The accounts behind your messaging — in plain English
Nuvio Chat sends WhatsApp through Meta, SMS and calls through Twilio, and email through SendGrid — using YOUR accounts, so your numbers and sender reputation always belong to you. Here’s exactly what each account is, what you need, and which parts we handle with you. No developer-speak.
WhatsApp Business (Meta)
To send WhatsApp messages from your business number, Meta (the company behind WhatsApp and Facebook) requires every business to have an approved WhatsApp Business Account. Connecting yours to Nuvio lets the platform send your broadcasts, run your chat inbox, and track whether each message was delivered and read.
Have these ready
- A Facebook account that is an admin of your business's Meta Business Portfolio (the free container Meta gives every business — the popup can create one for you if you don't have it)
- A phone number for WhatsApp that can receive a one-time code by SMS or voice call
- To know whether that number is already used in a personal WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app on a phone — it can stay there ('coexistence' mode) or be a fresh number, but tell us which
- Your business display name (the name customers will see in WhatsApp)
- Basic legal business details (name, address, website) in case Meta asks to verify your business
We do this for you
- Exchange the code from Meta's popup for your permanent access token (the secret key that authorizes sending) — you never see or handle it
- Store that token encrypted at rest, so it is scrambled inside our database
- Subscribe our platform to your WhatsApp account so incoming messages and delivery receipts start flowing automatically — no webhook (Meta's way of pushing events to a server) setup for you to do
- Verify every incoming event is genuinely signed by Meta before we trust it, and route each message to the right inbox for your number
- Track every broadcast message through sent, delivered, read, or failed, and show it in your reports
- Submit your message templates to Meta through their API and show you the approval status
- Create the Brand record so your number is immediately usable for broadcasts, the chat inbox, and the bot
Step by step
- Log in to your Nuvio console as the ownerOpen the console in your browser and sign in with the owner account we gave you. Only the owner can connect a WhatsApp number.
- Open 'Connect a WhatsApp number' and click the blue buttonGo to the Brands area and open the Connect WhatsApp page. Click 'Connect WhatsApp via Facebook'. A small Meta popup window opens — everything happens inside that popup, on Meta's own website, so your Facebook password is only ever typed into Facebook, never into Nuvio.
- Follow the popup: pick your business, then your WhatsApp accountThe popup asks you to log in to Facebook, choose (or create) your Meta Business Portfolio, then choose or create a WhatsApp Business Account (Meta calls it a 'WABA' — it's just the container that holds your WhatsApp number).
- Add and verify your phone number in the popupEnter the phone number you want customers to message, choose SMS or voice call, and type in the one-time code Meta sends you. If the number is already on the WhatsApp Business app on a phone, choose the option to keep it there — it will work in both places at once.
- Finish the popup and wait for the green confirmationWhen the popup closes, the console shows 'Connected — brand created'. Your number now appears as a Brand (Nuvio's word for one WhatsApp sender) with everything filled in automatically. If it says no phone number was shared, add the number inside Meta's WhatsApp Manager first, then tell us and we'll link it.
- If it's a brand-new number: set the registration PINA fresh number (one not already active in the WhatsApp Business app) needs one last step inside Meta's WhatsApp Manager: registering it with a 6-digit PIN (a code you choose that protects the number). We'll point you at the exact screen — it takes under a minute.
- Create your first message template and wait for Meta's approvalWhatsApp only lets a business start a conversation using a pre-approved 'template' (a fixed message with fill-in-the-blank spots). Write it in the console's Templates tab; we submit it to Meta for you, and Meta usually approves within minutes to a few hours.
Can I keep using the WhatsApp Business app on my phone?
Yes. The signup supports 'coexistence' — your number stays live in the phone app while Nuvio sends broadcasts and runs the inbox in parallel. Choose the 'keep using the app' option inside Meta's popup.
Is my WhatsApp access token safe with Nuvio?
Yes. The token is stored encrypted (scrambled so it's unreadable without our server key), it is never shown in any screen, and only your account's sends use it. You can revoke it at any time from your Meta Business settings.
Why can't I just message anyone right away?
WhatsApp's rules: a business may only start a conversation with an approved template, and only with people who have opted in. Once a customer replies, you have a free-form 24-hour window to chat normally. Nuvio enforces opt-outs automatically so you stay compliant.
Twilio (SMS & Calls)
Twilio is the phone company for software — it supplies the real phone numbers your text messages and calls come from, and charges only per message and per minute with no subscription. Nuvio plugs into your Twilio account so your team can text and make calls straight from the browser, with call recording, an AI answering bot, and automatic opt-out handling.
