Bobbie on WhatsApp
Everything you can do from your phone once it is linked: send letters in, ask what's on, go through the Inbox by saying inbox, and get the round-up there. And the one rule WhatsApp imposes that you should know.
Updated 28 September 20261 min read
The short version. Once linked, message Bobbie's number like a person. Send letters, ask questions, say inbox to go through what is waiting. The only rule: Bobbie can start a conversation only within a day of your last message.
Sending things in
A photo of a letter, a forwarded message from the class group, a PDF, a voice note. Bobbie replies with what it found ("Two things: a trip on the 14th, £12 to pay by Friday. They're in your Inbox") and they wait there for you.
Asking
"What's on tomorrow?" "What do I owe?" "What's for tea?" "Add Leo's football, Wednesdays at half three." The same answers as in the app.
Going through the Inbox
Say inbox. Bobbie sends the first thing waiting, and you answer yes (confirm), no (bin) or tomorrow (ask again tomorrow). Then the next. A dozen things take a minute at the bus stop.
Round-ups on WhatsApp
Set a round-up to arrive on WhatsApp under Settings, Round-ups. Because of the rule below, it arrives on WhatsApp only if you have messaged Bobbie in the last day; otherwise it shows as a card on Today, and you can switch that round-up to email.
The 24-hour rule
WhatsApp allows a business to send you a message it started (rather than a reply) only within 24 hours of your last message to it. Anything you send resets the clock. This is WhatsApp's rule for every business on the platform, not ours. It does not affect replies, which Bobbie can always send.
What is really happening
Bobbie's number is a business number on WhatsApp's own platform, and every message is checked to be genuinely from WhatsApp before it is read. Your number identifies you, the same way your login does in the app; a child's number identifies the child. Photos and files are deleted thirty days after they arrive.
Questions people ask
- Why did Bobbie stop replying after a day?
- It has not. WhatsApp only lets a business start a conversation within 24 hours of your last message; Bobbie can always reply to anything you send. Send it anything and the window opens again. This only affects things Bobbie starts, such as round-ups.
- Is it the real Bobbie or a menu bot?
- The real one. The same assistant as in the app, with the same knowledge of your calendar. Talk to it in sentences.
- Can other people in the class group see my messages to Bobbie?
- No. Bobbie is a normal WhatsApp contact; your chat with it is just yours, end-to-end encrypted to WhatsApp like any other.