The inbox: filters, assignment and working at scale
The inbox is where Arino One actually gets used. Every channel you have connected lands in one list, ordered by most recent message, shared across the team and filtered server-side so a search covers the whole workspace rather than whatever happens to be loaded on screen.
One list, every channel
WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, Viber, LINE, KakaoTalk, Zalo, Apple Messages for Business, email and the live chat widget all arrive here. Identity resolution runs underneath: a customer who messaged on SMS in March and WhatsApp today is one contact with one timeline, not two half-histories that nobody joins up.
That matters more than it sounds. The most common cause of a bad support experience is an agent answering without the context that already exists somewhere in the business.
How the list loads
Conversations load in cursor-paginated pages ordered by last message. Scrolling to the bottom fetches the next page automatically.
The reason to use a cursor rather than page numbers is correctness under load: on a busy instance, new inbound messages arrive constantly and reorder the list. Offset paging would show you the same thread twice or silently skip one. Cursor paging cannot.
Practically, this means a workspace with tens of thousands of conversations opens at the same speed as one with fifty.
Filters run on the server
Status, channel, assignment and free-text search are applied in the query, not against the rows already in the browser. Filtering to "unassigned WhatsApp conversations" genuinely searches every conversation you have, including ones from two years ago that you have never scrolled to.
Clearing the filters returns you to the unfiltered stream at the top.
The counts are exact
Unread and per-status badges are computed server-side across all conversations. They do not approximate and they do not drift as you scroll.
This gives you a reliable troubleshooting rule: if the badge and the visible list disagree, you have a filter on. That single check resolves the large majority of "a conversation has disappeared" reports.
Assignment
Assign a thread to an agent so two people do not answer the same customer thirty seconds apart. Agents can filter to their own queue; managers can filter to unassigned to see what is uncovered.
Assignment is also what makes response-time reporting meaningful — an unassigned queue has no owner, and an unowned queue is where SLAs go to die.
The 24-hour window
On WhatsApp, once a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens in which you can reply with free-form messages, media, products and interactive content. Outside that window, only an approved template can reopen the conversation.
The inbox shows you the window state on the thread, so an agent is never guessing why a send was refused. If you regularly need to reach people cold, that is a template and opt-in question, not an inbox one.
Composer tools
What an agent can send is configurable, not fixed. Quick replies, inline translation, media from the Resources library, WhatsApp Flows, products, payment requests and location messages are each toggled per instance and gated by role.
The sensible default is generous for managers and narrow for new agents: text, quick replies and media until they have proven judgement, with payments and products added later.
What to check when something looks wrong
| Symptom | First thing to check |
|---|---|
| A conversation is missing | An active filter; then search by phone number |
| Badge count does not match the list | Filters again — the badge is workspace-wide |
| Cannot send a free-form WhatsApp message | The 24-hour window has closed; send a template |
| A tool is missing from the composer | Disabled in Settings, Composer, or restricted by role |
| New replies are not arriving at all | Webhooks — see the troubleshooting article |
Costs
The inbox itself carries no per-seat charge. It is included in the $50/month instance connection and management fee, along with unlimited agents. What you pay for is the messages that leave it, billed at Infobip channel rates.
Steps at a glance
- Open the inboxGo to Inbox. Conversations load newest-first and continue loading as you scroll, so a workspace with tens of thousands of threads opens as fast as a brand-new one.
- Filter to your workUse the status, channel, assignment and search filters. They run in the database query, so they search every conversation in the workspace — not just the threads already loaded on screen.
- Assign a conversationAssign a thread to yourself or a colleague so two agents never answer the same customer. Filter by assignment to see only your queue.
- Reply within the windowInside the 24-hour customer service window you can send free-form messages, quick replies, media and products. Outside it, WhatsApp requires an approved template to reopen the conversation.
- Use composer toolsInsert quick replies, translate inbound and outbound text, attach media from Resources, send products, request payment or start a Flow — whichever tools an admin has enabled for your role.
- Close the threadMark the conversation resolved when it is done. Status feeds the badge counts and the analytics on response and resolution time.
Frequently asked
Is the Arino One inbox shared across the whole team?
Yes. Every agent works from the same conversation list, with assignment to divide the work. Contacts, history and order context are shared, so a handover does not lose anything.
Does the inbox cover all channels in one place?
Yes. WhatsApp, SMS, RCS, Instagram, Messenger, Telegram, Viber, LINE, KakaoTalk, Zalo, Apple Messages for Business, email and live chat all arrive in the same list, and identities are resolved onto one contact so a person who replies on two channels is one record.
Why can I not find a conversation I know exists?
An active filter is almost always the reason — if a badge count and the visible list disagree, clear the filters first. Search runs across the whole workspace, so searching by phone number or name is the fastest way to confirm the thread is there.
Are the unread counts accurate on a large workspace?
Yes. Unread and per-status badges are counted server-side across all conversations, not just the loaded page, so they do not drift as you scroll or filter.
Can new messages arriving mid-scroll cause duplicates?
No. Paging uses a cursor rather than a numeric offset, so inbound messages arriving while you scroll never duplicate or skip a thread.
Can I restrict what agents are allowed to send?
Yes. Settings, Composer controls which tools appear in the composer, and roles control who can assign, delete or export. Junior agents can be limited to text and quick replies while managers keep payments and products.
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.