Introduction
PWD WhatsApp Lite is a lightweight, modern WhatsApp chat widget for WordPress. It adds a fully customisable floating button to your site that opens a branded chat popup — letting visitors start a WhatsApp conversation with one or more of your team agents in a single tap.
Multi-Agent Support
Add unlimited agents with names, phone numbers, roles, avatars, and availability schedules.
Full Styling Control
Customise button size, colors, position, offsets, label, and widget header/body appearance.
Flexible Positioning
Left, Center, or Right with independent horizontal and vertical offset sliders.
Availability Schedules
Per-agent working hours per day of the week — auto online/away badge shown to visitors.
WooCommerce Integration
Place a WhatsApp button on product pages in 4 different positions with HPOS compatibility.
Zero jQuery Frontend
Pure vanilla JS on the frontend — no jQuery dependency, fast and accessible.
Requirements
| Requirement | Minimum | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| WordPress | 6.0+ | Tested up to 6.7 |
| PHP | 7.0+ | 8.0+ recommended |
| WooCommerce | Any recent version | Optional — required for product page integration only |
| Valid License | — | Required to activate all features |
Installation
Method 1 — WordPress Admin
Navigate to Plugins
In WordPress admin go to Plugins → Add New → Upload Plugin
Upload the ZIP
Choose pwd-whatsapp-lite.zip and click Install Now
Activate
Click Activate Plugin after installation completes
Activate License
Go to WhatsApp Lite → License and enter your license key and email to unlock all features
Method 2 — FTP / File Manager
Extract
Unzip pwd-whatsapp-lite.zip on your computer
Upload
Upload the pwd-whatsapp-lite/ folder to /wp-content/plugins/ on your server
Activate
Go to Plugins in WordPress admin and click Activate next to PWD WhatsApp Lite
License Activation
PWD WhatsApp Lite requires an active license to function. All plugin features — the floating widget, agents, shortcode, and WooCommerce integration — are blocked until a valid license is entered.
Activating Your License
Go to the License Page
In WordPress admin navigate to WhatsApp Lite → License
Enter Your Credentials
Paste your License Key and the email address used at purchase
Click Activate License
The plugin contacts the PWD license server and validates your key against your domain
All Features Unlock
On success the license page shows your key, email, expiry date, and last verification time
Daily Verification
Once activated, the plugin silently verifies your license once per day via a background cron job. Up to 3 consecutive network failures are tolerated before the license is marked invalid — protecting you from brief server outages.
Plugins Page Indicators
The WordPress Plugins page shows a colored status link next to the plugin: License Active when valid, or Activate License when not. A red ! badge also appears on the License menu item when activation is required.
Quick Start
Activate License
Go to WhatsApp Lite → License and enter your license key and email
Add Your First Agent
Go to WhatsApp Lite → + Add Agent — enter name, WhatsApp number, role, and optionally an avatar image
Configure the Button
Go to WhatsApp Lite → Settings → Button Style to set colors, size, position, and label
Style the Widget
Switch to Chat Widget tab to set the popup title, subtitle, response time text, and colors
Set Display Rules
Under Display Rules choose whether to show the widget on all pages, specific pages, or exclude certain pages
Save & Preview
Click Save Changes on each tab, then visit your site — the floating WhatsApp button should appear
Agents
Agents are the team members shown in the chat popup. Each agent is a custom post type entry managed under WhatsApp Lite → Agents. You can add unlimited agents.
Agent Fields
| Field | Description |
|---|---|
| Name | The agent's display name shown in the widget (use the post title) |
| Phone Number | WhatsApp number in international format without the + sign, e.g. 27821234567 |
| Role / Title | Job title shown below the agent name, e.g. "Sales Manager" |
| Pre-filled Message | Message text auto-populated in WhatsApp when the visitor taps the agent card |
| Avatar | Agent profile photo shown in the popup card and widget header |
| Show on WooCommerce | Toggle — whether this agent appears on product pages |
| Availability Schedule | Per-day working hours used to calculate and display online/away status |
Phone Number Format
Enter the full international number without the leading + and without spaces or dashes. Examples:
- South Africa:
27821234567 - USA:
12125551234 - UK:
447911123456
Availability Schedules
Each agent has a schedule table with a row per day of the week. For each day you can:
- Toggle the day on or off (day off = away all day)
- Set a start time and end time for working hours
The plugin reads the site timezone set in Settings → General and compares the current time against the schedule. Agents within their working hours show a green online dot; agents outside hours show a grey away dot.
Chat Widget
Settings found under WhatsApp Lite → Settings → Chat Widget. These control the popup that appears when a visitor clicks the floating button.
Content
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Widget Title | Heading shown in the popup header | Start a Conversation |
| Subtitle | Secondary text below the title in the header | Hi! Click below to chat on WhatsApp. |
| Response Time Text | Small note shown below the agent list | We typically reply within a few minutes. |
Colors
| Setting | Default |
|---|---|
| Header Background | #25D366 |
| Header Text Color | #ffffff |
| Body Background | #ffffff |
| Body Text Color | #333333 |
Shape & Options
| Setting | Range | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Widget Border Radius | 0 – 32 px | 16 |
| Show Agent Avatar | Toggle | On |
| Show Online Status | Toggle | On |
Escape. There is no close button — the widget is designed to be lightweight and distraction-free.Display Rules
Settings found under WhatsApp Lite → Settings → Display Rules. Control exactly where the floating widget appears across your site.
