Common questions, honest answers. If your question isn’t here, type
helpin chat — Nalo will point you to the right place.
Basics
Do I need to install an app?
No. Nalo lives in WhatsApp, SMS, and a web chat demo. That’s the whole point — tradespeople shouldn’t need to learn new software.
What do I do first?
Text Hey Nalo to Nalo’s number. A short welcome sequence runs, then onboarding. Fully set up in under 2 minutes.
See Getting started.
What if my business is brand new?
Perfect timing. Create your Business on day one. Quote your first client the same day. By month 3 you’ll have a monthly recap with actual numbers.
Is there a free tier?
Every business starts on the Free plan. Upgrades unlock higher volumes, multi-business, and SMS. Contact the team when you outgrow Free.
Data & privacy
Where is my data stored?
On HeyNalo servers in the US (as of 2026-04-19). Per-business isolation: one phone = one business. No cross-business sharing.
Who has access?
- You (the business owner, via your phone)
- The HeyNalo ops team (for debugging / support — logs only, no PII-on-screen browsing)
- No one else
Is my data used for AI training?
No. The inference happens on OpenAI Whisper (voice) and Anthropic Claude (chat). Both vendors’ API terms prohibit training on your data. HeyNalo doesn’t train models at all.
Can I export my data?
- Expenses → CSV, any date range,
/config→ Expenses → Export CSV - Clients + history → planned for v1.2
- Full data dump → email the team, they’ll provide JSON within 48 hours
Can I delete my data?
Yes. Email the team. Hard-delete is irreversible, so they’ll double-confirm before executing.
Are conversations encrypted?
- Client ↔ HeyNalo: TLS 1.3 in transit
- At rest: database-level encryption
- WhatsApp ↔ HeyNalo: Meta’s standard (no end-to-end since Nalo is a business account)
Features
Can I have multiple businesses on one phone?
Not yet. One phone = one business in v1. Multi-business on one phone is on the roadmap.
Workaround: have two different phones (personal + work SIM).
What countries are supported?
29 countries:
- Americas: USA, Canada, Mexico, Puerto Rico, Dominican Republic, Cuba, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras, Nicaragua, Costa Rica, Panama, Colombia, Venezuela, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile, Argentina, Uruguay, Paraguay, Brazil
- Europe: Spain, UK, Ireland
- Oceania: Australia, New Zealand
- Also: Belize, Guyana
Country auto-detected from your phone prefix. Currency, timezone, and PDF language adjust automatically.
What languages?
English and Spanish today. Additional languages TBD based on demand.
Does it work with my messaging tool?
- WhatsApp ✅ (primary)
- SMS ✅ (where supported; US SMS via Twilio, requires 10DLC approval)
- Web chat demo ✅ at
app.heynalo.app/nalito/new/<your-phone> - Facebook Messenger — roadmap
- iMessage — not planned (Apple API restrictions)
- Telegram — used for owner notifications only (not client-facing yet)
Can I use a landline?
SMS to landlines isn’t reliable. WhatsApp requires a mobile number. Use a cell phone.
Money & payments
Can Nalo take payments?
Not directly. You collect payments via cash, check, Zelle, Venmo, Cash App, bank transfer, or any method your client uses. Nalo records the payment when you tell it.
Stripe / Square integration is planned for v1.2 — one-tap pay-this-invoice links. Today: mark as paid manually.
Does Nalo calculate tax automatically?
Yes. Set your tax rate once (/config → Profile → Billing → Sales tax rate). Every new quote/invoice breaks down Subtotal / Tax / Total on the PDF.
How do deposits work?
Set a deposit percentage (e.g., 30%). Quotes show “Deposit required: $X” and “Balance due on completion: $Y”.
To collect the deposit: create a partial invoice for the deposit amount. Mark it paid when received. Create the full remaining invoice when the job is done.
Seamless native deposit tracking is on the roadmap.
What about multiple currencies?
One business = one currency (pulled from country). If you have clients in multiple countries, they all see your currency on the PDF. No multi-currency support in v1.
Clients & communication
Will clients know I’m using AI?
Probably not. Nalo’s messages to clients read like they’re from you — friendly, in their language, professional. No “sent via HeyNalo” footer.
Can clients reply?
They can reply to the messages Nalo sends. Replies come into your chat with Nalo so you can see them. Nalo doesn’t auto-process client replies in v1 — you read and decide.
What if a client unsubscribes?
- SMS: STOP auto-handled by Twilio — they stop receiving texts permanently (Twilio compliance)
- WhatsApp: client blocks your business number — Nalo detects and stops
Can Nalo answer client questions for me?
Planned for v2. Today, Nalo only pushes messages to clients (quotes, invoices, reminders). Client messages come to you.
Appointment reminders — can I customize them?
Not per-appointment in v1. You can edit the template in prompts.properties if you self-host.
Opting out a single appointment: add no reminder to its notes field.
Privacy-sensitive scenarios
I accidentally sent something sensitive in chat. Can I delete it?
You can delete your side (standard messaging app behavior). The log on Nalo’s side is append-only. Email the team if you need a specific entry redacted.
Can I hide a client from someone else seeing my account?
The /config panel shows everything to whoever holds the 30-min token. Don’t share screens with people you don’t trust with all your data.
Technical
What if Nalo gives me wrong information?
It happens. LLMs aren’t perfect. If a quote comes out wrong:
- Tap B Modify → say what to change
- Or cancel (C) and start over
Teach Nalo for next time:
“Remember that for weekly lawn mowing, always use $45 per visit, not $40.”
It goes into business memory.
What if Nalo is down?
Check /health. If down: use WhatsApp directly with your client (you haven’t lost access to anything). Nalo’s state is all in the database; when it’s back, you just resume.
Can I self-host Nalo?
Partially. The whole system is open — Spring Boot, Hibernate, Claude API, Meta WhatsApp API, OpenAI Whisper. You’d need API keys for each. Contact the team for self-host guidance.
What’s the tech stack?
- Backend: Spring Boot 4, Java 21, Spring AI with Claude Haiku
- Database: H2 (dev), MySQL/Postgres (prod)
- Storage: local filesystem for PDFs, media
- Messaging: Meta WhatsApp Cloud API, Twilio (SMS), custom Nalito web
- AI: Claude Haiku 4.5 (chat), OpenAI Whisper (voice)
- Hosting: single Java JAR, scales horizontally
- Code generation: HunabQ schema-driven generator
Business model
How much does it cost?
- Free plan: covers solo tradespeople, small volumes
- Pro / Team / Business plans: higher limits, SMS unlocked, priority support, multi-business
- Exact pricing: ask the team
What happens if I stop paying?
Your account goes read-only: you can access /config, view history, export CSV. You can’t create new quotes/invoices/appointments. After 60 days of non-payment, data is archived.
Can I refer someone?
Planned referral program. Today: just tell them to text Hey Nalo.
What’s coming next
Public roadmap (subject to change):
- v1.1: before/after job photos, daily recap option, reminder templates, customizable schedules
- v1.2: Stripe/Square pay-this-invoice links, client-reply auto-processing, multi-business per phone
- v2: multi-language beyond en/es, quotes for recurring services, native mobile app (opt-in)
- v3: supplier/vendor management, inventory tracking, payroll
Getting help
- In chat: type
help - Email: the team responds within 24h
- Community: planned Discord/Slack for tradespeople, TBD