💬 Sending WhatsApp Messages with Python using APIs

Imagine getting a WhatsApp message when your script finishes running, when a price drops, or when someone fills out a form.

With Python and WhatsApp APIs, you can send messages automatically to yourself or others — all from your code.

In this post, you’ll learn:

✅ How WhatsApp APIs work
✅ Free & official ways to send messages
✅ Code examples using Python
✅ Real-world automation ideas

🧠 WhatsApp API Basics

WhatsApp doesn’t offer direct access via smtplib-like tools. Instead, you use:

WhatsApp Business API (official)
Third-party APIs (like Twilio)
Unofficial tools (like pywhatkit, selenium)

For most users, Twilio is the easiest way to start legally and reliably.

🚀 Option 1: Twilio WhatsApp API (Recommended)

Twilio is a trusted service that lets you send WhatsApp messages via its REST API.

🧰 Requirements

A free Twilio account
A verified phone number
Python + twilio package

📦 Install Twilio SDK

pip install twilio

✉️ Sample Code

from twilio.rest import Client

# Twilio credentials
account_sid = 'your_account_sid'
auth_token = 'your_auth_token'
from_whatsapp_number = 'whatsapp:+14155238886'  # Twilio sandbox number
to_whatsapp_number = 'whatsapp:+1234567890'     # Your number with country code

client = Client(account_sid, auth_token)

message = client.messages.create(
    body='📊 Your daily report is ready!',
    from_=from_whatsapp_number,
    to=to_whatsapp_number
)

print(f"✅ Sent message: {message.sid}")

👉 Sign up and get SID/Auth: https://www.twilio.com/console
👉 Sandbox setup: https://www.twilio.com/console/sms/whatsapp/learn

⚠️ WhatsApp Business API (Advanced & Official)

This is the enterprise-level solution by Meta for approved businesses. Features:

Two-way messaging
Brand-verified profiles
Requires Meta business verification

Use it if you're building:

A customer support chatbot
A booking system
Automated CRM outreach

👉 Learn more: https://business.whatsapp.com/products/platform

🧪 Option 2: `pywhatkit` (Unofficial, Browser-Based)

pip install pywhatkit

import pywhatkit as kit

# Send a message at a scheduled time
kit.sendwhatmsg("+1234567890", "Hello from Python!", 15, 30)

⚠️ Requires a visible and logged-in WhatsApp Web session.

🧠 Real-World Use Cases

Use Case	Description
✅ Report Alerts	Send updates from a scraper or report generator
📦 Order Notifications	Confirm e-commerce orders
⏰ Appointment Reminders	Notify customers or clients
📊 Daily Summaries	Send dashboards to your phone

🛡️ Best Practices

Use official APIs like Twilio for production apps
Don’t spam — WhatsApp has limits and policies
Use environment variables or .env to protect credentials
Add logging to monitor sent messages

🔁 Automate It

Combine with:

schedule or cron for periodic updates
Data pipelines or scraping tools
Contact forms or booking systems

Example: Send daily report every morning at 8 AM

import schedule
import time

def send_report():
    # call Twilio API here
    print("Sending daily WhatsApp message...")

schedule.every().day.at("08:00").do(send_report)

while True:
    schedule.run_pending()
    time.sleep(60)

💡 Final Thoughts

Python + WhatsApp = powerful communication.
Whether you're a business or a solo builder, you can automate:

Customer messages
Real-time notifications
Custom alerts
Dashboard summaries

🔗 Want to Go Further?

Build a full chatbot with Flask + Twilio
Add buttons, emojis, and formatting
Store logs of sent messages in Google Sheets or databases
Send dynamic attachments (like PDFs or Excel)

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