Upinion · Round 4 · WhatsApp Flows Prototype
Inside WhatsApp, every conversation pattern Upinion needs — modelled as a real, clickable Flow.
Round 4 update: architecture confirmed. Gerben's live in-meeting test (27 May 2026) validated the WhatsApp Channel → wa.me link → bot pre-fills keyword pattern end-to-end with a real consumer WhatsApp Business app.
Everything you see below is grounded in the actual Meta Flows API — no marketing, no aspirational features. Where WhatsApp can't do something, we say so.
1Five conversation flows — click through each
A migrant in transit sees something dangerous (new border control, smuggler, authority action) and reports it back to us anonymously.
A 5-question survey on safety, location, conditions — earn 100 DA topup. The structured-form half of Upinion's data work.
Channel post includes a wa.me/?text=START_SURVEY link. Tap opens the bot chat with the keyword pre-typed. User sends, bot routes to the matching Flow. Live-tested by Gerben in Day 2 meeting.
User taps a Channel post CTA or types ‘help’ — opens a fresh service window so they can talk to a human (or scoped bot) for the next 24h, free.
Same Channel-first pattern as Flow C, but for incident reporting. Channel post with START_REPORT wa.me link → bot → anonymous report Flow with category, location, description, photo.
Every Flow B survey ends with a 1-question quality rating. Aggregated ratings drive the contingency engine on the Engagement Monitor. Pattern: App Store star ratings.
7 days after a survey runs, aggregated results are posted back into the Channel as a recap. Community sees its own collective voice. Closes the loop. Drives next-survey participation.
Full acquisition view: user opens WhatsApp's Updates tab, scrolls the channel feed, picks Anwar's Channel, sees a broadcast post, taps CTA, hits the two-tap reality (wa.me link → bot replies with Flow trigger). 6 screens — the most thorough Channel-first walkthrough in the prototype.
2What's decided · what's still open
✓ Decided
- WhatsApp is the surface. PWA dropped as primary.
- Form-stays-open is a myth — but a Flow CAN have 100 navigable screens.
- Architecture: WhatsApp Channel (broadcast) + WABA Bot (Flows) + wa.me keyword link bridges them.
- Channel → wa.me deep-link VALIDATED LIVE by Gerben (Day 2, 27 May 2026): Channel post → tap link → bot chat opens with keyword pre-typed → send → bot routes to Flow.
- WhatsApp Communities are OFF the table — phone numbers visible to all members. Hard fail.
- Topup abuse: invitation tokens + 30-day Reloadly lockout. Accept 5–10% residual fraud.
○ Still open
- Stack pick: Turn.io ($120/mo NGO discount, Flows-ready, fastest) vs. Glific (OSS, self-hostable, no Flows yet).
- Trust at first contact (no blue tick for ‘Anwar' pseudonym) — warm referrals + zero-link first message.
- Push notifications without a chat handle — Channel follow vs. WABA opt-in.
- Voice-as-answer — Flows have NO voice input. Workaround: voice notes via chat layer.