Changelog Archive

• WhatsApp Business API Client
• Scripts
• Amazon Web Services Templates

WhatsApp Business API Client

Jul 24, 2018 (v2.19.4)

• AWS upgrade issues from previous minor version is fixed
• Known Issues:
  • Using an IPV6 address as a database hostname doesn't work.
    In the environment passed to the containers, if WA_DB_HOSTNAME is an IPV6 address the Webapp container does not work. Workaround is to make the system see it as a hostname, either by finding the DNS name or changing /etc/hosts. Please note that if WA_DB_HOSTNAME is IPV4 address, it works fine.
  • Profile pictures above 70k don't work.
    Setting profile pictures for WhatsApp Business API Client of size more than 70k is failing. Currently, there is no workaround for this issue. We will patch this to 2.19.X as soon as it's ready.
  • Registration with bad pin for "Two-Factor Verification" crashes the Coreapp.
    Registration with wrong pin of two-factor authentication (2FA) crashes the Coreapp. Workaround is to 1) Restart the containers and register with correct pin, or 2) Disable 2FA and retry registration without a 2 pin.

Jul 18, 2018 (v2.19.3)

• Removed command line registration
• Support for "manual registration codes" is ended
• Recommended to install and upgrade using docker compose
• Script to install and upgrade continue to work. But, It will be removed at later version
• Builds now have a longer 6 month expiration
• Better error handling in Multiconnect
• For Multiconnect setup, only master can change vname
• Support for SQLite is deprecated from this release. Please migrate to MySQL if you haven't already.
• Allow user provided CA certificates to enforce HTTPS for Webhooks
• SSL certs are now stored in the waweb database
• Login fail tolerance rate limit for Webapp is set to 50 per hour
• Support for secure payload between the Webapp and Coreapp
• Enhanced security in the Webapp
• Change default db environment to not to use root
• Log rotation script support for Webapp and Coreapp

Jun 15, 2018 (v2.18.26)

• Increased rate limits to reflect real world usage
• Improved encryption key performance
• Faster reconnects when application disconnects
• Enhanced security in the Webapp
• Support password change in web admin
• Improvements on database performance in the Webapp
• Launching deterministic HSM — This allows the business to set the language for the HSM rather than it being a fallback.
• Make Prometheus compatible with the new API
• Fix incorrect media download uuid info
• Fix issues related to document MIME type
• Retrieve Prometheus stats with the parameter format=prometheus
• Improve throttling performance when job/callback queue exceeds the size
• Fix high/low threshold model for queue limit
• Support for SQLite is deprecated post this release. Please migrate to MySQL if you are still on SQLite.
• Enforce HTTPS for Webhooks, deprecating new HTTP Webhooks — Recommend HTTPS with publicly signed certificate, and if not possible, turn off SSL verification by setting the Webhooks parameter under the application settings:

{
    "webhooks": {
      "ignore_ssl_errors": true,
      "url": "https://webhook_endpoint"
    }
}

May 10, 2018 (v2.18.22)

• The oncall pager can be set to a group so more people are notified.
• If message fails to send, errors returned will be more specific and actionable.
• Security enhancements across the board.
• Must have webhook url set before sending messages on new RESTful API.
• Smarter handling of database failures, reconnects, and restarts.
• Better web admin UI error handling.
• Configurations are stored on DB by default nobew.
• Force password change on first admin user login on UI and API.
• Only return message ID when sending message after request has been stored.
• Continued development for multiconnect.
• Allow and respect proxy environment variables for all connections.
• New unique message IDs which will be required in API calls.
• Multithreading is now more optimized when sending messages.
• Improvements to network events and job queue logging.
• Minor compiler optimizations

Apr 18, 2018 (v2.18.16)

• Enhanced security on user account credentials.
• Improve performance by ensuring job queue ordering is maintained.
• API registration returns verified name to ensure correctness.

Apr 16, 2018 (v2.18.15)

• Web admin now has updated settings.
• Fix for sending HSM without any parameters.
• With the move to MYSQL and configurations on DB, DB settings in application settings are no longer used so they are removed.
• Improvements to security between webapp and coreapp.
• Added support for framework neutral SSL parameters.
• Improvements to AWS setup.
• Enhancements to user-level security like forcing password reset on first login.
• Performance improvements by moving operations into own thread.

Apr 5, 2018 (v2.18.13)

• Performance improved by handling message receipts in own thread.
• DB password securely stored in AWS.
• Improvements to web admin.

