I use a signal api on a daily basis for all my agentic chatting and notifications about energy prices and server downtime notification.
Setup was quick enough but it needs a real phone number once during setup which is kind of a hassle. still better than using telegram which has no encryption for the bot backend so the devs can read everything you write
Your case is basically the first thing messenger developers try to cover with their Bot API. Of course it works great. I would be surprised if it is not.
No one talking about security, but I cannot argue that Telegram has by far the most powerful bot platform. People do with it great stuff.
WhatsApp does appear to have some "business" account/API type stuff which I assume is scriptable. But I don't believe it's got a free tier for personal use (although I haven't personally looked).
It is always preferable to use WhatsApp to contact a business than calling up.
Yes, but it's nowhere near the maturity of Telegram's Bot API.
And unlike Telegram, for a WhatsApp bot you need to apply with a bunch of paperwork. If you're an SMB, you got little chances of ever getting access. They'll tell you to go with their Technology Partners and make a chatbot with these other BigTech companies like Freshworks, etc.
Same. I used to use telegram for everything and then stopped after I realised it wasn’t really and to end encrypted. The bots were super useful. I used to have one I could ask different bus times for. Was so much better than the app the local bus company had made.
Not having a bot API is what stops me from moving to Signal. I have 10-ish telegram bots running for myself, I just use telegram as UI for a script running on backend, and results are easily shareable with my other telegram contacts. I have no clue why not having this is amazing in any way.
Why? Bots using the bot API can't send unsolicited messages to people. (Bots that control regular user accounts without using the API can of course do this, but Signal's not immune to that either.)
I use a signal api on a daily basis for all my agentic chatting and notifications about energy prices and server downtime notification.
Setup was quick enough but it needs a real phone number once during setup which is kind of a hassle. still better than using telegram which has no encryption for the bot backend so the devs can read everything you write
Your case is basically the first thing messenger developers try to cover with their Bot API. Of course it works great. I would be surprised if it is not.
No one talking about security, but I cannot argue that Telegram has by far the most powerful bot platform. People do with it great stuff.
I wish WhatsApp did... hopefully it goes the way of BBM and a more developer friendly platform becomes the norm among normies.
WhatsApp does appear to have some "business" account/API type stuff which I assume is scriptable. But I don't believe it's got a free tier for personal use (although I haven't personally looked).
It is always preferable to use WhatsApp to contact a business than calling up.
Yes, but it's nowhere near the maturity of Telegram's Bot API.
And unlike Telegram, for a WhatsApp bot you need to apply with a bunch of paperwork. If you're an SMB, you got little chances of ever getting access. They'll tell you to go with their Technology Partners and make a chatbot with these other BigTech companies like Freshworks, etc.
Hmmm no, Meta is making money from businesses using their API.
Same. I used to use telegram for everything and then stopped after I realised it wasn’t really and to end encrypted. The bots were super useful. I used to have one I could ask different bus times for. Was so much better than the app the local bus company had made.
[dead]
Next best thing: https://signald.org/
I run my agent over Signal with this, the only difference with Telegram is you need to host this. Other than that, it's great.
Not having a bot API is one of the many things that makes Signal amazing
Not having a bot API is what stops me from moving to Signal. I have 10-ish telegram bots running for myself, I just use telegram as UI for a script running on backend, and results are easily shareable with my other telegram contacts. I have no clue why not having this is amazing in any way.
Why? Bots using the bot API can't send unsolicited messages to people. (Bots that control regular user accounts without using the API can of course do this, but Signal's not immune to that either.)
Bots are separate accounts, marked as bots and cannot message anyone first.
Guess you never even read the docs, less use it.