Linking your WhatsApp
Send Bobbie a six-digit code from your phone, once, and from then on your number is how it knows it is you. Photos of letters, voice notes and forwarded messages all go in from there.
Updated 28 September 20261 min read
The short version. Settings, Integrations, Link my WhatsApp. Send the code it gives you to Bobbie's number. That is the whole thing, and it is done once.
Linking
- Open the menu, then Settings, then Integrations.
- In the WhatsApp card, press Link my WhatsApp. A code like
LINK-482913appears. It lasts fifteen minutes. - Press Open WhatsApp. WhatsApp opens on Bobbie's number with the code already typed. Press send.
- Bobbie replies within a few seconds to say your phone is linked.
If the button does not open WhatsApp (some desktops), save Bobbie's number from the card to your contacts and send the code by hand.
What you can do once linked
- Send a photo of a paper letter from the book bag.
- Forward a message from the class group.
- Send a voice note: "Leo's got a dentist on the fourteenth at four".
- Ask anything: "what's on tomorrow?", "what do I owe?".
- Say inbox to go through what is waiting, one at a time.
See Bobbie on WhatsApp for the details.
Unlinking
Press Unlink on the same card. Bobbie forgets the number and anything sent from it afterwards is ignored.
What is really happening
Your number is your identity on WhatsApp, the same way your email is on the web. The code proves the phone is yours; after that, every message from that number is filed as yours and trusted like anything you type in the app. Bobbie's number is a business number on WhatsApp's own platform; messages travel end-to-end encrypted to WhatsApp, then to Bobbie. Photos and voice notes are deleted after thirty days; what Bobbie read from them stays.
Questions people ask
- Why a code rather than typing my number in?
- Typing a number proves nothing: anyone could type yours. Sending a code from the phone proves the phone is in your hand, which is what matters when that phone can add things to your family's calendar.
- Can two grown-ups both link?
- Yes. Each person links their own phone from their own login, and Bobbie knows who sent what.
- What if I change my number?
- Unlink the old one from Integrations and link the new one. Or just link the new one: a phone can only belong to one person, and the newest link wins.