Mar 29, 2018 (v2.18.12)

• Added support for prefixing DB tables using environment variable.
• Fix bug that deleted media folder when last file was deleted.
• Increased logging for analytics reconciliation.
• Update to new contacts API so it returns wa_id only for valid contacts.
• Fix for potential bug that corrupts DB when callbacks are purged.
• Callback identifies voice messages correctly.
• SSL cert creation works with high availability.
• Improvements to multiconnect with more shards.

Mar 22, 2018 (v2.18.11)

• Improved performance by reducing number of DB queries.
• Fixed bug where filename was used as captions for media messages.
• Profile photos are no longer stored on the shared volume.

Mar 14, 2018 (v2.18.10)

• Fixed issue with backup/restore when using config on DB.
• Better error handling with new API.
• Fix possible crash in job manager.
• Critical errors will trigger pager set in settings.
• Continued development of multiconnect.
• Fixed webhook setting in config on DB.

Mar 5, 2018 (v2.18.7)

• Expose WhatsApp version expiration date in support_info.
• Added enhancements to internal jobs manager.
• Continued improvements to multiconnect.

Feb 26, 2018 (v2.18.6)

• Added support for user provided certificate for SSL.
• Fixed issue where link previews weren't always loaded.
• Better error messages during webapp exceptions.
• Include environment variables when exposing support_info.
• Continued improvements to the new API.
• Continued improvements to multiconnect.

Feb 10, 2018 (v2.18.4)

• HSM parameter handling improvements.
• Improvements on rate limiting.
• Better error when API request is made and chat is disconnected.
• Modifications to help make WhatsApp Enterprise Application play better with CRM software.
• Continued improvements to multiconnect.

Jan 31, 2018 (v2.18.3)

• Improvements to multiconnect.
• Maintain longer connections to WhatsApp servers.
• Fix edge case bug where business could not reply to inbound message.
• Improvements to the new API.
• Don't let business send message to a group of just itself.
• Fix for crash on startup if there is no webhook.

Jan 22, 2018 (v2.18.2)

• Improvement to threading performance.
• Better handling of the job queue by balancing incoming requests and message sends.
• Attempt to restart connection after critical error.
• Fix for media not downloading on iPhones.
• Added support for configurations on database for AWS template setups.

Jan 10, 2018 (v2.18.1)

• New REST API with a single webhook (support for old API exists).
• Optional reduction of volumes to just 2 (data and media).
• More information will be returned in support info when hitting the health check endpoint.
• More actionable errors when Enterprise Application goes in a bad connection state.
• Added first version of the feature multiconnect (high availability).
• Shipped configurations on database to remove dependence of file system.
• General improvements to performance.

Dec 28, 2017 (v2.17.73)

• Added additional logging to job queue to debug issues.
• Improvements to coreapp and webapp communication.

Dec 22, 2017 (v2.17.72)

• It is now OK to message a user in a group that your business is in.
• Changes to the database schema for performance and upgrade enhancements.
• Improvements to API registration to avoid hanging states.
• Can now see support info from the health check endpoint.
• Better message send timeouts to avoid stuck jobs.
• Added two step verification where you can set a code that will be required each time you attempt to register.
• Improved errors when setting bad settings.
• Changes to verified name logic to avoid reconnect loops.

Dec 11, 2017 (v2.17.62)

• Fix bug where passing wrong json type to set_settings can cause coreapp to crash.

Nov 30, 2017 (v2.17.61)

• Rate limiting fixes and improvements.

Oct 27, 2017 (v2.17.48)

• Fix to prevent logs from getting too big.
• Fix bug where duplicate callbacks were being sent.
• Fix for AWS backup and restore feature.
• Improved rate limiting functionality.
• Option to prevent business from being added to groups.
• No more HTTP support, only HTTPS endpoints.
• Improvements to verified name so it is not lost.
• Web admin/settings view can now be password protected.
• Bug fixes to the web admin/settings view.
• Callbacks will persist by default on the database.
• Callback performance improvements.

Oct 15, 2017 (v2.17.46)

• Improvements to verified name so it is not lost.

Sept 25, 2017 (v2.17.42)

• Improvements to callback performance, monitoring, and retries.
• Added support for mentions in a group.
• New web UI to set and view settings.
• Improvements to network.
• Fix to an edge case for backup and restore.
• Improvements to logging throughout the application for better analysis and debugging.
• Added rate limits to prevent runaway scripts/programs that could result in account being disabled.
• 4096 character limit enforced.
• Group creation time is now in Unix time.

