Send your first message
Send a test message to yourself before routing any real traffic through a newly connected channel — it confirms credentials, sender registration, template approval and webhook delivery in a single pass. This takes a few minutes and applies the same way whether or not your instance has the Arino Core connection.
Before you start
Make sure the channel shows as Connected in Settings → Channels. If it's still pending or shows an error, resolve that first — a test message won't succeed against a channel that hasn't finished connecting, and the failure will look like a messaging problem when it's actually a connection one.
Step 1 — Open the inbox
Go to Inbox in the console and select the channel you just connected. Each connected channel appears as its own inbox, so pick the specific one you want to verify rather than a general view.
Step 2 — Add a test contact
Create a contact using your own phone number or email address, and record consent for the test just as you would for any real contact. Using your own number rather than a colleague's or a placeholder keeps the round trip easy to verify — you can watch both the outbound send and the inbound reply from the same device.
Step 3 — Choose a template where required
On WhatsApp and RCS, any business-initiated message must use an approved message template — this applies to test sends exactly as it does to production traffic, since Meta and carrier rules don't distinguish between the two. On SMS and email you can send free text. If you don't have an approved template yet, that's the thing to fix before testing further, not something to work around.
Why the round trip matters more than the send
It's tempting to treat a successful send as proof the channel works, but outbound success and inbound reliability depend on different pieces of configuration — a valid API key gets you a send, while a correctly configured webhook endpoint gets you the reply back. Testing only the outbound half is the single most common reason teams discover, in front of a live customer, that replies were never reaching their inbox.
Step 4 — Send and confirm the outbound path
Send the message and watch the conversation timeline. You should see the status progress sent → delivered → read (read only applies where the channel supports read receipts, such as WhatsApp). Each stage confirms something different: sent means your instance handed it to Infobip successfully, delivered means it reached the recipient's device or carrier, and read confirms the recipient opened it.
Step 5 — Confirm the inbound path
Reply from your test device and confirm the reply appears in the console inbox. This is the step people skip, but it's the one that proves your webhook configuration is correct — an outbound-only test can pass even when inbound messages would silently fail to arrive.
If something doesn't work
A message stuck at *sent* and never reaching *delivered* almost always points to a sender or template issue rather than a platform outage. Check the channel status page first, then the delivery log attached to the conversation, before assuming anything is broken at the Arino or Infobip layer — see message not delivered for the full troubleshooting sequence. If the outbound side works but your reply never appears in the inbox, the issue is almost certainly webhook delivery — see webhooks not arriving.
Once your first message works
Repeat this test for each additional channel you connect — passing on WhatsApp doesn't guarantee SMS or email are configured correctly, since each has its own sender registration and delivery path. Once every channel you plan to use has passed both directions, you're ready to build automations on top of them.
Steps at a glance
- Confirm the channel is connectedCheck the channel status page in Settings → Channels shows Connected before attempting a send.
- Open the inboxGo to Inbox in the console and select the connected channel you want to send from.
- Add a test contactCreate a contact using your own phone number or address and record consent for the test message.
- Choose a templateFor WhatsApp and RCS, and for any business-initiated message, select an approved template rather than free text.
- Send and confirm deliverySend the message and watch the status move from sent to delivered to read in the conversation timeline.
- Check the inbound path tooReply from your test number and confirm the reply lands back in the console inbox, proving the connection works in both directions.
Frequently asked
Why send a test message before going live?
It confirms four things at once in a single pass: your Infobip credentials are valid, your sender is registered correctly, your message template is approved, and inbound webhooks are reaching your instance. Skipping this step means discovering any of those problems in front of a real customer instead.
Do I need an approved template for a test message?
For WhatsApp and RCS, yes — any business-initiated message outside an open customer conversation must use an approved template regardless of whether it's a test or real traffic. SMS and email don't have this restriction.
My test message is stuck at 'sent' — what's wrong?
A message stuck at sent, never reaching delivered, is almost always a sender or template problem rather than a platform outage — check the channel status page and the delivery log on the conversation before assuming anything is down. See message not delivered for the full troubleshooting path.
Does this work the same whether or not I have the Arino Core connection?
Yes — sending and confirming a test message is identical whether your instance is connected to Arino Core or unconnected, since it's a console and channel-connection step rather than something that depends on the connection. It always runs against your own Infobip account.
Do I need a real customer contact to test with?
No — use your own phone number or email as the test contact, and record consent for it just as you would for a real contact. This keeps the test realistic without touching production customer data.
What should I test next after this?
Once one channel sends and receives cleanly, repeat the test for every other channel you've connected, then move on to building your first automation on top of a verified channel.
Apply this to your own deployment
This guide describes decisions we make on live instances. Tell us your channels, systems and region and we will map it to an architecture outline, a provisioning plan and an indicative commercial model — usually within one business day.