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Access Controls: Decide Who Your AI Replies To — and Block the Rest

Use an allowlist to roll your AI out to a chosen few, and a blocklist to make spam disappear. You stay in full control.

Watsy Team
Jan 15, 2026
3 min read
Access Controls: Decide Who Your AI Replies To — and Block the Rest

You decide who the AI talks to

Going live with an AI on your business WhatsApp number is a big step. The good news: you choose exactly who it replies to, and you can block anyone you do not want to hear from at all. Nothing happens that you did not allow.

Watsy gives you two simple controls — an allowlist and a blocklist — set per WhatsApp number, right from your Contacts. Here is how to use each one.

The allowlist: roll out on your terms

An allowlist is the calm way to launch. When you turn it on, the AI auto-replies only to the contacts you choose. Everyone else still reaches your team — their messages land in your inbox as normal — but the AI stays quiet for them.

Why this matters:

  • Start small. Pick a handful of trusted customers, switch the AI on for them, and watch how it handles real conversations.
  • Build confidence. Read the replies. Tune your agent. When you are happy, add more people.
  • Open the gates in a tap. Ready for everyone? Clear the allowlist. An empty allowlist means the AI replies to everyone — full launch, instantly.

So the allowlist is a dial, not a wall. Tight at first, wide open when you are ready. And while it is tight, no customer is ever left hanging — anyone not on the list still reaches a human on your team.

How to use it

  1. Open Contacts for the WhatsApp number you want to control.
  2. Add the contacts you want the AI to reply to — the allowlist.
  3. Watch those conversations. Adjust your agent as needed.
  4. When you are ready for a full launch, empty the allowlist so the AI replies to everyone.

The blocklist: make the noise disappear

Some numbers you simply do not want to deal with — spam, time-wasters, a wrong number that keeps texting. The blocklist handles them.

When you block a number, its messages just disappear. No reply from the AI. Nothing in your inbox to clear. No clutter for your team. It is as if those messages were never sent — which is exactly what you want for spam.

Why it helps:

  • Kill spam at the door. Blocked messages never reach the AI or your team.
  • Protect your team's focus. Your inbox stays clean, so agents spend time on real customers.
  • Stop wasted credits. The AI does not reply to blocked numbers, so they never cost you anything.

How to use it

  1. Open Contacts for that WhatsApp number.
  2. Add the number to the blocklist.
  3. Done. Their messages stop appearing — no reply, no clutter.

Two lists, full control

Think of it this way:

  • Allowlist — who the AI is allowed to reply to. Empty means everyone. Anyone left off still reaches your team.
  • Blocklist — who you want gone entirely. Their messages are ignored, full stop.

Both are set per WhatsApp number, so a number you are still testing can stay tight while a proven one runs wide open. Nothing replies that you did not allow, and nothing reaches you that you chose to block. That is the whole point: you are always in control.