Sept 18, 2017 (v2.17.41)

• Skipped version 2.17.40.
• Fix to race condition when sending audio files.
• Improvements to checking contacts logging.

Sept 15, 2017 (v2.17.39)

• Connections to web app will timeout after 5 minutes with graceful error message.
• Improvements to checking contacts.

Sept 15, 2017 (v2.17.38)

• Fix incoming media links.

Aug 8, 2017 (v2.17.37)

• Skipped versions 2.17.34, 2.17.35, and 2.17.36.
• Fix sending media to groups.
• Sending media improvements.
• Enable URL previews for first URL in a message.
• More powerful web app.
• General improvements and crash bug fixes.

Aug 28, 2017 (v2.17.33)

• Callback retry delay can now be configured.
• Phone numbers must be contact checked before sending a message.
• DB performance improvements.
• Ability to get app settings via API.
• Known Issues:
  • Incoming media links are broken if media is stored in media volume.

Aug 8, 2017 (v2.17.32)

• Fixes known issue with DB configuration failures.
• Ability to get message sent callback.
• Introducing WhatsApp groups.
• Callback and general performance improvements.
• Known Issues:
  • Sending media to groups is broken.

July 28, 2017 (v2.17.31)

• Fixes to interactive registration flow.
• Skipped version 2.17.30.
• Known Issues:
  • Failures during DB configuration causing the coreapp to not start.

July 25, 2017 (v2.17.29)

• Improvements to the database.
• Fixed issue with restoring from backup that shutdown the WhatsApp Enterprise Application.
• Improved check contacts performance.

July 15, 2017 (v2.17.28)

• Introduced new endpoint for application settings
  • Added ability to set the business profile.
  • Added ability to set the About of the WhatsApp account.
  • Added support for MySQL.
  • Changed the field for setting the profile photo.
• Added ability to backup settings, keys, and other data and then restore from backup.
• Better error messages when registering via the API.
• Added support for receiving location information from users in webhooks.
• Added a field to incoming message webhooks called type which is the indicates the type of message.

July 6, 2017 (v2.17.27)

• Fixed register script to handle verified name cert.
• Added ability to register for the first time via settings API.

June 30, 2017 (v2.17.26)

• Introduced new registration flow where the verified name certificate is provided by the user and they can preview it before completing registration.
• Fixed issue when there are overlapping check contact calls.
• Fixed crash log.

June 20, 2017 (v2.17.25)

• Easier registration flow is VName exists on server.
• Improved performance when handling heavier load.

June 14, 2017 (v2.17.24)

• Fixed bugs around checking contacts and MySQL.
• Improved network performance.

June 8, 2017 (v2.17.23)

• Fixed issue with some accounts sending messages.
• Fixed media_url_prefix logic so that replacing "media.hostname.com" with IP address of web container will point to incoming media file.

June 7, 2017 (v2.17.22)

• Fixed issue of excess memory and storage usage when dealing with many contacts.
• Known Issues:
  • Some accounts having trouble sending messages.

June 1, 2017 (v2.17.20)

• New versioning format.
• More flexibility when selecting profile picture.
• More stats from health check endpoint.
• Pass through mode enabled for less application footprint.
• Known Issues:
  • Large memory and storage consumption on large number of contacts.

May 11, 2017 (v17018)

• Fixed sending JPG images.
• Fixed registration so calls and SMS to phone number actually happen.
• Added context information for message callback to understand message replies.
• Improved callback performance.
• Known Issues:
  • Profile pictures must be 640x640 JPG.

May 8th, 2017 (v17017)

• New registration flow that no longer uses recovery token.
• Deprecated conversation and now using text for message field.
• Added a health check endpoint that shares the gateway status of application.
• Support to see the caption of media sent by user.
• Known Issues:
  • Sending JPG images fails.
• Voice and SMS registration not working.

April 26th, 2017 (v17016)

• New inbound media download callback.
• Configurable WhatsApp server IP and protocol with added SSL wrapping for testing.
• Known Issues:
  • Sending JPG images fails.

Scripts

June 20, 2018 (v2.33)

• Pushed default version up to 2.18.26.
• Moved Prometheus and Grafana into separate scripts

June 12, 2018 (v2.30)

• Pushed default WhatsApp Enterprise Application version up to 2.18.22.
• No longer using mysql to check DB settings.
• Use Docker container IP addresses to link containers rather than deprecated Docker link

May 10, 2018 (v2.27)

• Pushed default version up to 2.18.20.
• Changed naming of slave instances in multiconnect to coreapp.
• Added support network host and mount options in mutliconnect scripts.

