Skip to main content
Most Inbox problems come down to one of four things: the WhatsApp 24-hour window, who owns the conversation, a filter you forgot about, or a notification setting. Find your symptom below.

​
I cannot type a reply

The AI agent owns this conversation. Click Disable Autopilot to take over. This only works once the customer has sent at least one message; before that there is nothing to reply to yet.
More than 24 hours have passed since the last message, so WhatsApp no longer accepts free-form replies. Click Send Template and send an approved template. When the customer answers, the window opens again and you can type normally. See The WhatsApp 24-hour window.
The customer has not written in the last 24 hours. You can still send another template with Send Template, but not a plain message.
Same cause as above: the last customer message is older than 24 hours. Send a template instead.
Attachments and product cards are only available in WhatsApp conversations. In Website Chat conversations the attachment menu shows Media upload is only available for WhatsApp.

​
A message shows Failed

Click What can I do? under the message to see the Meta error and the recommended action. The most common ones: Popcorn does not resend a failed one-to-one message on its own. When a message fails for good, the conversation is taken off Autopilot and moved to Unassigned so someone can follow up; send it again yourself once the cause is fixed. For campaign messages, see Delivery and reachability.

​
The AI is not replying

Once a person replies, assigns, snoozes, or marks a conversation as waiting, the AI stays out of it. To hand it back, open the assignee menu in the header, choose AI Assistant, and pick Reply now to the customer or Reply when the customer sends a message. See Hand back to the AI.
Open the conversation and read the last system line: it tells you whether the agent handed over, needed help, or was assigned. The reasons are listed in What sends a conversation to Needs Attention. If the agent hands over too often, review its Handover instructions and Guard settings under Capabilities, and the AI Manager target under AI Manager.
When the workspace runs out of credits, the agent hands over silently: nothing is sent to the customer and the conversation moves to Unassigned. Check your balance under Billing. The same happens when no valid agent is connected to the number; check the agent’s Channels tab under Connect knowledge, tools, and channels.
If Support in-message media types is off in Settings → General, any media from the customer turns Autopilot off and the conversation moves to Unassigned. If you filled in Media not supported message, the customer receives that text. Turn the setting on and enable Media Support on the agent to let it handle media. See Workspace settings and Capabilities.

​
I cannot find a conversation

Check the chips above the list: an Agent, tag, date, or Priority filter may still be active. Remove them or click Clear in Filters. Search always looks across All Messages, so clear it to go back to your folder.
With the Priority sort on, tagged conversations come first by priority and untagged ones last. Switch the chip back to Recent to sort by the latest message.
A customer reply ends the snooze and returns the conversation to your Assigned to Me. The same happens to conversations marked as waiting.
Reopening sends a conversation to Unassigned, or to Assigned to AI if the AI was handling it before it was closed. Assign it to yourself to move it to Assigned to Me.
Campaign conversations appear in the Inbox only once the customer replies. Until then, follow the campaign from Campaigns. See Send a campaign.
Assigned to Me and Later only show your own. Use Filters → Agent to list a teammate’s conversations, or look at the counts under Teammates.
Deleting a customer under Customers (including a bulk delete that includes customers with conversations) does not delete their conversations. Each one stays in the Inbox with its messages, listed as WhatsApp contact (or Guest for Website Chat) instead of the customer’s name. See Delete customers.

​
The customer shows as @username or “Phone number not shared”

The customer contacted you through a WhatsApp username without sharing their phone number. You can chat normally, but authentication templates cannot be sent to them: use Ask customer to share number in the template dialog, or choose a marketing or utility template.

​
Notifications do not arrive

Go to Settings → Notifications. Each event (Unassigned messages, Customer replies, Conversation assignments, Handovers) has its own switch and channels: In-app, Browser, Sound. By default, workspace admins get all four events and other teammates get only Customer replies and Conversation assignments; Sound starts on only for those two. See Profile and notifications.
Your browser must allow notifications for the Popcorn dashboard. Browser notifications and the sound only play when the dashboard tab is not the active one, and nothing fires while you are already on the Inbox page or viewing that conversation.
In the mobile app, switch on Push Notifications under Settings and allow notifications for Popcorn in your phone’s settings. Push covers Unassigned messages, Customer replies, and Conversation assignments; an event switched off under Settings → Notifications in the web dashboard stays off on the phone. See Popcorn mobile app.
Those are set per agent, not per user: see Connect knowledge, tools, and channels.