Shared WhatsApp inbox
Your team answers customers from one business number, each from their own login, without stepping on each other’s replies.
WhatsApp on one phone works until two people need to answer at once, or the person holding it goes home. EliteTeQ Inbox moves your business number into a shared inbox that works on any computer or phone, and gives every chat a clear owner. Staff in Johannesburg and Cape Town answer the same +27 number at the same time.
7 days free · no card needed · keep the WhatsApp Business app
WhatsApp or call +1 214 423 5355 · a person replies, usually in under 10 minutes
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Real screen · demo workspace with example data
Customers message at nine at night and nobody answers until morning.
EliteTeQ Inbox
Set office hours for each number, in Johannesburg time (SAST). After hours, customers get your away message straight away, and their chat waits at the top of the list for the morning.
Thandiwe ends up answering every chat, because the phone lives at the till.
EliteTeQ Inbox
Tick who handles the number and turn on auto-assign. Each new customer goes to the next person in turn.
The 24 hours passed and now WhatsApp won’t let us reply.
EliteTeQ Inbox
Every chat shows how long you have left to reply. When the window closes, send an approved template from the same box.
Tell us how many people should answer. We set up logins, auto-assign and office hours with you on WhatsApp, usually in one sitting.
A shared WhatsApp inbox lets several staff answer customers from one WhatsApp Business number at the same time, each from their own login. EliteTeQ Inbox does this on the official WhatsApp Business Platform: chats are assigned to one teammate, internal comments stay inside the team, and the owner sees every conversation in South Africa.
| Product | EliteTeQ Inbox, by EliteTeQ Softwares Limited (Nairobi, Kenya) |
|---|---|
| What it is | A WhatsApp team inbox and CRM |
| Channels | WhatsApp Business (official Cloud API, works alongside the WhatsApp Business app), Facebook Messenger, Instagram DMs, Facebook and Instagram comments |
| Works on | Any browser; installs on Android and iPhone |
| Price | From $29 a month; $59 Growth; $99 Business with unlimited people; a year costs 10 months |
| Free trial | 7 days, every feature open |
| WhatsApp numbers | 1 to 3 included by plan; up to 20 per business (Meta’s limit once the business is verified with Meta) |
| In South Africa | +27 WhatsApp Business numbers, office hours on Johannesburg time (SAST) |
| Languages | Customers write in English, Afrikaans and isiZulu |
| Setup | About 40 minutes, or done with you on WhatsApp |
| Last reviewed | 2026-11-01 |
The everyday problems of one business phone, one at a time.
Assign a chat by hand, or turn on auto-assign so each new customer goes to the next teammate in turn. Transfer a chat with a handover note and the new owner gets an alert.
Real screen · demo workspace with example data
New customers get a greeting during office hours. Anyone who writes while you’re closed gets an away message, at most once every 12 hours. Hours run in Johannesburg time (SAST).
Real screen · demo workspace with example data
WhatsApp lets you reply freely for 24 hours after a customer writes. After that, or to message someone new, you send a template approved by WhatsApp. Create and track them in the app.
Real screen · demo workspace with example data
Install EliteTeQ Inbox on Android or iPhone from the browser. It looks and works like WhatsApp, with sounds, pop-ups and an unread badge.
Real screen · demo workspace with example data
7 days free · no card needed · keep the WhatsApp Business app
Customers message the same number they always have; your team answers from the inbox.
Thandiwe messages your +27 business number. The chat appears in the inbox for everyone allowed to see that number.
Auto-assign gives new chats to the next teammate in turn, or anyone can take it. The chat shows whose it is.
The owner leaves an internal comment, “@Pieter offer free delivery”, that the customer never sees.
Waiting chats rise to the top, and a countdown shows how long you have before WhatsApp’s 24-hour reply window closes.
You can keep the app; the inbox adds the team, in Johannesburg, Cape Town or anywhere else.
| WhatsApp Business app alone | With EliteTeQ Inbox |
|---|---|
| One phone, plus a few linked devices | Every teammate on their own login |
| No way to say who handles a chat | Assign, transfer and auto-assign |
| Notes to staff go in another chat | Internal comments inside the chat |
| No record of who replied, or how fast | Reply speed per teammate in reports |
| Each number on its own phone | Several numbers in one inbox (Business plan) |
Customers keep messaging the same number, in its +27 format; only the way your team answers changes.
