User Guide
Everything you need - from the first connection to the small details. Read it through, or jump to the part you need.
The service in one line Everything that reaches your WhatsApp arrives in your inbox as a designed conversation, and a reply you write in email goes back to WhatsApp from your own number. No app, no smartphone, nothing new to learn - if you can answer an email, you can already use this.
1Connecting for the first time
Once, about ten minutes. After that it simply runs.
Kesher Kasher connects your WhatsApp account as a linked device - exactly like WhatsApp Web. Messages arriving in WhatsApp are sent to your inbox as a chat page, and a reply you write in email goes back to WhatsApp from your own number.
a. Opening the account
- Go to kesher-kasher.co.il/app and choose Register.
- Enter your name, email address and a password. Mind the email address - every message will arrive there, so it must be the inbox you actually read.
- Enter the invite code you were given. Registration is invite-only for now.
- Accept the terms and the privacy policy, then press Create account.
b. Connecting WhatsApp
You need one device with WhatsApp on it, which stays plugged in and on Wi-Fi at home. There are two ways to connect, and for anyone using a kosher phone the pairing code is far easier - it requires scanning nothing.
- On the Connect WhatsApp screen open Cannot scan? Connect with a code.
- Enter your WhatsApp number in international format - for example
972501234567- and press Get code. - On the device with WhatsApp: WhatsApp → Settings → Linked devices → Link a device → Link with phone number instead
- Type in the eight-character code shown on your screen.
The other way is a QR scan: press Connect by scanning a QR code and scan it on the device via Linked devices → Link a device. The code refreshes itself every few seconds.
Once you see ✅ Connected, this part is done.
It must stay switched on and online. If it is off for a long stretch, WhatsApp drops the link and you will have to connect again.
Kesher Kasher is an independent service, not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta. Disconnections are possible and, in rare cases, so is a restriction on the number - the full detail is in the terms of use.
2Switching your chats on
The step most people skip - and then wonder why nothing arrives.
The moment the connection turns green, a screen offers two choices, and what you pick decides everything:
- "Everything reaches my inbox" - all your chats and groups open straight away, and every new chat opens by itself. This is the recommended option, and mail starts arriving within minutes.
- "Only what I approve" - your inbox stays quiet. Every chat appears in the list, and you switch on only the ones you want. Until you switch a chat on, nothing from it will arrive.
You can change that choice at any time in Settings, and switch any single chat on or off. If you have connected and nothing is arriving, this is the first place to look.
Open the Chats and groups tab and flip the green switch next to every chat you want. Each name shows the phone number beneath it, so two similarly named chats are easy to tell apart.
Each chat also has a sending mode:
| Mode | What happens | Good for |
|---|---|---|
| Immediate | Every message is emailed straight away | Chats you cannot afford to miss |
| Digest | Messages are collected and sent together every few minutes | Busy groups, so they do not flood you |
| Automatic | Immediate for private chats, digest for groups | The default, and right for most people |
A new private chat someone starts with you usually switches on by itself. That depends on the Mirror new chats automatically setting - if it is off, no new chat will switch on by itself and you will have to enable each one manually. If messages from new chats have stopped, check this first.
3Day to day
What it actually looks like once everything is set up.
☀️In the morning
You open your email as usual. The conversations are waiting - one email each, with everything that built up in it. No app to open, no device to check.
↵Replying
Press Reply and write. That is all. Your answer reaches WhatsApp from your own number within seconds, as if you had typed it on the phone.
🔇A group that floods you
You do not have to leave it. Switch it to digest and get a roundup every few minutes instead of message by message - or turn the switch off and stay in the group without receiving it.
📎Sending a file
Attach it to your reply and it goes out on WhatsApp. You can send up to ten files in one email, and 30 MB in total.
✈️Away for a week
Pause stops the emails without disconnecting WhatsApp. Messages wait, and go out the moment you resume. Nothing is lost.
🕯️On Shabbat
With Shabbat mode no email is sent at all. Everything waits quietly and arrives once it ends, sorted by conversation.
Tidy the inbox. Chat emails come from a fixed address, so you can give them a label of their own in Gmail and keep them out of your ordinary mail. The extension has a button that does it in one click.
Do not switch everything on at once. Start with the four or five conversations that genuinely matter and add more as you go. Adding is easy; discovering a flooded inbox is not.
4Receiving and replying by email
This is the heart of it. There is nothing to learn - it is just email.
What arrives
Each conversation arrives as a designed chat page: bubbles like WhatsApp, names, quotes, timestamps. Under each sender name in a group you will see their phone number, so you always know exactly who wrote what. Photos, documents and voice notes come attached to the email.
In the settings you can choose between a WhatsApp chat (bubbles) and a plain, clean email for anyone who prefers simple text.
How to reply
Just press Reply and write. That is it. Your answer reaches WhatsApp from your own number, exactly as if you had typed it on the phone.
- Do not change the recipient address. Every chat has its own unique address, and that is what routes your reply to the right conversation. Changing it simply will not work.
- Reply from the address you registered with. If you have several mail accounts and answer from another one, the reply is rejected. If you need to send from a second address, we can register it - just ask.
- Write above the quoted thread. Everything above the quoted message is sent; the quoted part is stripped automatically.
Formatting
WhatsApp supports formatting, and it works from email too:
| What you type | How it looks |
|---|---|
*text* | bold |
_text_ | italic |
~text~ | |
```text``` | code |
WhatsApp has no underline - that is its limitation, not ours.
