Updated 2026-09-03 · 5 min read
Before comparing assistants it's worth understanding something almost no provider explains: there are two different ways to connect software to a clinic's WhatsApp, and they don't give the same result for your team or for your patients. One is Meta's official WhatsApp Business API. The other is the session of the clinic's own WhatsApp, linked just as when you open WhatsApp Web on a screen.
Almost everything that later seems odd about an assistant —that it can't write to a patient who dropped their treatment a month ago, that you're asked for a new number, that session reminders come out like forms— comes from which of the two your provider has chosen.
What you already have: WhatsApp Business, the app
Most clinics use WhatsApp Business, Meta's free app: the usual WhatsApp with a business profile, quick replies and an away message. It works on the clinic's phone and on WhatsApp Web, and the number is yours.
That app has no intelligence: it says the same to everyone and doesn't know which slots each physiotherapist has free or how many sessions are left on a pack. For someone —or something— to really answer on the clinic's behalf you need to connect software. And that's where the two routes appear.
Route 1: Meta's official WhatsApp Business API
It's the channel Meta offers to companies and platforms. The number becomes managed by an authorised provider and messages go in and out through their platform, not through the app on the phone.
It comes with the 24-hour window: you can only write freely to a person within the 24 hours after their last message; outside that period, only templates approved by Meta, with fixed text. The reminder for Thursday's session to someone who booked last week is no longer a conversation: it's a template. And the message to someone who left their treatment halfway three weeks ago simply doesn't fit.
It also brings a cost per conversation, passed on in bundles; the possibility of having to change number, because a number can't be in the app and in the API at the same time; and dependence on Meta and its policy changes. In return, it's a channel with official verification that scales to huge volumes: it makes sense for a chain, less so for a clinic with a number its patients have had saved for years.
Route 2: the session of your own WhatsApp
The other way is to link the clinic's WhatsApp to the software just as you link WhatsApp Web: you scan a QR code and, from then on, the software reads and writes in that same account. The number is still yours, the app stays on the phone and the assistant answers from the same session.
There's no 24-hour window: the assistant can write to whoever it needs to whenever it needs to —the session reminder, the notice that two sessions are left on the pack, the message to someone who left their treatment halfway, the slot that's freed up— as a normal conversation. There's no new number. And as soon as someone from the team replies in a chat, a well-built assistant steps aside in that conversation until it's switched back on.
It's the standard route with ClaudIA, and it's a product decision: in physiotherapy, half of what an assistant does —reminding about sessions, tracking packs, picking treatments back up— happens outside any 24-hour window.
What to ask before signing up
First: how does it connect to WhatsApp? If it's the official API, ask about the 24-hour window and the templates; if it's the session of your own number, ask what happens when the team replies from the phone. Second: do I have to change number? Third: how much does the month with the most conversations of the year cost? Fourth, the one that reveals everything: what happens with the reminder to a patient who hasn't written for weeks?
The official API isn't bad: it's the right route for huge volumes and for brands that need Meta's verification. For a clinic, the route chosen decides whether the assistant can do half its job or only the other half, and that decision deserves a question before signing.
Questions clinics ask
Do I have to change the clinic's WhatsApp number? With the own-session route, no: the assistant connects to your usual WhatsApp with a QR code and the number is still the clinic's. With Meta's official API it depends on the provider: some ask for a new number or for you to remove the WhatsApp Business you already use on that number.
What is WhatsApp's 24-hour window? A rule of Meta's official API: you can only write freely to a patient within the 24 hours after their last message. After that, only a pre-approved template fits. That's why many session reminders via the API end up as rigid templates or don't go out.
Can the team keep replying from the phone with an assistant connected? Yes, on the own-session route: WhatsApp stays on the phone and in the dashboard, and as soon as someone replies in a chat, the assistant steps aside in that conversation. With the official API, the account is managed from the provider's platform.
Which does ClaudIA Physio use? The session of the clinic's own WhatsApp, linked with a QR code. It doesn't depend on Meta's API or have a 24-hour window, so reminders and pack notices reach patients who haven't written for weeks. Always ask any provider this before signing up.