WhatsApp Booking Link
The booking page patients open from WhatsApp: pick the doctor, day and time, enter age and gender, and get the confirmation in the chat
When a patient asks to book on WhatsApp, the assistant can send a message with a Book a visit button. The button opens a booking page made for that patient, where they pick the doctor, day and time themselves. The booking lands on your board and the confirmation arrives in the same WhatsApp chat.
This is the default booking style. You can switch between the booking page and booking inside the chat in Settings → WhatsApp, under How do patients book?. See WhatsApp settings.
The booking page needs your clinic's own WhatsApp number. Labs and radiology centres always book inside the chat.
What the patient sees
The page opens full screen with your clinic's logo and name at the top (or the clinic's first letter if there's no logo) and Book a visit under it. It follows the language the patient writes in, Arabic or English. There's no close or "back to WhatsApp" button: the patient simply closes the page when done.
The page doesn't ask for a phone number. The link already knows who the patient is and which number they wrote from.
Booking steps
Doctor
The patient picks the doctor, with their specialty and visit price. If your clinic has one doctor, this step is skipped.
Branch
Shown only when you have more than one branch.
Date
The patient picks a day, then a time grouped under Morning, Afternoon and Evening. For walk-in (queue) doctors there are no times: the page shows Your queue number and how many spots are left. If a day is full, the page says so and suggests another day.
Details
The patient chooses For me or Someone else, then fills in the name, age and gender, and optionally the reason for the visit. Then they tap Confirm booking.
Age and gender are required
Confirm booking stays disabled until the patient enters an Age and picks a Gender (Male or Female).
- Age is in years, from 0 to 120.
- For a children's doctor (pediatrics or pediatric surgery), the patient first picks Days, Months or Years, so a newborn can be booked as "10 days" or "4 months". Days go up to 365 and months up to 72.
For me fills in the name Docistra already has for this number and updates the patient's age and gender. Someone else asks for the patient's full name and books them as a family member under the same phone number, with their own record. See Family.
After booking
The page shows Booking confirmed! with the doctor, the day and time (or the queue number), the branch address, and a short reminder: "Please arrive 15 minutes before your slot", or "Arrive early to secure your spot in the queue" for a queue. It adds that the confirmation was sent on WhatsApp and the page can be closed.
One booking per link
Each link books once. After the booking is made:
- Reloading or reopening the link shows the same booking, never the form again. This works even after the link has expired.
- If the booking is later cancelled, the link shows "This booking was cancelled" and asks the patient to message the clinic for a new link.
- To book another visit, or for another family member, the patient asks again on WhatsApp and gets a new link.
Picks are remembered
If the patient leaves the page or reloads it before booking, their choices are kept on that phone: the doctor, branch, day, time, and the details they typed. When they come back to the same link, the page resumes where they stopped. The saved picks are cleared once the booking is made.
When a link expires
A link works for 2 hours. After that, if nothing was booked with it, the page shows "This booking link has expired. Message the clinic on WhatsApp for a new one." The assistant sends a fresh link the next time the patient asks.
Booking link for ads
When you run an ad, give it a tagged link to your public page so you know which bookings came from it.
Open Settings → Public page
Scroll to the Booking link for ads card, under Gallery.
Pick where the ad runs
Under Ad runs on, choose Facebook, Instagram, Google, TikTok, WhatsApp or Snapchat.
Name the campaign
Type a Campaign name, for example "winter-offer".
Copy the link
Tap Copy and paste the link into your ad. Nothing is saved on this card, so you can make as many links as you need.
Every booking made from that link records the campaign. Your team sees it as, for example, "facebook / winter-offer" at the top of the visit sheet, and as First booked from on the patient's Details card (for new patients). If the patient has no answer to How did you hear about us? yet, a Facebook, Instagram or Google link fills it with your matching choice, so the booking also counts in Marketing.
Ad clicks from Facebook and Google are recognised even without the tags.
Choosing a service
On your public page's booking form, patients can pick the service they're coming for. The Service (optional) choices show under the phone number, without prices. The patient can tap one, or tap it again to clear it.
Only services you switched on with Patients can pick it on the booking link appear (see Services). With none switched on, the field doesn't show. The service the patient picked shows at the top of the visit sheet.
New patient or returning
Bookings made from your public page or the new-appointment form get a badge on the board and at the top of the visit sheet:
- New patient - the booking created the patient's file.
- Returning - the phone number matched a patient your clinic already had.
New patient replaces the First visit badge. A known patient who never visited still shows First visit. Older bookings, and bookings from WhatsApp or the patient portal, show only First visit.