FAQ

Is Effess really free?

Yes. All 12 features are free, forever. No login, no trial, no gating. We may later add an optional paid Teams tier for cloud sync and CRM integrations, but the core stays free.

Does it work with WhatsApp Business?

Yes. Effess sits on top of any WhatsApp Web session — personal or business. It does not use the WhatsApp Business API and does not require Meta approval.

Will I get banned?

If you respect the anti-blocking guide, bans are rare. Effess includes random delays, hourly caps, warm-up mode, duplicate detection, number validation, and ban-warning auto-pause. The throttle is yours to control.

Where is my data stored?

Locally, in your browser. IndexedDB (Dexie) for chats/CRM, chrome.storage.local for settings. Nothing leaves your machine unless you opt-in to a sync feature (Google Sheets, webhooks, AI API).

Can I use multiple WhatsApp numbers?

Yes — multi-account dispatch is in beta. The number registry is done; queue routing is being polished. For now, you can run Effess in two separate Chrome profiles, each with a different WhatsApp number.

Does Effess send my data to your servers?

No. Effess has no backend that touches your message data. The only network calls are:

• AI calls — to your AI provider (OpenAI, Anthropic, etc.) with your key.
• Webhooks — to your configured webhook URLs.
• Optional Google Sheets — to your Google account.

Effess itself does not have analytics or telemetry.

Can I export my data?

Yes. Tools → Settings → Export → JSON. Includes all chats, contacts, tags, templates, automations. Import on a different machine the same way.

Will it slow down WhatsApp Web?

Effess is lazy-loaded — features only activate when you open the dock. Idle CPU/memory overhead is under 5%.

Open source?

Not yet. We're stabilising the API surface (Phase 11). We plan to open-source the core extension once it's stable.

What if WhatsApp changes its API?

Effess uses @wppconnect/wa-js, a community-maintained wrapper. When WhatsApp tweaks its internals, wa-js follows fast — usually within hours to days. Effess pulls those updates and ships within a week.

I found a bug. Where do I report?

Tools → Help → Report issue. Or email [email protected] — every report is read.