WhatsApp message scheduling: While WhatsApp allows its users to have a lot of good features, like stickers, GIFs and deleting messages, the instant messaging platform does not have the facility to allow users to schedule a message. In case a user remembers to ping someone in the middle of the night, the user will either have to somehow remember to do it the next day or do it right then, since a feature to schedule is not officially supported by the app. However, there are workarounds to this shortcoming in both Android as well iOS phones.
Scheduling WhatsApp messages in Android
WhatsApp messages can be scheduled on Android with the aid of several third-party apps. While several apps claim to do the job, only SKEDit does the job well. Here’s how you can schedule WhatsApp messages using SKEDit.
- Install SKEDit from Google Play Store and open the app. When the app is first launched, the user will have to sign up.
- After signing up, tap WhatsApp on the main menu.
- Grant the permissions the app asks for. Go to Enable Accessibility > SKEDit then toggle on Use Service to allow. After this, return to the app.
- After this, fill in the details like the recipient, the message the user wants to send and the time and date the user wants to send the message on. The user will also be asked if they wish to repeat the scheduled message.
- After this, the user will finally be asked if they wish to be asked before the message is sent. The users can choose to toggle this option to ‘on’ and then tap the tick icon. The message is scheduled after this action.
- If the user has chosen the option to be asked when the message is sent, then on the scheduled day, they will receive a notification asking for approval to complete the action. Once that is done, the user can see the message being delivered in real time.
- However, if the user chooses to not be asked when sending the message, they will be asked to disable the phone’s screen lock and the phone’s battery optimization. While this will make the scheduled message sending automatic and instant, it could lead to compromised privacy and hence this is not a recommended option.
Scheduling WhatsApp messages in iPhone
While iOS does not have any third-party apps for scheduling such messages, iPhone users can turn to Siri Shortcuts, to help send the WhatsApp messages at a scheduled time due to its reliance on automation. Here’s how it works.
- Download the Shortcuts app from the Apple App Store and open it.
- Select the Automation tab at the bottom of the screen.
- Tap the + sign and create a personal automation.
- After this, select the Time of Day option to schedule the automation and in case of the WhatsApp message, select the date and time when the user wants to send it. Then tap on next.
- You will then need to add the action the user wants to automate. For this, in the search bar, type Text and then choose Text from the list of actions that are shown.
- After that, enter the message in the text field.
- After the message is entered, the user needs to tap the + sign below the text field and look for WhatsApp in the search bar.
- In the list of actions, the user should select Send Message via WhatsApp, and then choose the recipient. After that, the user needs to tap Next and then Done.
- After this, the user will get a notification from Shortcuts app at the scheduled time, upon clicking which, the user will be redirected to WhatsApp where the scheduled message pasted. All the user now needs to do it press Send.
However, users must note that messages in WhatsApp can only be scheduled for up to a week using this method in iPhone.
