WhatsApp integration
Connect Google Calendar to WhatsApp
When customers ask on WhatsApp to book an appointment, a class or a consultation, someone has to check Google Calendar, reply with the free slots and add the booking by hand. This page compares three ways to connect WhatsApp to Google Calendar so bookings land in the calendar without being keyed in by hand.
Volty connects to Google Calendar. Volty reads the business's calendars and free times, and once an admin turns writes on, books, moves and cancels events in them.
Updated
What a business runs with Google Calendar and WhatsApp connected
- Offer free times in the chat A parent asks for a trial class on Saturday. Volty checks the centre's calendar and offers the free times as buttons.
- Book the one they pick Volty checks free times before it creates an event, as its recipe instructs, then creates the event in Google Calendar at the time the customer tapped.
- Move or cancel A customer asks to move a lesson. Volty moves the event to the new time, or deletes the one event they asked to cancel.
- Tell customers their next appointment Volty finds the customer's event and gives the time in the calendar's own time zone.
Three ways to connect Google Calendar to WhatsApp
Google's own booking pages
Google Calendar's appointment schedules give customers a booking page to pick a time. A personal Google account or Workspace Business Starter gets one booking page. Automatic reminders are a premium feature, sent by email, up to five per booking, and their text cannot be edited. Google Calendar sends its notifications to the phone, the browser or email.
Best for businesses whose customers are happy to open a booking link and get their reminders by email.
Build it yourself
The Google Calendar API reads free and busy times and creates, updates and deletes events. A public app that asks for access to calendar events uses a sensitive scope, so Google reviews it before release, typically in three to five business days, and an unverified app is limited to 100 new users. Changes reach your server as push notifications to an HTTPS address with a valid certificate, and each notification channel must be renewed by your code, since Google does not renew it.
What the business then owns:
- Quotas Google allows 10,000 requests a minute per project and 600 a minute per user.
- Time zones Every time sent to and read from the API carries a time zone, and the code keeps the customer's and the calendar's apart.
- Double bookings The code checks free times before it writes an event.
- The WhatsApp side Meta's Cloud API, a server for its webhooks, approved templates outside the 24-hour window, and duplicate handling, since Meta retries undelivered webhooks for up to 7 days.
Best for businesses that have a developer to build the connection and keep it running.
Use a workflow tool
Zapier, n8n and Make each have a Google Calendar app and a WhatsApp app on Meta's Cloud API. Zapier triggers on new, updated, starting and cancelled events, creates and updates events, and finds busy periods. n8n's Google Calendar node checks whether a time slot is free and creates, updates and deletes events. Make manages events and calendars. Each tool also offers an AI agent step, which you prompt and test yourself. The tools run automations; people read and answer the conversations in another app.
Zapier starts at US$19.99 a month billed annually for 750 tasks, and its WhatsApp Business app needs a paid plan. n8n Cloud starts at €20 a month billed annually for 2,500 executions, and n8n is free to self-host. Make starts at US$9 a month billed annually for 10,000 credits.
Best for businesses that want a fixed flow, such as a WhatsApp template to the customer when a calendar event is created.
Volty is an AI agent that answers customers on WhatsApp and Outlook email from one shared inbox. Connected to Google Calendar, Volty offers the free times in the chat and, once an admin turns writes on, books the one the customer picks. The table compares Volty with the three ways above.
How Volty connects to Google Calendar
Volty connects to Google Calendar through a ready-made connector. An admin adds Google Calendar on the Sources page in Volty and signs in with the Google account that holds the calendars.
- Reads Calendars, events, free slots, free and busy times, and the current date and time on the calendar.
- Writes Create, quick-add, update, move and delete events, and remove an attendee.
- Switches Every tool starts Off. Volty suggests On for tools that only read, and an admin applies the suggestions or sets each switch; a tool that changes a record, such as booking a slot, stays Off until the admin turns it on.
- Draft mode In a draft conversation, a booking waits on the draft and runs only when staff press Send.
- Before booking Volty checks free times before it creates an event, as its recipe instructs, and deletes only the one event a customer or colleague asked to cancel.
One booking, start to finish
A parent messages at 9pm asking for a trial class for a nine-year-old on Saturday. Volty reads the centre's calendar, offers 10am and 2pm as buttons, and books 2pm when the parent taps it. The event appears in the centre's Google Calendar, and the teacher sees it there the next morning.
What changes for the centre: the parent gets the free times at 9pm, while still in the chat, instead of a reply the next morning. Nobody on the team checks the calendar or keys in the booking, and staff can still read every conversation and take over any of them.
Common questions
Can customers book a Google Calendar appointment on WhatsApp?
Yes, once Volty is connected to Google Calendar and an admin has turned on event writes. Volty reads the free times, offers them in the WhatsApp chat, and creates the event in Google Calendar at the time the customer picks.
Does Google Calendar have a WhatsApp integration?
Google Calendar sends its notifications to the phone, the browser or email, and its appointment schedules send reminders by email. Booking from a WhatsApp chat into Google Calendar takes a connector such as Volty, a workflow tool, or a build on the Google Calendar API.
How does Volty avoid double bookings in Google Calendar?
Volty checks free times before it creates an event, as its recipe instructs, and books a time the customer picked from the times it offered. Staff can also set event writes to Check with staff, so every booking waits for a person.
Can Zapier or n8n book Google Calendar slots from WhatsApp?
Each can run the steps: n8n's Google Calendar node checks whether a slot is free and creates the event, and Zapier finds busy periods and creates events. You build the conversation that asks the customer for a time, and you maintain the flow.
What does Volty need to connect to Google Calendar?
An admin signs in with the Google account that holds the calendars, on the Sources page in Volty, and chooses which writes to turn on. Every tool starts Off: Volty suggests On for the reads, and booking, moving and cancelling stay Off until the admin switches them on.
How much does it cost to connect Google Calendar to WhatsApp with Volty?
Volty starts at S$199 a month on the Plus plan, with unlimited users and a free 7-day trial. Meta bills the business separately for WhatsApp message charges.
Related
- WhatsApp enquiries to trial classes for tuition How a centre books trial classes on WhatsApp with Volty and Google Calendar.
- The WhatsApp 24-hour rule When a free-form reply is allowed and when a template is required.
- Plato Medical WhatsApp integration Clinic bookings written into Plato from WhatsApp.
- WESS WhatsApp integration Salon and spa bookings on WhatsApp.