Mar 27, 2018 (v2.23)

• Pushed default version up to 2.18.13.
• The default setup will require MYSQL and enable config on DB.
• Added support for high availability and multiconnect.
• Pull Docker images from JFrog repository.
• Ability to load and run Prometheus and Grafana using the setup script.

Feb 16, 2018 (v2.19)

• Added better error checking for coreapp and webapp startups.

Feb 10, 2018 (v2.18)

• Pushed default version up to 2.18.4.
• Default to a single media volume with option to keep old volume setup.
• Enable config on DB by specifying environment variable file.
• Included sample environment variable file.

Jan 23, 2018 (v2.15)

• Pushed default version up to 2.18.2.

Jan 11, 2018 (v2.14)

• Refactored scripts to share commonly used code and setup scripts for multiconnect (high availability).

Dec 21, 2017 (v2.13)

• Fixed issue of maintaining port for TCP 443 during upgrade.

Dec 11, 2017 (v2.12)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.62.

Dec 6, 2017 (v2.11)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.61.

Oct 31, 2017 (v2.10)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.48.
• Command to pull logs from core app.

Oct 1, 2017 (v2.9)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.42.

Sept 19, 2017 (v2.8)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.41.
• Standardized commands for scripts with short form.
• The wadockersetup script now has an upgrade command.

Sept 18, 2017 (v2.7)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.39.
• Ability to specify port on Docker setup and upgrade.
• Include necessary volumes to web app.

July 31, 2017 (v2.6)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.31.

July 25, 2017 (v2.5)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.29.
• Removed unused scripts to set settings and send messages.

July 10, 2017 (v2.4)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.27.
• Added pass_through to set settings script.
• Make installation scripts work with new registration and verified name flow.

June 21, 2017 (v2.3)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.25.

June 10, 2017 (v2.2)

• Updated default app version to be 2.17.23.

May 11, 2017 (v2.1)

• Take into account new registration flow and display correct message to continue with old registration or not.
• Updated default app version to be 17018.
• Don't download Docker images if they already exist in current directory.
• Added versioning to all script files.
• Sending message uses WhatsApp username instead of country code and phone number.

Amazon Web Services Templates

What's included in the AWS (Amazon Web Services) - Cloud Formation (CFN) templates:

Release 2.2.0

Template URLS:

• Enterprise: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent.yml?versionId=G1kEgU_D._ksw97T3pDBO938lVyxmnhb
• DB: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_db.yml?versionId=H0qu4NzJewXpE8xcuJuBcPzAvdW.mFqn
• Lambda: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_lambda.yml?versionId=vhx_JvViDextJCRUSvYeLy7ZRYSpbR0M
• Network: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_net.yml?versionId=mV7iD6iNdF4E3gzSDBYyhjfVmL1CfjaW

Dependencies/Prerequisites:

This template requires WhatsApp Enterprise client version v2.18.14 or later. This template will not work with prior releases.

Changelog:

• Support for "static" HA
  • Staging environment: Minimum container (EC2) instances: 2, Max: 3, Desired number of master, coreapp and web containers: 2
  • Production environment: Minimum container (EC2) instances: 3, Max: 4, Desired number of master, coreapp and web containers: 3
  • This option is disabled by default
• Encryption support (RDS/DB & EFS)
  • Data at rest can be encrypted with new release. Default option is to use default AWS service key to encrypt it. Other supported options are:
    • Don't encrypt
    • Create a new key and use that
    • Encrypt using user provided key
• DB connection encryption support
  • Data in transit to database can be encrypted with new release. Caveat: This is applicable for coreapp only at this point. Web app encryption is not supported yet. In addition, with new DB engine, even if this is not set, coreapp seems to perform encryption, without server cert verification.
• Support for Beta release channel
  • WhatsApp has setup a beta channel to test new set of templates that is not in production. Customers require separate access to Beta channel/templates
• Configurable container registry support
  • New template has configurable container registry, which can be used to get access to experimental enterprise client releases in future. In most cases, default value is good
• Support for new region (us-west-1: N California)
  • AWS EFS service is now supported in N California region. Any customer interested in using this region should be given access
• DB password is stored in secure parameter store to limit exposure
• DB (MySQL) engine version updated to 5.17.21
• Template versioning for nested templates
  • We link all the referenced nested templates with correct versions. This will avoid mismatch among template versions (E.g., main template → database template)
• Support for configuration on DB
  • Configuration on DB is no more an experimental feature and set to enabled by default. Customer still has an option to turn it off
• Bug fixes:
  • Found a bug in EFS mount order, where EFS volume is mounted after container is started. This happened once out of 100+ tries, but a nastier one. The issue is fixed by enforcing the order.
  • Due to timing issue, port mapper required few retries to find the correct external port mapping for HA to work. This was a non-issue prior to HA; however, the issue is fixed by adding adequate retries

