103842153388290790550Q: SMS/WhatsApp capability for customers outside the US/Canada
Hi there. What is the reason behind sms's not being available to users outside of Canada and the US please? Even better would be the ability to connect appointment follow-ups to WhatsApp Business.
I'm in South Africa, and my business uses WhatsApp Business for communicating with customers. I personally find that email follow-ups generally aren't the most reliable option for appointment reminders in my line of business, as users don't check their emails as often as they do social media.
While I understand there are costs involved with sms's, surely WhatsApp could be a free / very low-cost integration with TidyCal?
Luka_originals
Jul 6, 2026A: Hello, thanks for reaching out — and for such a thoughtful suggestion!
You're right that SMS reminders are currently limited to U.S. and Canadian phone numbers only. TidyCal's SMS reminders go out through our SMS provider, and that's really what the limit is tied to right now. International (A2P) SMS is a lot more involved than it looks — it comes with per-country carrier registration and compliance rules, plus much higher and more variable per-message costs — which is the main reason it hasn't been opened up beyond North America yet. So it's less "we don't want to" and more that doing it well internationally is genuinely complex.
On WhatsApp — that's a genuinely great idea, and I agree it would be a strong fit, especially in markets like South Africa where WhatsApp is far more widely used than email for everyday communication. At the moment TidyCal doesn't have a WhatsApp Business integration for appointment reminders/follow-ups. (You can add a WhatsApp link to your booking page, but that's just a contact link, not automated messaging.)
The most useful thing you can do is post this on our feature request board at tidycal.com/feedback — that's where our product team tracks and prioritizes ideas, and demand there directly shapes the roadmap. A well-reasoned request like yours (with the engagement/reliability point you made) is exactly the kind of feedback that gets noticed.
In the meantime, one thing that can help bridge the gap: every booking can include a calendar invite (Google / Outlook / Apple), so the appointment lands directly on your customer's calendar with its own built-in reminders — alongside the standard email confirmations and reminders.
Thanks again for the input! 🙂