Contact requests

Contact requests need Allow Contact in Settings → Mini-site. The Contact button then shows for members who chose to be listed in the directory or to have a public profile, on the directory, on public profile pages and in the member page directory.

How it works#

1. The visitor presses Contact and enters their WhatsApp number. Your community's number sends them a 6-digit code (template purpose verification_code).
2. A member of your community with that number is treated as that member. Anyone else becomes a guest: their number is stored encrypted, they can't be offered requests and they aren't listed anywhere.
3. They write one line about what it's about (10 to 300 characters; phone numbers, emails and links are removed) and tick the box that allows sharing their number if the member says yes.
4. Milvao offers it to that member at once, as a normal offer with Accept and Decline. The offer says someone found their profile; it never shows who asked. Your matching mode doesn't matter: the member's own answer is the approval.
5. Accept: both get each other's number, the same as any introduction, including answers marked as shown in introductions.
6. Decline, no answer in 48 hours, or the member can't be asked right now (paused, stopped, already asked twice this week, or blocked the visitor): the request closes. The requester gets one short note that the member can't take this one right now, the same wording whatever the reason, with Ask someone similar.

Ask someone similar turns it into a normal request for one of that member's services. Milvao then asks other members as usual, never the first member again.

Limits#

• Each visitor: 3 contact requests a day, 10 a week, and one open request per member.
• Each member: at most 5 open contact requests at once, and the usual 2 offers in 7 days.
• Codes: 10 minutes, 5 tries, and limits per number and per connection. Each community's number sends at most 300 Contact codes a day; after that, visitors are asked to try again tomorrow, and the Milvao team is told when a community reaches half of that.

Blocking#

Members can block a requester: on WhatsApp after Decline (Block this person), or on their member page. A blocked person's contact requests to that member are silently dropped (they see the normal confirmation), and the member isn't offered their other requests either. The member page Blocked tab undoes it.

On your dashboard#

• Requests: contact requests carry a Contact request label. The request page says who was asked and doesn't suggest other members. Their brief can't be edited.
• Members → Guests: every guest with the masked number, when they first verified, how many contact requests they sent and how many members blocked them. Remove closes their open requests, withdraws waiting offers and deletes their number and messages.

Frequently asked questions#

Can a guest ask the community for something else?#

Only through Contact, or by tapping Ask someone similar. To use the community fully they join: with an invite link like any member, or by sending PROFILE and saving their profile.

Can a guest become a member?#

Yes. A guest who sends PROFILE is told that saving the profile makes them a member of your community. When they tap Save and join, they become a member exactly as if they had sent JOIN: the plan's member limit is checked (when your community is full they're told politely, nothing is saved and they stay a guest, and you get the usual alert that your community reached its member limit), they move from Members → Guests to Members, they count toward your plan and Metrics from that day, the activity log shows Joined the community, and they get a welcome message on WhatsApp. If you charge a membership fee, they get the pay link and stay pending payment until they pay. If the owner picked a default group for new members (Settings → Workspace), they're added to it as Joined by link. Otherwise they aren't in any group yet, so they're left out of Introduce and listings until you share a group's link with them. A guest who sends JOIN with one of your links becomes a member the same way and is listed in that link's group. Guests who never save stay guests.

What happens if a guest writes to our WhatsApp number?#

They get a short reply saying they're in touch as a guest, so requests can't be sent from the chat: to ask a member, they press Contact on the member's profile (with a link to your mini-site when it's on), and to join, they ask an organiser for an invite link. They aren't asked to finish a profile or answer your profile questions in the chat. REQUESTS, CONNECTIONS and HELP still work for them, and PROFILE sends the link to join by saving a profile (see above).

Does a contact request count against the member's weekly limit?#

Yes. It's an offer like any other, so it counts toward the 2 offers in 7 days.