How to Schedule a WhatsApp Message in 2026 (and Groups)

As of October 2026, not in the WhatsApp app everyone has. Reports from October 2026 say Android beta testers are getting a press-and-hold-send scheduler that works up to about two weeks ahead, and earlier 2026 reports describe an iPhone test build, but WhatsApp has given no public release date. Until that ships you schedule with a workaround on your phone or computer, or, as a business, through the WhatsApp Business Platform, where a tool sends an approved template at the time you pick.

The WhatsApp Business app does not change the answer. As of October 2026 it has greeting and away messages, which are auto replies to someone who writes to you, not sends that leave on their own at a set time.

For a webinar host the question is bigger than one message. The confirmation, the reminders, the join link, the recording and the no-show follow-up each carry a time, and the count is 300 people, not one. That is what WhatsApp for webinars in Webinly does, and the rest of this page.

People have found three ways to get a message out at a set time without a scheduler in the app. All three work as of October 2026, and all three share one bill: one phone or computer, one person's chats, no record of who received what, nothing for 300 people at once. For a birthday message at midnight, fine. For a business that promised a link at 7 PM, not fine.

Scheduled sends to many people happen on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the API that tools connect to through Meta. As of October 2026 the shape is always the same: the business connects its own number, Meta approves each message template, the tool sends it at the chosen time with fill-ins such as a first name or a link, and Meta bills the conversations.

Three rules ride on that rail and no tool can waive them: WhatsApp only delivers pre-approved templates, promotional messages need the person's consent, and anyone can stop with a stop word. Webinly follows all three, sends from the number you connected in Meta's own sign-up window, and has no SMS channel. Prices in the Webinly column were read on 25 October 2026 from the pricing page.

Webinly is a platform for webinars and courses, so the messages a registrant expects already carry a time. Once a business connects its own WhatsApp Business number, five of them can go out on WhatsApp instead of only by email: a confirmation when someone registers, reminders before it starts, the link to join when it goes live, the recording afterwards, and a follow-up for people who registered and did not attend.

The number stays theirs: Meta bills the account directly, and Webinly only holds permission to send and receive on the business's behalf, which can be withdrawn at any time. One customer never sees another customer's conversations.

The first scheduled message needs no automation. Anyone who registers with a phone number but never opens the room gets one WhatsApp message with their own watch link 7 minutes after their session starts, a delay you set per webinar from 2 to 180 minutes. No phone number, no message, so the form should ask for one, with the country code.

Replies come back into Webinly, so whoever answers sees who wrote. Anyone can stop by replying with a stop word in English or Arabic, including STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, إلغاء and إيقاف. Email has its own clock on every plan: reminders at 24 hours, 3 hours, 1 hour, 30 minutes and 5 minutes before the start, laid out on the webinar registration page.

Yes, in an automation. A journey starts on something a person did (registers, misses the start, misses the webinar, abandons a checkout, joins a segment, reaches a date), waits minutes, hours or days, up to a year, then runs its steps, one of which is Send a WhatsApp message. The webinar follow-up page shows the shape: someone misses the webinar, wait one day, send the WhatsApp template with their watch link filled in, wait two days, branch on whether they watched.

Two guardrails make it a scheduler you can trust. With quiet hours on, any message due between 9 PM and 8 AM, in your account time zone or UTC, waits and goes out when the window opens. A frequency cap skips a message once a person has had the number you set, counting every automation and WhatsApp message sent to them. Before switching a journey on, pick a real contact and read what would happen to them, step by step, with nothing sent.

A WhatsApp step needs four things: the connected number, a template Meta has approved with fill-ins such as the first name or the watch link, a phone number with its country code on the contact, and, for anything promotional, that contact's opt-in to marketing messages. A service message about their own session or purchase needs no opt-in. Missing any of them, the step is skipped and logged, and the journey carries on.

Not from the app, as of October 2026. The missing scheduler covers posts too, and a poll in a group cannot be scheduled either: you open the chat, attach the poll and send it, phone in hand.

In Webinly, groups and channels are one row on the pricing page: scheduled posts, quiz polls, an AI post writer, and who read, clicked and bought, a $29 a month add-on on Starter and included on Pro and Scale. The Tuesday 9 AM post and the poll that warms the room before Thursday are written once and go out on their own. What a native poll can and cannot do is in the WhatsApp group poll guide.

Six steps, each taken from how the product works today. The first and the last are the ones people skip.

On the pricing page, Starter is $39 a month and runs one automated webinar at a time; live broadcasting starts on Pro at $159, and Scale is $349. WhatsApp reminders, inbox and campaigns are included on all three. Groups and channels, with the scheduled posts, are $29 a month on Starter and included on Pro and Scale. The WhatsApp AI assistant, 1,500 answers a month with a person able to take over, is $39 a month on any plan. Meta's bill for the conversations is separate and goes to you, because the number is yours.

The price is per account, not per seat, and co-hosts are included. There is no SMS: reminders go by email, and by WhatsApp once a sender is connected. A first plan is $1 today and the plan price 7 days later, with one webinar and 50 registrations in between.

It is for anyone who runs webinars, courses or a paid community and whose audience reads WhatsApp before email. It is not for someone who wants to schedule one message to a friend; for that, as of October 2026, the iPhone shortcut and a tap is the honest answer.