Send and Receive MMS messages to WhatsApp users using fmMMS

With over 2 billion people in more than 180 countries using WhatsApp to communicate with friends, family and businesses WhatsApp is a communications platform that you can’t ignore. What started as an alternative to SMS now supports sending and receiving a variety of media including text, photos, videos, and documents.

The WhatsApp Business Platform allows companies to message their customers directly within the WhatsApp messaging platform. For example companies can send appointment reminders, shipping alerts, order notifications, product demonstration videos, verification codes, boarding passes, and more. Millions of businesses around the world are now using the WhatsApp Business platform to communicate with their customers. Using the WhatsApp Business API you can respond to customer initiated messages or initiate messages to customers once you have secured their opt-in using customisable message templates which can be text or media-based.

When we released v4 of fmSMS (our solution for sending and receiving SMS messages using the Claris FileMaker Platform) back in 2019 we included support for sending SMS messages to WhatsApp users using the WhatsApp Business API with Twilio. Twilio was one of the first SMS Gateways that fmSMS supported so it made sense to extend support to WhatsApp users using the Twilio API – you can see a short video demonstrating this here.

When we were developing fmMMS – our solution for sending and receiving MMS (Multimedia Messaging Service) Messages using the Claris FileMaker Platform – we also wanted to include support for sending MMS messages to WhatsApp users using Twilio. Here’s a screenshot from fmMMS showing an outgoing message with a single media file attachment:

Here’s how that message appears in the WhatsApp app on an iPhone (also showing a message sent in reply):

We’ve put together a short video demonstrating sending and receiving MMS messages between FileMaker and WhatsApp in action (you can also watch this directly on YouTube here):

If you would like to discuss sending SMS or MMS messages to WhatsApp users from your FileMaker solution please get in touch for a free initial consultation to discuss your requirements.