Note: Please use experimental/beta features with caution. It's highly recommended to work with WhatsApp team closely when using these features so that we can support you quickly, if there are any issues.

Known Issues:

WhatsApp Enterprise client doesn't work when HA is disabled. This will be addressed in next WhatsApp Enterprise Client release.

Release 2.1.0

Template URLs:

• Enterprise: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent.yml?versionId=G1kEgU_D._ksw97T3pDBO938lVyxmnhb
• DB: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_db.yml?versionId=H0qu4NzJewXpE8xcuJuBcPzAvdW.mFqn
• Network: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_net.yml?versionId=dwwWw0d07CXWn4UUh0zTByadVa8ANN8d

Changelog:

• Support for logging configuration: maximum container log file size and number of files to retain & maximum days to retain CloudWatch logs
• Container metrics are now visible on AWS ECS console
• Automatic DB configuration - With new templates there is no need to explicitly configure DB via. API
• Retain stopped/terminated containers for 3 days, instead of 3 hours
• EFS mount failure will now cause the CFN stack creation to fail
• Support for configuration on DB (experimental)
  • Note: Please use experimental features with caution. It's highly recommended to work with WhatsApp team closely when using experimental features so that we can support you quickly, if there are any issues
• Bug fixes:
  • EC2 host restart lost the mount point and hence the previous configuration
  • Logrotation issue is now fixed
  • Telemetry permission issue for ecs-agent, which floods the ecs-agent log files with TCS related errors

Release 2.0.0

Template URLs:

• Enterprise: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent.yml?versionId=0AebXsDpC1K0anavueHimLGADZHSLS9Y
• DB: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_db.yml?versionId=6XfLkIitlgTajEI892hReQMgHfwSb8n9
• Network: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_net.yml?versionId=ArE8AtF1A6uusRs6_Hr9XNCdDEVf694t

Changelog:

• utf8mb4 character set support on RDS
• Configurable environment type: production vs. staging
  • Production: EBS: 16GB & SSD; RDS: Multi-AZ & SSD
  • Staging: EBS: 10GB & SSD; RDS: No Multi-AZ & magnetic disks
• Log rotation configuration for EC2 host included
• Separate subnets for load balancer and configurable load balancer scheme
• Latest CentOS 7 based AMI (7.4.1708)
• Revamped network template supports private subnet creation, nat gateway, etc.
• New region in EMEA (Frankfurt) is now supported
• Bug fixes:
  • Removed cfn-hup service logs from awslogs configuration
  • Upgrade failure issue is resolved when too many media files are present
  • Resolved ecs-agent startup issue

Release 1.1.0

Template URLs:

• Enterprise: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent.yml?versionId=.Sc8G5IyWSYUu_D76L_xwng5he797WXw
• DB: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_db.yml?versionId=YT6bS49XRJE7_TOB5A_ufflt71.mejG1
• Network: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_net.yml?versionId=XSTKDOfjbSy4KEfkxgR_1Zp76G4iTcNs

Changelog:

• Support for cloud-watch logs for easy debugging
• Validated upgrading EC2 and RDS instance type w/o loss of data (downtime of ~15mins or less expected)
• Added 'm' class instance types for EC2 and RDS
• Network related information collection for easy troubleshooting
• HTTP endpoint is removed (security concerns)
• Database password accepts special characters

Release: 1.0.0

Template URLs:

• Enterprise: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent.yml?versionId=BsmMWbouupu2pW_42El8b8FjHZOaGL2f
• DB: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_db.yml?versionId=q1u3dUeGRGYLEsrJWoVnLEd9ekOQyG2B
• Network: https://s3.amazonaws.com/wa-ent-cfn/wa_ent_net.yml?versionId=QQWM24CLiXnsHH1Reg_fR3TaK5YRiyfj

Changelog:

• One-click AWS infrastructure setup for WhatsApp Enterprise client
• One-click upgrade support to new version
• Network and database are optional