Channel			1 to 2 working days	-	Custom Integration Server to handle the incoming and outgoing message between IS-Messenger and Messaging Service Provider

If there is a need to connect to channels that require approval such as WhatsApp, Twitter and WeChat, we will suggest proceeding with the application first. Once the account is approved, you may proceed to connect it to ISMessenger.

If there is a channel you don't see the list and you would like the platform to support, please do not hesitate to add a request or upvote an existing one on our Feature Requests page.

Channel Capabilities

If you are missing a channel you would like to see on the platform, please add or upvote it on our Feature Requests page.

The table below will give you a quick comparison between channels.

	Quick Replies	Chat Link & QR Code	Broadcasts Support^	Messaging Windowª	Unique Features˘	Channel Feesº
Facebook Messenger	✅	✅	✅	7 days	✅	-	-
Other Email	✅	✅	-	-	✅	-	✅
Instagram	✅	✅	-	-	-	-	-
WhatsApp	✅*	✅	✅	24 hrs	-	✅	✅
Website Chat	✅	✅	-	-	-	-	-
LINE	✅	✅	✅	-	-	✅	-
Telegram	✅	✅	✅	-	-	-	-
Viber	✅	✅	✅	-	-	-	-
SMS	-	✅	✅	-	-	✅	✅
Twitter	✅	✅	✅	-	-	-	-
WeChat	✅*	✅	-	48 hrs	-	-	-
Custom Channel (ID type = Phone Number)	✅	-	✅	-	-	º	✅
Custom Channel (ID type = Custom ID))	✅	-	✅	-	-	º	-

* Channel does not support rich UI quick replies, uses numeric system instead.

^ Not all channel partners allow broadcasts.

ª Some channels have a messaging window, replies can only be sent within the messaging window.

˘ Some channels have channel-specific features, you can find out more on the channel page.

º Some channels have additional fees put in place by the channel provider.

Message Status Availability

For some channels, we are able to find out the message status whether has it been sent, delivered, read or failed. Refer to the following table on which channel offers message status availability:

Messaging Channel	Sent	Delivered	Read	Failed
Facebook	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Instagram	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
WhatsApp - Twilio	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
WhatsApp - MessageBird	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
WhatsApp - Vonage	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
WhatsApp - Chat API	✔️	✔️	✔️	-
WhatsApp - 360Dialog	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
Website Chat	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
LINE	✔️	-	-	-
Telegram	✔️	-	-	-
Viber	✔️	✔️	✔️	✔️
SMS - Twilio	✔️	✔️	-	✔️
SMS - MessageBird	✔️	✔️	-	✔️
SMS - Vonage	✔️	✔️	-	✔️
Twitter	✔️	-	-	-
WeChat	✔️	-	-	-

Messaging Window

Some messaging channels have a limited messaging window for the contact to receive a response. The messaging window refreshes every time a message is received from a contact. Refer to the following channel and their respective messaging window:

Channel	Messaging Window
WeChat	48 Hours
Messenger	7 days
WhatsApp	24 Hours
Instagram	7 days

Facebook Messenger's Messaging Window is now extended to 7 days because ISMessenger platform has been selected to participate in Facebook HUMAN_AGENT tag Closed Beta program.

The 24-hour messaging window is only applicable to WhatsApp Partner API channels; Twilio, Vonage, MessageBird & 360Dialog. WhatsApp Chat API does not have this limitation as it is not a WhatsApp Partner.

Messages can still be sent outside the messaging window but it will not be delivered. There will be a red exclamation mark indicating the message is not delivered along with an error message.

Failed Message Delivery

For Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp, they have a feature that allows users to send a message to the contacts beyond the messaging window.

Facebook Tagged Message

WhatsApp Message Templates

To send a message to Facebook contacts after the messaging window, you can use Facebook Messenger Message Tag to do so. For more information on, look at Facebook Messenger Message Tag.

To send a message to WhatsApp contacts after the messaging window, you can use WhatsApp Message Templates to do so. For more information on, look at WhatsApp Message Templates.

Broadcast

In IS Messanger, you may broadcast content to your contacts if the channel is supported. However, there may be a few limitations that need to be considered when broadcasting with a supported channel.

Bear in mind that every channel has its own rate limit of how many requests/messages can be processed in a time interval. This may affect the deliverability of the broadcast content to your contact.

WhatsApp API Channels

If you wish to broadcast to contacts from WhatsApp API Channels (Twilio, MessageBird, Vonage, 360dialog), you will need to specify a WhatsApp Message Template as the broadcast content.

Before broadcasting to these contacts, please make sure your WhatsApp Message Template is submitted and approved by WhatsApp.

Facebook Messenger

As for Facebook Messenger, you can specify the content in the broadcast dialog but a Facebook Tag is needed to send the broadcast content.

When using Facebook Tag for broadcast, please make sure you comply with Facebook's Messaging Policy to prevent your Facebook page being banned from sending messages.

Rate Limits

A rate limit is the number of API calls an app or user can make within a given time period defined by the channel. For example, a rate limit of 30 requests per second means that in one second, any request that comes after the 30th request will be throttled and fail.

In the context of IS-Messenger, a request is when a message is being sent to a contact

Messaging Channel	Applicable Rate Limit
Facebook	200 requests per hour
WhatsApp - Twilio	20 requests per second
WhatsApp - MessageBird	200 requests per second
WhatsApp - Vonage	20 requests per second
WhatsApp - Chat API	1 request per second with a limit of 6000 requests per day
WhatsApp - 360Dialog	10 requests per second
LINE	60 requests per hour
Telegram	30 requests per second
Viber	500 requests per 10 seconds
SMS - Twilio	Varies depending on the location of the recipient. Refer here for more information.
SMS - MessageBird	-
SMS - Vonage	30 requests per second
Custom Channel	20 requests per second