South African customers expect a business to answer on WhatsApp the way they message friends. When enquiries come into a branch phone and a manager’s phone, nobody knows who already replied. One shared inbox gives every chat a clear owner.
Customers write in English, Afrikaans, isiZulu and other languages. Your team replies in the customer’s language inside the 24-hour window; template messages are created in English.
Office hours are set day by day for each number. A common setup in Johannesburg or Cape Town: weekdays open, Saturday mornings open, Sunday closed. Anyone who writes while you are closed gets your away message, at most once every 12 hours, and the chat waits at the top of the list for the morning.
Customers in South Africa pay with cards, contactless, EFT, and popular local payment methods, so when a sale closes on WhatsApp the customer may confirm payment in the chat, and your team needs to see that message quickly.
Eastern Cape Province · a port city and centre of vehicle manufacturing
Gqeberha's commerce is tied to vehicle manufacturing and its port, which gives it a substantial wage-earning workforce with regular pay cycles and therefore more predictable retail demand than tourism-led cities. Businesses supplying industry need invoicing and credit accounts alongside walk-in sales. Card payment is standard and grid interruptions apply as nationally. When Gqeberha (Port Elizabeth) trade peaks, auto-assign spreads new WhatsApp chats across whoever is on shift.
Free State Province · South Africa's judicial capital and a regional service centre
Bloemfontein serves as the commercial and service centre for a large farming province, so its trade mixes urban retail with agricultural supply and has a demand pattern influenced by the crop and livestock calendar. Judicial and university activity provide a steady weekday base. The city serves a large farming province, so agricultural supply sits beside urban retail and demand tracks the crop and livestock calendar. When Bloemfontein trade peaks, auto-assign spreads new WhatsApp chats across whoever is on shift.
Eastern Cape Province · a coastal port and manufacturing city
East London combines a working port with vehicle and component manufacturing and a domestic coastal holiday trade, giving it both steady industrial supply demand and seasonal hospitality peaks. A working port and component manufacturing sit alongside a domestic coastal holiday trade, producing steady industrial demand and sharp seasonal peaks. The binding constraint is handling account customers and holiday-season retail without two separate systems. When East London trade peaks, auto-assign spreads new WhatsApp chats across whoever is on shift.
Limpopo Province · the commercial centre of Limpopo
Polokwane is the main retail and service centre for Limpopo, drawing shoppers from a wide rural catchment and from cross-border traffic on the route toward Zimbabwe. That gives it pronounced weekend and month-end peaks tied to pay cycles. Card use is high but cash retains a larger share than in the metros, and multi-tender handling matters. When Polokwane trade peaks, auto-assign spreads new WhatsApp chats across whoever is on shift.
Reviewed by the EliteTeQ team ·
Not answered here? A person from our team replies on WhatsApp.
Ask a real person on WhatsAppYes, and both replies are sent. To avoid double answers, assign the chat to one person.
Yes. Agents can be limited to certain numbers. Owners and admins always see everything.
The greeting goes once to new customers during office hours. The away message goes to anyone who writes while you’re closed, at most once every 12 hours. Both are set per number.
It has been more than 24 hours since the customer last wrote. WhatsApp only allows an approved template until they reply again.
New businesses can start conversations with 250 people a day. Meta raises it to 1,000, 10,000 and beyond after business verification and good-quality messaging. Replies to people who wrote first don’t count.
Never. Comments are only for your team. Type @ and a name to mention a teammate.
Yes. Everyone signs in to EliteTeQ Inbox with their own login, from any computer or phone, and answers from the same business number. Chats can be assigned, transferred or shared out in turn, and agents can be limited to the numbers they handle. Office hours run on Johannesburg time (SAST).
They get your away message straight away, at most once every 12 hours, and their chat waits at the top of the list for the morning. Office hours are set per number, on Johannesburg time (SAST).
WhatsApp rules on this page, from Meta:WhatsApp Business Platform pricing (Meta)Messaging limits (Meta)Message templates (Meta)Business phone numbers and limits (Meta)About the WhatsApp Business Platform (Meta)
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