Sending files
Attach a file to your reply and it will be sent on WhatsApp. You can send up to ten files in one email, and 30 MB in total.
A very large file will not be attached to what you receive. A file over 6 MB, or several files that together pass 7 MB, arrive as a download link instead of the file itself. That is a mail-server limit rather than ours: an email that heavy is simply refused along the way. The message always arrives, even when the file travels separately.
5Starting a chat with a new number
Including someone who has never written to you.
You do not have to wait for anyone to message first. There are two ways:
- From the dashboard: under Send a message to a new number, type the number - an ordinary form like
050-123-4567is fine, we convert it - write your message and send. - By email: send a message to the address shown on the connection screen, with the number in international format. The exact address appears there under To start a new chat.
Once a chat exists it appears in your list and behaves like any other.
6Groups
Join, leave, and tidy the list - all from the dashboard.
Joining a group
Got an invite link? In Chats and groups press Join a group, paste the link, and press Check the link.
We show you which group it is and how many members it has - before you join. An invite link tells you nothing by looking at it, and nobody should have to accept one to find out where it leads.
A group you join follows the same choice you made when you first connected, like every other chat. If you asked to approve chats one by one, joining a group is not the same as asking for all of it by email.
Leaving and tidying are two very different things
Leave the group
You genuinely leave, in WhatsApp. The other members see it, and getting back in needs a fresh invite. For a group that is no longer relevant to you.
Remove from the list
Nothing changes in WhatsApp. You are not leaving and not deleting - just tidying this list. A new message brings the conversation back on its own.
Both sit next to each row, and both ask for confirmation explaining exactly what will happen.
7The settings
All optional. The service works perfectly without touching any of them.
| Setting | What it does |
|---|---|
| 🕯️ Shabbat mode | No email is sent on Shabbat. Messages wait, and everything arrives once it ends. |
| 🔒 Receive only | You see everything by email but cannot send. For anyone who wants to read, not correspond. |
| Text-only mode | No photos or files - text alone. Suits a strict content filter. |
| Which chats to mirror | All / only saved contacts and groups / only chats I have approved. |
| Mirror new chats automatically | Whether a new chat switches itself on. If this is off, nothing switches on by itself. |
| Email style | WhatsApp-style bubbles, or a plain clean email. |
| Digest window | How many minutes messages are collected for in digest mode. |
| Voice-note transcription | Turns a recording into readable text. A paid add-on. |
| Daily group summary | What you missed today - a short summary at an hour you choose. |
| Change password | Set a new password from inside the account. Other sessions are signed out; this device stays in. |
Pausing
Travelling? Want a few undisturbed days? Pause stops the emails without disconnecting WhatsApp. Messages that arrive meanwhile wait, and go out the moment you resume. Nothing is lost.
8The chat screen
A convenience - not a requirement.
Besides email you can enable a chat screen inside the dashboard: a chat list, bubbles and a composer - much like WhatsApp in a browser. It is off by default; switch it on in the settings under Chat screen.
That screen also gives you emoji, quoting a message, forwarding to another chat, attachments, and tagging contacts with @ - just like WhatsApp.
Worth repeating: the service works fully without it. Every message keeps arriving by email as usual.
9The browser extension
If you live in Gmail, this turns your inbox into the control centre.
The extension adds a side panel to Gmail with all your chats, and lets you reply straight from it. It works in Chrome and Edge.
Install from the Chrome Web Store- Click the button - it opens the extension's page on the official Chrome Web Store.
- Click Add to Chrome and confirm. Installed, and it updates itself.
- Open Gmail. A ק button appears - pressing it opens and closes the panel.
The panel contents load from the site, so improvements and fixes reach you on their own - no reinstalling. Closing and reopening the panel is enough.
Content filters sometimes block ZIP downloads even when the site itself is allowed. If the file will not download, you can ask your filter to allow the address, or contact us and we will send it another way.
Tidy my inbox
Inside the panel there is a Tidy my inbox button that creates a Gmail filter for you: all chat emails go to a label of their own instead of mixing with your ordinary mail. Well worth doing on day one.
10Marks worth knowing
The same marks you know from WhatsApp.
- 🕐Clock - the message has not left yet. Waiting to send.
- ✓One tick - sent, and the WhatsApp servers have it.
- ✓✓Two grey ticks - it reached the recipient device.
- ✓✓Two blue ticks - they read it.
- ●Green circle with a number - how many unread messages a chat holds. It clears when you open it.
11Something not working?
It is almost always one of these five.
| What you see | What it usually is |
|---|---|
| No emails at all | Most likely your chats are still switched off. Check the green switch in Chats and groups. Also check the connection shows Connected, and that the service is not paused. |
| Old chats work, new ones do not | Mirror new chats automatically is off. Turn it on, or switch each new chat on by hand. |
| An emailed reply did not send | You probably replied from a different address than the one you registered with, or changed the recipient. Also check you are not in receive-only mode. |
| The connection dropped | The device was switched off or lost internet. Plug it in, get it back on Wi-Fi, and reconnect with a pairing code if needed. |
| Nothing arrives on Shabbat | That is Shabbat mode - everything waits and arrives once it ends. If you did not ask for it, turn it off in the settings. |
Write to info@kesher-kasher.co.il or call 050-760-8891. We are glad to help.