Summary
Wati allows you to automatically record WhatsApp calls, generate call transcripts, and create AI-powered summaries. These features help your team review conversations faster, maintain compliance, and capture important details without manually taking notes.
In this guide, you will learn how to enable automated recording, transcription, and summaries, how recordings appear in the conversation view, and how to access call data using webhooks and API endpoints.
Note: WhatsApp call recording, transcription, and summaries are available only for Wati customers on the Pro and Business plans.
Instructions
How to enable and manage WhatsApp call recordings, transcripts and summaries
Step 1: Enable automated recording, transcription, and summaries
Log in to your Wati account and open the Team Inbox.
Click the Settings icon in the Team Inbox.
Navigate to General Settings under Team Inbox.
Select the Call section.
Tip: If you use multiple WhatsApp numbers, select the business number from the dropdown for which you want to enable recording, transcription, and summaries.
You will see three toggles in this section:
Auto Record All Calls - Automatically records every inbound and outbound call.
Auto Generate Transcriptions - Automatically generates a written transcript for each recorded call.
Auto Generate Summaries - Automatically generates an AI-powered summary for each call.
Configure the toggles based on your needs.
Important notes
Turning on Auto Generate Summaries automatically enables Auto Generate Transcriptions, because summaries require transcripts.
You can enable Auto Generate Transcriptions without enabling summaries.
If you enable summaries, transcription will still be generated and charged because it is required for summaries.
Pricing information
The cost for call recording, transcription, and summaries depends on the features you enable.
Recording storage
The first 1,000 minutes per month are free.
After that, each additional minute costs $0.01, deducted from your Wati wallet.
Transcription
3 Wati AI credits per call
Summarization
1 Wati AI credit per call
Important
If summaries are enabled, the total usage is 4 Wati AI credits per call:
3 credits for transcription
1 credit for summarization
This is because summaries require a transcript, so transcription is automatically generated when summaries are enabled.
Step 2: Use recordings during and after calls
When automated recording is enabled
When Auto Record All Calls is turned on:
Recording starts automatically whenever a call begins.
A Pause button appears during the call, allowing you to temporarily stop recording.
When automated recording is disabled
If automated recording is turned off:
Inform your contact that the call will be recorded.
Click the Record button during the call to start recording manually.
Pausing recordings for sensitive information
If sensitive information such as Personally Identifiable Information (PII) or Payment Card Industry (PCI) data is being discussed:
Click Pause to stop recording temporarily.
Click Resume when you want to continue recording.
Wati automatically stitches all recording segments into a single recording file for that call.
Step 3: View recordings, transcripts, and summaries after a call
Once a call ends, a call message card appears in the conversation window with a recording player.
To view a call summary
If summaries are enabled, click View Summary to open the Call Records section and view the AI-generated summary.
If a summary was not generated automatically, click Generate Summary to create one manually.
To view all call details
Click the Call Records tab at the top of the conversation (next to Messages).
You will see a list of all calls with that contact, including inbound and outbound calls.
Expand a call entry to view:
The recording
The transcript
The summary
Open a call record from call logs
You can also open call details directly from WhatsApp Call Logs:
Navigate to WhatsApp Call Logs.
Click any call log entry.
The system will automatically open that call in the Call Records section with a detailed view.
How to setup webhooks for call status events and access call data via APIs
Step 1: Set up webhooks for call status events
You can configure webhooks to receive real-time updates whenever a call event occurs.
Log into your Wati account.
Go to Webhooks.
Click Add Webhook.
Enter your Webhook URL.
Select Call Status as the webhook event type.
Enable the webhook.
Whenever a call occurs - whether it is answered or unanswered - Wati sends a webhook event with the call details.
