WhatsApp Flows · Forms in the chat

A real form, inside WhatsApp,
without sending anyone to a website.

Ten questions asked one message at a time is how a conversation dies. A Flow opens a proper form over the chat — fields, dropdowns, a date picker — the customer fills it in and taps submit, and the answers arrive as a structured record instead of forty messages an agent has to read.

What are WhatsApp Flows?

WhatsApp Flows are structured, multi-screen forms that open inside a WhatsApp conversation — text fields, dropdowns, radio buttons, checkboxes, dates and opt-ins — so a customer can book, apply or register without leaving the chat or visiting a website. Meta defines them in a format called Flow JSON. In TicAte you build the screens in a visual editor and the Flow JSON is generated for you, so a version bump at Meta never becomes your problem. Submissions arrive in the inbox as a readable summary, a structured record on the contact, and an event your automations and webhooks can act on.

Design your first flow

What you can build

Anything you would put on a landing page

With one difference: the customer is already in the conversation, already identified by their number, and never has to type an email address to prove it.

Multi-screen forms

Several screens, each with a heading, some explanation, its own fields and its own button — so a long form feels like three short ones instead of an interrogation.

The field types you actually need

Text, long text, email, phone, number, dropdown, radio, checkbox, date and a consent opt-in — each with a label, helper text and a required flag.

Bookings with your slots

A booking flow with your services, your time slots and how many days ahead you take appointments. The customer picks a service, a day and a time, in three taps.

Generated Flow JSON

You never write Flow JSON. The editor holds screens and fields; the compiler turns them into whatever version Meta currently expects, which is one file for us to update and none for you.

Responses that read like a summary

A submission lands in the thread as a readable block — question, answer, question, answer — so the agent gets the picture without opening anything else.

And then something happens

A submission is an event: create a deal, add a tag, assign to a team, fire a webhook into your own system, or start the follow-up sequence. The form is the beginning, not the end.

Getting flows live

What it takes

Get the business verified

Publishing a flow requires a verified Meta business — this is Meta's rule, not ours, and it is the step most people are missing. We walk you through verification before anything else.

Build the screens

Add screens, drop in fields, mark what is required, write the helper text. Or start from the booking template and fill in your services, slots and how far ahead you take bookings.

Write the message that offers it

A flow is offered by a message with a call-to-action button — header, body, footer and the button label the customer taps to open the form.

Publish and send

Publish to Meta from the app, then send the flow from the inbox, a broadcast or an automation. Submissions come back into the same conversation.

Flow: service booking

Screen 1Service · dropdown, required

1 field

Screen 2Date and time slot, 14 days ahead

2 fields

Screen 3Name, phone, notes

3 fields

Flow JSONGenerated and published to Meta

Live

On submitCreate deal · assign · confirm

Automated

Good to know

WhatsApp Flows questions

Do I need a developer to build a Flow?

No. Meta describes flows in a format called Flow JSON, but you never touch it — the editor holds screens, fields and the message that offers the flow, and the JSON is generated. When Meta bumps the Flow JSON version, that is one file on our side, not a rebuild on yours.

Why does publishing a flow fail with an integrity error?

That message from Meta almost always means the business behind the WhatsApp Business Account is not verified yet. Complete Meta business verification and publish again. We check this with you before you start building.

What can a Flow collect?

Text, long text, email, phone, number, dropdown, radio, checkbox, date and a consent opt-in, across as many screens as the form needs. There is also a booking mode with your own services, time slots and booking window.

Where do the answers go?

Into the conversation as a readable summary, onto the contact as a structured record, and out as an event your automations and webhooks can use — to create a deal, assign the conversation, or push into your own system.

Is a Flow better than asking questions one at a time?

For anything longer than two or three questions, yes. A chatbot asking one question per message is fine for qualification; a form with ten fields, a date and a consent checkbox belongs in a Flow, where the customer sees the whole thing and can correct an answer before submitting.

Does a Flow work outside the 24-hour window?

You can send a flow inside an open conversation, or as an approved template outside it, exactly like any other message. Meta's window rules do not change because the message carries a form.

Keep reading

Next to flows

WhatsApp chatbot

The conversation around the form: menus, questions and handover to a person.

WhatsApp catalogue

Products, carts and order updates, in the same conversation as the form.

WhatsApp Business API

Connection, verification and what Meta charges — the groundwork flows sit on.

A real form, inside WhatsApp,without sending anyone to a website.