FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

1. How do I format phone numbers?

Always use the full international format without any + or leading zeros. - Correct: 6283139750000 - Incorrect: +6283139750000, 083139750000

2. Can I use this for bulk messaging?

While technicaly possible, WhatsApp has strict anti-spam measures. Using any third-party library for mass messaging can result in your account being banned. Always use WhatsFly responsibly and follow WhatsApp's Terms of Service.

3. Why does it download something on the first run?

WhatsFly needs a compiled Go backend to work. To make it easy for Python developers, we host pre-compiled binaries on GitHub and download the one matching your OS/architecture automatically.

4. How can I disable automatic updates?

Set the environment variable WHATSFLY_NO_UPDATES=1 in your system or before importing the library:

import os
os.environ["WHATSFLY_NO_UPDATES"] = "1"
from whatsfly import WhatsApp

By default, it is stored in a directory named whatsapp/ in your current working directory. You can change this using the database_dir parameter in the WhatsApp constructor.

6. I'm getting an `OSError` related to the shared library.

This usually happens if the binary for your architecture couldn't be downloaded or is incompatible. - Check your internet connection. - Ensure you have the necessary permissions to write to the whatsfly/dependencies directory. - If you are on an unsupported architecture, you may need to compile the Go backend manually (see Advanced Usage).

7. How do I stop the library?

Always call whatsapp.disconnect() before your script exits to ensure the Go backend closes the connection and database gracefully.

8. My event callback isn't being called.

Ensure you've called whatsapp.connect().
Check if you've registered the callback either in the constructor on_event=my_callback or by appending to whatsapp._userEventHandlers.
Make sure your script doesn't exit immediately after calling connect(). Use time.sleep() or a loop to keep it running.

FAQ