Reminders
They go out on their own. Nobody on the team has to remember.
When
| Timing | What it carries |
|---|---|
| 24 hours before | The appointment details and two buttons: Confirmo and Cancelar |
| 2 hours before | A short notice, no buttons |
What each reply does
Confirmo — the appointment becomes Confirmada in the dashboard. If the procedure has an intake form, the bot offers it next.
Cancelar — the appointment becomes Cancelada, the slot is freed, and the 2-hour reminder is not sent.
No reply — the appointment stays Agendada. Not replying doesn't mean they won't come, but it is the most useful signal for deciding who to phone.
Who doesn't get reminders
Exactly one case: appointments with no phone number.
If your team created the appointment without a number — a walk-in, say — there is nowhere to send anything. The appointment works normally in every other respect.
This is by far the most common cause of "they never got the reminder." If the patient gives you their number afterwards, add it to their record and to the appointment.
The 24-hour window
WhatsApp only permits free-form messages within 24 hours of the patient's last message. Outside that window, Meta-approved templates are required — which is why reminders take the shape they do and can't be freely worded from the dashboard.
This is a Meta rule, not a Pingclínica one.
Checking whether one went out
The appointment detail in the dashboard shows the status of each reminder. If it didn't go out, Reminders aren't arriving has the checklist.