Have these ready
- A Twilio account you create yourself at twilio.com (you own it and the numbers in it; Nuvio never creates accounts or types your passwords for you)
- A payment card loaded into Twilio (it's pay-as-you-go: roughly a cent per US text segment and a few cents per call minute)
- At least one phone number bought inside Twilio (a few dollars a month each)
- For texting US customers: A2P 10DLC registration — a one-time form inside Twilio where US carriers approve your business to send marketing texts — plus a 'Messaging Service' (Twilio's sender pool that adds automatic STOP/opt-out replies)
- Your Twilio credentials handed to us over a secure channel: Account SID and Auth Token (your account's ID and master password for the API), an API Key pair, and — after we create it — the TwiML App SID (the ID of the small call-routing profile)
We do this for you
- All the technical wiring: generating the secure short-lived tokens that let your staff call from the browser, bridging the audio, and answering Twilio's server-to-server requests
- Verifying every incoming Twilio request is genuinely signed by Twilio before acting on it
- Automatic opt-out compliance: honoring the Messaging Service's STOP handling and appending an opt-out footer to texts
- A cost guard for pictures: MMS (picture messages) only truly exists in the US and Canada — elsewhere carriers silently convert it to several expensive plain texts, so Nuvio refuses those sends instead of quietly overbilling you
- Calling-window enforcement on the auto-dialer: each number is only dialed during polite hours in its own local time zone
- Call logging, private recordings and voicemail playback, follow-up queues, and per-campaign cost estimates using the rates you set
- Throttled, batched sending so campaigns go out smoothly without tripping carrier limits
Step by step
- Create your Twilio account and add fundsSign up at twilio.com yourself, verify your email and phone, and add a payment card. You do this — account creation and payment details are always in your hands, never ours.
- Buy your phone number(s) in the Twilio consoleIn Twilio's 'Buy a Number' page, pick a number with Voice and SMS capability in the country you want to appear from. This is the number your customers will see.
- For US texting: complete A2P 10DLC registration and create a Messaging ServiceFill in Twilio's business-registration form (legal name, tax ID, what you'll send) — carriers typically approve in a few days. Then create a Messaging Service and add your number to it; this gives you automatic 'Reply STOP to opt out' handling and better delivery. Send us the Messaging Service SID (its ID code).
- Create an API Key and share your credentials securelyIn Twilio → Account → API Keys, create a key (this gives a Key SID and a Secret — a second, safer password apps use instead of your main one). Send us the Account SID, Auth Token, API Key SID and Secret through the secure method we give you. We store them as protected server secrets.
- Point your number at Nuvio using the URLs we show youYour console's Call Settings page lists three exact web addresses. In Twilio, open your number's settings and paste them in: 'A Call Comes In' gets our inbound URL, 'Call Status Changes' gets our status URL, and the TwiML App (a one-time routing profile we help you create) gets our outbound URL. This is copy-and-paste — no code.
- Add your caller IDs in the Nuvio consoleIn Call Settings, add each number (with a label like 'Main US line') so staff can pick which number a call shows as coming from. If you want calls to show an existing non-Twilio number, Twilio requires verifying it — Nuvio can type the verification code in for you automatically during the check call.
- Choose your options: recording, quiet hours, AI answeringFlip call recording on or off (callers hear a 'this call may be recorded' notice when on), set quiet hours so marketing texts only go out 8am-9pm in the customer's local time (a US law called TCPA), and, if you want the AI bot to answer calls, we point the number's incoming-call setting at the bot instead.
What do I actually pay, and to whom?
Twilio bills you directly, pay-as-you-go: the monthly number rental (a few dollars), about a cent per US text segment, a couple of cents per picture message, and per-minute call charges. Nuvio's console shows estimated spend per campaign using rates you enter in Settings.
Can Nuvio set up my Twilio account and card for me?
No — deliberately. Account creation, passwords, and payment details always stay in your hands. We give you exact click-by-click instructions and the copy-paste URLs; the whole Twilio-side setup is typically under an hour.
Why did my US text campaign need days of paperwork first?
That's A2P 10DLC — US carriers require every business to register before sending application-driven texts, or messages get filtered as spam. It's a one-time approval (usually 1-5 days) and afterwards your delivery rates are much better.
SendGrid (Email)
SendGrid (owned by Twilio) is the delivery engine that actually hands your marketing emails to Gmail, Outlook and the rest, and reports back who opened, clicked, or bounced. Nuvio uses it under the hood so your campaigns go out from your own domain name and you can see real results — but a new sending domain must first earn trust, which is what warmup is for.
