What is a WhatsApp newsletter?
Definition
Newsletter is the protocol's name for what the app calls a Channel: a one-way broadcast that followers read but cannot reply to. It has its own address suffix, its own invite links, and its own set of endpoints, and it is completely separate from a group.
In more depth
The naming is confusing and it is worth getting straight before you write any code. WhatsApp shipped the feature to users as Channels; underneath, the protocol and every engine library call the object a newsletter, and Wapito keeps that vocabulary in the API to match what the engine returns. Meanwhile Wapito uses the word channel for your linked number, so the two never collide in the API surface even though they collide in conversation. Functionally a newsletter is a broadcast: the owner and any admins post, followers see the posts in a separate tab, nobody can reply in line, and reactions are the only feedback. Follower identities are hidden from the owner, which makes newsletters a genuinely different tool from a group rather than a bigger one. You can create a newsletter from a linked number, post text and media to it, read back its history, look it up from an invite code and follow other people's newsletters so a bot can react to what they publish.
In the Wapito API
On the wire it is the field newsletter_id:
{
"newsletter_id": "120363100000000000@newsletter",
"name": "Release notes",
"subscribers": 1840
}On the official Cloud API
Meta's Cloud API reference documents no endpoints for Channels or newsletters, so publishing to one from an official API is not possible today.
Wapito is an independent product. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by or certified by WhatsApp or Meta Platforms, Inc. WhatsApp is a trademark of Meta Platforms, Inc.
Related terms
Related
Endpoints that use it
Feature guides
Reference
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