Condition
| Option | Behaviour |
|---|---|
| All pages | Widget appears on every page of the site |
| Only specific pages | Widget appears only on the pages you select from the list |
| All pages except | Widget appears everywhere except the pages you select |
When Only specific pages or All pages except is chosen, a searchable checklist of all your pages and posts appears for you to select from.
Device Visibility
Independently toggle the widget on Desktop and Mobile regardless of the page conditions above.
WooCommerce Integration
Settings found under WhatsApp Lite → Settings → WooCommerce. When enabled, a WhatsApp button is added directly to your product pages — letting customers ask about a product before buying.
Settings
| Setting | Description | Default |
|---|---|---|
| Enable WooCommerce Button | Toggle the product page button on or off | Off |
| Button Label | Text shown on the inline product page button | Ask about this product |
| Button Position | Where the button appears on the product page | After Add to Cart |
Button Positions
| Position | Hook Used |
|---|---|
| After Add to Cart | woocommerce_after_add_to_cart_button |
| Before Add to Cart | woocommerce_before_add_to_cart_button |
| After Short Description | woocommerce_after_short_description (priority 15) |
| After Long Description | woocommerce_after_main_content |
Which Agents Appear on Product Pages
Only agents with Show on WooCommerce enabled appear in the product page button. You can control this per-agent from the agent edit screen. If no agents have this option enabled, the product page button is suppressed automatically.
Shortcode
You can manually embed a WhatsApp button anywhere on your site using the shortcode:
[pwd_walite_button id="123"]Where 123 is the post ID of the agent you want to link to. You can find the agent ID in the URL when editing an agent in the WordPress admin (post=123).
Auto-Updates
PWD WhatsApp Lite includes automatic update support via the Plugin Update Checker (PUC). When a new version is released, an update notification appears in your WordPress admin exactly like a plugin from wordpress.org.
Update Notification Appears
WordPress will show an update notice in Plugins and the dashboard when a new version is available
Click Update Now
WordPress downloads the new version directly from the PWD update server — no manual download needed
License Credentials Are Sent Automatically
Your license key and email are passed securely with the update request — the server verifies your entitlement before serving the download
Troubleshooting
Widget not appearing on the frontend
- Confirm your license is active — go to WhatsApp Lite → License
- Check that at least one agent is published and not in Draft status
- Verify Display Rules are not excluding the current page
- Check the device visibility toggles — the widget may be hidden on Desktop or Mobile
- Try clearing any page/server cache
WhatsApp opens but with the wrong number
- Ensure the phone number is in international format without the leading
+and with no spaces:27821234567
Online/Away status is incorrect
- Check the timezone set in WordPress → Settings → General — the plugin uses this for schedule calculations
- Verify the agent schedule — days not toggled on are treated as off/away all day
License activation fails
- Confirm you are using the correct license key from your purchase confirmation email
- Confirm the email matches the one used at purchase
- Check that your server can make outbound HTTP requests — some hosts restrict this
- If you have already activated on another domain, deactivate there first
WooCommerce button not showing on product pages
- Confirm WooCommerce is active
- Confirm Enable WooCommerce Button is toggled on and saved
- Confirm at least one agent has Show on WooCommerce enabled on their edit screen
Auto-update shows "Automatic update unavailable"
- This means the update server did not return a
download_url— usually caused by an invalid or expired license - Go to WhatsApp Lite → License and confirm the license is active
Changelog
v1.1.0
LATEST March 2026- NEW License activation system via SLM Plus
- NEW Daily background license verification with 3-strike network tolerance
- NEW Email lock — detects nulled copies by comparing activation email against server record
- NEW Plugin Update Checker (PUC v5.6) — automatic update notifications
- NEW License admin page with activation/deactivation UI
- NEW Red badge on License menu item when not activated
- NEW License Active / Activate License action links on Plugins page
- IMPROVED Hard gate — all features blocked without valid license
v1.0.12
March 2026- REMOVED Close button removed from chat widget entirely — widget dismisses on outside click or Escape key
- FIXED All stale CSS identifiers cleaned across all 13 files
- FIXED Renamed
--wa-green,--wa-green-darkCSS vars to--pwd-walite-prefix in admin.css
v1.0.9 – v1.0.11
March 2026- FIXED Widget and admin options now use
array_merge(defaults, saved)so missing keys always get their default value - FIXED Full CSS/JS class rename — all identifiers use
pwd-walite-prefix - FIXED Double-prefix (
pwd-pwd-walite-) bug on 34 lines resolved
v1.0.0
March 2026- NEW Initial release
- NEW Multi-agent CPT with schedule, avatar, pre-filled message
- NEW Full styling admin — button, widget, display rules, WooCommerce
- NEW Live preview bar in settings
- NEW Shortcode
[pwd_walite_button] - NEW WooCommerce HPOS compatible product page integration
- NEW Pure vanilla JS frontend — no jQuery