Brief runs in WhatsApp as a full chat surface. Once your phone is linked, your briefings arrive in WhatsApp and you can ask Brief the same things you would ask it in the web app, without opening a browser. There is nothing to install. The connection uses the WhatsApp already on your phone.
You connect once from Settings → Connections, in the Messaging group, and confirm the link from your phone. It takes about a minute.
Before you start
You need WhatsApp on the phone whose number you want to link, and you need to be signed in to Brief at app.trybrief.ai.
The number that sends the confirmation message is the number Brief links, so send it from your own phone. Brief links one WhatsApp number per account at a time.
Start the connection
- In Brief, go to Settings → Connections.
- Scroll to the Messaging group. The WhatsApp card reads "Receive briefings and chat via WhatsApp."
- Click Connect.
- The card expands to show a QR code, an Open in WhatsApp link, a six-character verification code, and a countdown. You have ten minutes before the code expires.
- Confirm from your phone using one of the three methods below.
Leave the Brief tab open while you confirm. The card checks for your message every few seconds and switches to Connected on its own, so you do not need to refresh the page.
Confirm from your phone
Scan the QR code
The fastest route when Brief is open on a laptop and the phone you want to link is a different device.
- Point your phone's camera at the QR code on screen.
- Open the link your camera offers. WhatsApp opens a chat with Brief and pre-fills a message beginning with
BRIEF-. - Send the message exactly as it is. The text after
BRIEF-identifies your Brief account, so do not edit it or add anything around it.
Tap the deep link
If you are already reading this on the phone you want to link, click Open in WhatsApp on the card instead of scanning. It opens the same pre-filled chat. Send the message unchanged.
Send the verification code
Useful when you already have a WhatsApp thread with Brief, such as when you are reconnecting after a disconnect.
- Open your existing WhatsApp thread with Brief.
- Send the six-character code from the card and nothing else. No greeting, no punctuation around it. Brief reads the code only when it is the entire message.
What confirms it worked
Brief replies in WhatsApp: "Connected! You can now receive briefings and chat with Brief here."
Back in Brief, the WhatsApp card switches to a green Connected label with your phone number underneath, and the Connect button becomes Disconnect.
What you get once connected
Briefings arrive in WhatsApp. When Brief generates a briefing for you, it sends the same count line you see on the Today card and in the daily email, with a link to the full briefing in the app. WhatsApp delivery runs independently of the daily briefing email, so turning that email off under Settings → Briefing & Actions leaves WhatsApp delivery in place. Disconnect WhatsApp if you want it to stop.
You can chat with Brief. Ask questions the way you would in the web app. See Skills and example prompts for what is worth asking. Long answers arrive as several consecutive messages rather than one wall of text.
Send /clear to start over. It resets the WhatsApp conversation, and Brief confirms with "Got it -- starting a fresh conversation. How can I help you today?" Your data is untouched. Only the running thread resets.
Your WhatsApp thread keeps its own conversation history, separate from the chat in the web app. Both draw on the same underlying context, so what Brief knows does not change between them. Only the thread you are reading does.
Quiet threads and WhatsApp's 24-hour rule
WhatsApp limits what a business can send into a thread that has been quiet. When there has been no recent activity between you and Brief, your briefing arrives as a short pre-approved WhatsApp notification rather than the full summary. Reply in the thread and the ordinary conversation resumes. The full briefing is in the web app either way.
Limits worth knowing
- A connect code lasts ten minutes. When the countdown reaches zero the card reads "Code expired. Please try again." Click Try again for a fresh one.
- Three connect attempts per fifteen minutes. Past that, Brief answers "too many connect requests, try again later." Wait out the window and try again.
- One number per account, one account per number. Connecting a different phone replaces the number already on your account. A number that is actively linked to another Brief account will not link to a second one, so disconnect it from the first account first.
Troubleshooting
Brief replies "To connect, visit your Brief settings page." Brief received something that looked like a code but could not match it. Usually that means a code that had already expired. Start a fresh connection from Settings → Connections and send the new code on its own.
You sent the message and nothing happened. Check that it went from the phone number you meant to link, and that the six-character code was the whole message. Brief reads a code only when nothing else is around it, and ignores a message that wraps one in other text. If the card still shows a countdown, the code is live and you can send it again.
The card says it could not load the connection status. Refresh the page. The card asks Brief for the current state before it offers you an action, so it waits rather than showing a Connect button it cannot stand behind.
Disconnecting
- Go to Settings → Connections and scroll to Messaging.
- Click Disconnect on the WhatsApp card.
- Confirm in the dialog. Brief stops sending you briefings on WhatsApp.
You can reconnect from the same card later. Blocking Brief in WhatsApp also stops delivery. Brief marks the connection opted out the next time a send is refused.
The WhatsApp thread is covered by the same encryption and access posture as the rest of your account. See Privacy and security for the detail, and Connecting your data sources for the accounts Brief syncs from.