Sample webhook payload for call event
{
"call_id": "wacid.IRggMDNBNzdBQzQ2MTU4QTgzQTc0QjRFRUNGRTRBNTQ1QzMcGAw0NDc3MjM1NzgxMzEVAgAVDAA=",
"metadata": {
"direction": "outbound",
"status": "completed",
"from_number": "447723578131",
"to_number": "918668493601",
"duration_seconds": 25,
"timestamp": "04/07/2026 07:43:38",
"operator_id": "69d488b74f0efeb09e4e1ceb",
"team_name": "Default Team"
},
"eventType": "call.status"
}This webhook allows you to track call activity and integrate call data with external systems such as CRM platforms, analytics tools, or internal dashboards.
Step 5: Access call data using API endpoints
Wati also provides API endpoints to programmatically retrieve call data.
Log into your Wati account.
Go to API Docs and select Version 3 from the dropdown to view the latest API documentation.
Available API endpoints include:
Get Call Logs — Retrieve a list of all calls.
Get Call Recordings — Retrieve the recording file for a specific call.
Get Call Transcript — Retrieve the transcript for a specific call.
Get Call Summary — Retrieve the AI-generated summary for a specific call.
Batch Download Recordings — Download recordings for multiple calls at once.
Batch Get Transcripts — Retrieve transcripts for multiple calls.
Batch Get Summaries — Retrieve summaries for multiple calls.
These APIs make it easy to automate call analysis, archive recordings, or integrate call insights into other systems.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Call recording
1. How much does call recording cost?
The first 1,000 minutes of call recording storage per month are free. After the free limit is reached, each additional minute costs $0.01, and the amount is deducted from your Wati wallet.
2. Can I pause and resume a recording during a call?
Yes. You can click the Pause button during a call to temporarily stop the recording and resume it when needed. Wati automatically stitches all recording clips into a single recording file for that call.
3. Does recording start automatically for both inbound and outbound calls?
Yes. If Auto Record All Calls is enabled, Wati automatically starts recording for every inbound and outbound call.
Transcription and summarization
4. How much do transcription and summarization cost?
Call transcription costs 3 Wati AI credits per call, and summarization costs 1 additional Wati AI credit per call. If summaries are enabled, the total cost is 4 Wati AI credits per call.
5. Can summaries be enabled without transcription?
No. Call summaries require a transcript to be generated first. When Auto Generate Summaries is enabled, transcription is automatically enabled because it is required to generate the summary.
6. Can a summary be generated after a call if it was not enabled beforehand?
Yes. After the call ends, you can click Generate Summary on the message card in the conversation window or generate the summary from the Call Records section.
Webhooks and API
7. What events trigger the call status webhook?
The call status webhook is triggered for every call event, including when a call is answered or unanswered, for both inbound and outbound calls.
8. Where can the API documentation for call data endpoints be found?
To access the API documentation for call-related endpoints, click More in the top navigation bar, select API Docs, and choose Version 3 from the dropdown.
Feature limitations and language support
9. Are calls recorded when using Astra for inbound Voice AI or Bring Your Own Agent (BYOA)?
No. Calls are not recorded when using Astra for inbound Voice AI or Bring Your Own Agent (BYOA). In these configurations, Wati cannot access the audio on the WebRTC stream, so recording, transcription, and summarization are not available.
10. What languages are supported for transcription and summarization?
Wati supports transcription and summarization in 57 languages:
Afrikaans, Arabic, Armenian, Azerbaijani, Belarusian, Bosnian, Bulgarian, Catalan, Chinese, Croatian, Czech, Danish, Dutch, English, Estonian, Finnish, French, Galician, German, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Icelandic, Indonesian, Italian, Japanese, Kannada, Kazakh, Korean, Latvian, Lithuanian, Macedonian, Malay, Marathi, Maori, Nepali, Norwegian, Persian, Polish, Portuguese, Romanian, Russian, Serbian, Slovak, Slovenian, Spanish, Swahili, Swedish, Tagalog, Tamil, Thai, Turkish, Ukrainian, Urdu, Vietnamese, and Welsh.