What you can send on each channel

REDA Connect supports WhatsApp, SMS, Facebook Messenger and Instagram. Their capabilities differ. This guide compares WhatsApp/SMS below and explains the Messenger/Instagram reply options separately.

WhatsApp and SMS capabilities

Note the last three rows: audio, stickers and reactions are receive-only even on WhatsApp — your customers can send them to you, but there is no way to send them back.

How you send each type

• Text — type in the composer and click the channel's send button (Sending your first message).
• Image and document — use the paper-clip on WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram when file sharing is enabled. See Sending files and images for channel-specific formats and limits.
• Video, location, interactive buttons/lists, approved WhatsApp templates — sent through message templates: an administrator builds the template once, agents send it from the composer's template picker. See What are templates? and, for the Meta-approved kind, WhatsApp message templates and Meta approval.

How each type looks when received

In the feed: images display inline; videos and voice notes play inline; documents appear as a file card you can preview and download; a shared location shows as a pin card that opens the spot in your maps; a reaction shows as the emoji itself on the conversation; and a customer's answer to your buttons or list shows their chosen option with your original question quoted above it — so the answer always has its context.

An inbound Image message — the photo renders inline in the bubble with the customer's caption underneath. Each rich type renders natively in the stream: documents as file cards, locations as a map link, interactive replies quoting the question they answer.

When something unsupported arrives

REDA Connect never drops an incoming message silently — unsupported content is stored as a message with a failed marker so you can see that something came in:

• A WhatsApp message of a type outside the table above is stored with the error "Unsupported message type." — you'll see there was a message, without its content.
• An SMS with a picture or any media attached (an MMS) is stored with the error "Inbound media messages are not supported currently for Twilio." The customer believes they sent you a photo; you receive a failed placeholder. If a customer says "I texted you the photo", this is what happened — ask them to send it on WhatsApp instead.
• A message whose content the feed cannot render shows an "Unsupported message" row in the stream rather than breaking the conversation.

Messenger and Instagram replies

Reply with text, images and documents within 24 hours of the customer’s message. Text templates and text-only chat-script steps are available. Meta-approved WhatsApp templates, interactive templates and bulk sends do not apply to these two channels. Incoming attachments are fetched separately; check the message/file result. Start with the Meta setup guides.

FAQ

Where to go next

• Sending files and images — the attachment workflow by channel.
• Files your customers send — where incoming media lands.
• What are templates? — the route to every rich outbound type.