Have these ready
- A SendGrid account you create yourself at sendgrid.com (free tier is fine to start)
- A domain you own for sending (for example yourschool.com) and access to its DNS settings — the control panel at your domain registrar where you can add records (we tell you exactly what to paste)
- A 'from' address on that domain (for example hello@yourschool.com) and your company's postal address, which the law requires in the footer of bulk email
- A SendGrid API key with Full Access (the secret key that lets Nuvio send on your behalf), handed to us over a secure channel
- 3-6 ordinary email inboxes you control across different providers (Gmail, Outlook, Zoho) for warmup, each with an 'app password' — a special extra password those providers issue for programs, found under the account's security settings
We do this for you
- All actual sending through SendGrid's API, in throttled batches, with a plain-text copy of every email and a one-click List-Unsubscribe header — both required by Gmail and Yahoo's 2024 bulk-sender rules
- Hosting the unsubscribe page and honoring every unsubscribe instantly and permanently
- Verifying the cryptographic signature on every delivery report before trusting it
- Running the warmup engine: gentle daily sends to your seed inboxes, spam-rescue, mark-as-read, and a daily sending cap that grows automatically as your domain earns trust
- List hygiene: mirroring SendGrid's bounce and block lists into our own suppression list, and an engagement guard that rests addresses that never open (they stay reachable on WhatsApp, SMS and calls, and are retried after a cooling period)
- Correlating every open, click, bounce and complaint back to the exact campaign and recipient in your analytics
- Deliberately leaving temporary failures like 'mailbox full' alone, since those people may come back
Step by step
- Create your SendGrid accountSign up at sendgrid.com yourself and complete their identity checks. As with all accounts, you create it and hold the password — never us.
- Authenticate your sending domainIn SendGrid → Settings → Sender Authentication → Authenticate Your Domain, SendGrid shows you three DNS records (CNAMEs). Paste them into your domain's DNS panel. This proves to Gmail and Outlook that email from your domain is genuinely yours (the technical names are SPF and DKIM — think of them as a wax seal on your envelopes). It usually verifies within an hour.
- Create a Full Access API key and hand it to us securelyIn SendGrid → Settings → API Keys, create a key with Full Access, copy it once (SendGrid never shows it again), and send it to us through the secure method we give you. We store it as a protected server secret.
- Turn on the Event Webhook and point it at NuvioIn SendGrid → Settings → Mail Settings → Event Webhook, paste the exact URL shown on your Nuvio Email Settings page, and tick: delivered, open, click, bounce, dropped, spam report, unsubscribe. This is how open and click counts reach your dashboard.
- Enable the Signed Event Webhook and give us the public keyOn the same SendGrid screen, switch on 'Signed Event Webhook' and copy the verification key it displays (a public key — safe to share; it only lets us confirm reports really came from SendGrid, not forge anything). Send it to us; without it we'd have to trust unverified data.
- Set your sender identity in the Nuvio consoleIn Email → Settings, fill in your From name, From email, optional Reply-to, and your company postal address, and leave 'append address + unsubscribe footer' ticked — bulk-email law (CAN-SPAM) requires both the address and a working unsubscribe link.
- Turn on Warmup mode and add your seed inboxesLeave 'Warmup mode' ticked so daily volume ramps up gradually instead of blasting from day one. Then in Email → Warmup, add each seed inbox: pick the provider (the form pre-fills the server settings), enter the address and its app password (encrypted at rest). Nuvio then quietly emails these inboxes daily and automatically rescues those emails from spam and marks them read — the positive signals that teach Gmail your domain is trustworthy.
- Optional: receive replies inside Nuvio (Inbound Parse)If you want replies to land in the console's approval inbox (where the AI drafts a reply and a human approves it before anything sends), we'll give you one MX record (the DNS record that says where your incoming mail goes) for a subdomain like parse.yourschool.com, plus the secret receiving URL for SendGrid's Inbound Parse screen.
Why can't I email my whole list on day one?
Gmail and Outlook treat a brand-new domain sending thousands of emails as a classic spammer pattern and will junk everything. Warmup mode ramps your daily cap gradually while the seed-inbox engine generates opens and 'not spam' signals, so by the time you reach full volume your domain has a reputation.
What is an app password and why do my seed inboxes need one?
It's a special one-off password Gmail, Outlook and Zoho issue for programs (usually under Security → App passwords, after turning on 2-step verification) so you never share your real login. Nuvio needs it to open the seed inbox, find the warmup email in spam, move it out, and mark it read. It's stored encrypted.
Do unsubscribes and suppressed addresses hurt my list?
The opposite. Mailbox providers judge you on engagement — people who never open are the biggest reason a domain slides into the spam folder for everyone. Suppression is reversible, never deletes a contact, and those people remain fully reachable on your other channels.
Sounds like a lot? It isn’t — we set it up together.
Most customers are live on WhatsApp within a few days. Start a trial and we’ll walk each step with you on a call.