orca.floHow OrcaFlo works: from QR code to a live WhatsApp assistant
What happens at each step of setup, what the assistant reads before it replies, how a chat reaches your team, and what you control once it’s live. No developers and no WhatsApp API paperwork.
Setup, step by step
Sign up and pick your business type
Signing up takes about two minutes. Choose your type of business (or “Other”) and your panel opens on the Setup checklist, which stays open until you go live. Optional: a starter pack for your type of business adds ready instructions, quick replies in English and Arabic, pipeline stages and a few automations. Nothing is sent to customers.
Connect your WhatsApp number
On your phone, open WhatsApp Business → Linked devices → Link a device and scan the QR code in Setup, the same way you open WhatsApp Web. Your number, your chats and the app stay on your phone, and the assistant stays switched off for now. If your number is still on regular WhatsApp, move it to WhatsApp Business first.
Answer questions about your business
What you sell, your prices, the areas you cover, your policies. OrcaFlo writes your assistant’s instructions from these answers, so the more specific you are, the better it answers.
Check the instructions it wrote
These are the rules your assistant follows in every conversation: who you are, your tone, what it must never do and when to hand a chat to a person. Change anything in Bot Settings, then press Review prompt to catch missing rules and risky promises before you save (how the check works).
Add your products and knowledge
Add each product with its price under Products: the assistant quotes prices only from this list. In Knowledge Base, upload your price list, FAQs and delivery or booking policies, or import up to 20 pages of your website.
Set your hours and bookable services
If customers book with you, tell the assistant when you’re open, which services can be booked and how long each takes, so it offers real times instead of guessing. Connect Google Calendar and it only offers times you’re free.
Turn on alerts
When a customer asks for a person, complains or is ready to buy, the assistant hands the chat over and OrcaFlo alerts you. Turn on notifications on your phone or computer and send yourself a test (step by step).
Test it, then go live
Open Test Assistant and message it the way a customer would: ask about prices, book something, ask for a person. It uses your real instructions, products and knowledge base, and nothing is sent to anyone. When you’re happy, press Go live. Some business types press Submit for review instead and are switched on after a quick check.
Three things before you start.
A WhatsApp Business account at least 10 days old
Brand-new numbers are closely watched by WhatsApp and can be restricted when automated replies start straight away. Use a number that has been active on WhatsApp Business for 10 days or more.
The phone with that account nearby
You connect by scanning a QR code with the WhatsApp Business app, like WhatsApp Web. Keep the phone charged and online.
Your prices and common answers
A product or service list, delivery or booking details, and the questions customers ask most.
Optional extras, now or later
- Answer website chat, email and Telegram with the same assistant, in the same inbox.
- Connect Claude or ChatGPT and ask it “who is still waiting for a reply?”.
- Bring your contacts and tags from another tool with the Switch to OrcaFlo importer. Imported contacts are never messaged automatically.
- AI mystery shoppers (early access): before you go live, about 20 AI “customers” chat with your assistant, and you get a score, the worst chats and what to fix.
- Rather not do it yourself? On the Done-for-you plan the OrcaFlo team sets up your assistant, products, knowledge base and automations, and keeps tuning it every month. Compare the plans on the pricing page.
What the assistant reads before it replies
Your instructions
Your business, your tone, what it must never do and when to hand over. It follows them in every conversation, and you can edit them any time.
Your products and prices
Every product or service with its price. It quotes prices and stock only from your list, so it never invents a number.
Your knowledge base
Price lists, FAQs, delivery and booking policies, and pages imported from your website. For prices that change often, a short price list is the most reliable source.
Your open times
Your hours and bookable services, so it offers real open slots, confirms the booking and sends a reminder before the visit.
The customer’s message
Text in whatever language they write, plus voice notes and photos, so a customer can send a voice message or a picture of the item they want.
What it won’t do
It is told never to invent prices or policies. When it isn’t sure, it hands the chat to your team instead of guessing.
How a chat reaches a person
It spots a hand-over moment
A complaint, a large order, a customer who asks for a person, or a question it isn’t sure about. You decide in its instructions which topics always go to your team.
It steps back
It hands the chat to your team and pauses itself for that customer, so your staff and the assistant never talk over each other.
Your team is alerted
A notification on your phone or computer, and the customer is marked as waiting for a person in Conversations, with the whole chat so far.
You reply, then hand it back
Answer from the panel with the full history in front of you; you can also press Pause bot to step into any chat yourself. When you’re done, press Resume bot and the assistant carries on.
Your first week live
- Every conversation shows up live in Conversations. Read what the assistant said, and step in whenever you want.
- When it hands a chat over because it didn’t have the answer, add that answer to your knowledge base or instructions, then ask Test Assistant the same question to check.
- Fix-It Feed (early access) finds these gaps for you: the questions the assistant fumbled, each with a suggested one-tap fix such as a knowledge answer, a product detail or a rule. You apply or dismiss each one, and can undo it.
- Shadow Launch (early access) is for owners who want to see every reply first: for your first days the assistant drafts each reply and a person sends, edits or skips it. Topics switch to automatic once the drafts are reliably right.
- Leads fill your CRM by themselves, each with a stage and a temperature, and timed follow-ups go to people who went quiet, stopping as soon as they reply.
- The WhatsApp health light stays green while your number is connected and messages are being delivered. If it turns red, you get a notification and an email.
What stays in your control
- Nothing reaches a customer until you press Go live.
- Edit its instructions, products and knowledge base whenever you like; it answers from the updated version.
- Pause it for one customer or for everyone, and take over any chat with one tap.
- Decide which topics always go to a person, for example complaints, refunds or anything that needs professional advice.
- Approve replies before they’re sent with Shadow Launch, and each Fix-It suggestion before it changes anything (both early access).
- Give each team member their own login and permissions, and hide customers’ phone numbers from agents if you want (roles and masking).
- Broadcasts are paced to protect your number (why that matters), and follow-ups stop the moment a customer replies.
- If you connect Claude or ChatGPT, it tags, books and replies with your approval, and every change it makes is logged and can be undone.
Arabic and English
Your assistant replies in the language the customer writes in. In Arabic it follows the customer, Modern Standard Arabic or Gulf dialect, and moves to English as soon as they do. Many other languages work too. Chat with it in Arabic in Test Assistant before you go live to hear how it sounds for your business.
The dashboard can be switched to Arabic under OrcaFlo settings → Language: sign-in, Setup and pages such as Conversations and Broadcasts then show in Arabic, right to left. This page is also in Arabic, and so are the answers to common questions.
Questions
No. Setup is a checklist in your panel: you scan a QR code, answer questions about your business and check what OrcaFlo wrote. There’s no API paperwork, and a real person is on hand if you want help.
Signing up takes about two minutes, and you can be live the same day: connect WhatsApp, answer the questions, add your prices, test it and press Go live. Some business types press Submit for review instead and are switched on after a quick check.
It doesn’t guess. It hands the chat to your team with the conversation so far and alerts you. Add the missing answer to your knowledge base or instructions and it will use it next time.
Yes. Edit its instructions, products or knowledge base whenever you like, and it answers from the updated version. Try the change in Test Assistant first; nothing you type there is sent to anyone.
Yes. OrcaFlo works through the WhatsApp Business app on your phone, so keep it charged and online. The health light in your dashboard shows whether messages are being delivered, and you get a notification and an email if it turns red.
Yes. On the Done-for-you plan the OrcaFlo team sets up your assistant, products, knowledge base and automations, and keeps tuning it every month. Compare the plans on the pricing page.
Stop losing customers to slow replies.
Try it free for 14 days and let OrcaFlo answer tomorrow’s messages.