WA FoldersHow to see who hasn't replied on WhatsApp Web
WhatsApp Web shows you unread messages. It does not show you the opposite problem, which is usually the expensive one: the messages you sent that nobody answered. The quote you sent the client on Tuesday, the question to the landlord, the group you asked twice about Sunday. Those chats look finished, because the last message is yours and there is no unread badge on them.
This guide covers the two ways to find them: by hand, which costs nothing and works today, and with WA Folders, the Chrome extension I build, which keeps the list for you.
The manual way, and why it stops working
Open web.whatsapp.com and scroll your chat list. Any chat whose preview line starts with the double-tick icon ended with a message from you. If the other person had replied, the preview would be their text instead.
That is a real method and it is free. It also falls apart at about forty chats, because you have to re-scan the whole list every time, you cannot tell "they answered an hour ago" from "they went quiet in March", and nothing reminds you tomorrow. WhatsApp Web has no "waiting on a reply" filter, no snooze and no follow-up list, on the web or in the phone app.
The WA Folders way
WA Folders is a Chrome extension that runs only on web.whatsapp.com. Install it, then open or reload web.whatsapp.com. The reload matters, because the panel is added when the page loads.
Step 1: open the Today view
The Today view in the WA Folders panel counts four things:
- Waiting on them: one-to-one chats where you spoke last and no answer has come back.
- Questions for me: chats whose last message asks you something.
- Due: reminders that have come due.
- Needs reply: chats where they spoke last and you have not answered yet.
Open Waiting on them and you get the list. That is the answer to the question in the title, and it takes one click. The list is worked out from the chats WA Folders can see in your browser; it is not a report from WhatsApp and nothing is sent anywhere to produce it.
Step 2: set a reminder that clears itself
Finding them once is not the same as not losing them again. Open a chat you are waiting on and choose Remind me if they don't reply within 1 day.
The useful part is the "if". If they answer, the reminder disappears on its own, so you never see it, because it stopped being a problem. If they do not, the chat comes back under Due with a badge on the toolbar icon. You are only ever shown the follow-ups that are still real.
The free plan holds 2 reminders at a time, with no time limit on the plan itself. Pro removes the cap.
Step 3: make the list smaller than your whole chat list
If most of your waiting-on-them chats are work, put those chats in a folder first. Folder tabs sit above the chat list, and each tab carries its own markers: unread, reply when the last message was theirs, and question when it asks you something. So you can see which folder needs you before you open it, and chase the Clients folder without reading the family group.
The guide to making folders walks through that part. Three or four folders is plenty.
What this does not do
WA Folders never sends a message. There is no auto-chase, no drip sequence and no "just following up" template firing on your behalf: reminders put the chat in front of you, you write the message, and you press Enter yourself. It does not connect to the WhatsApp Business API, and the follow-up list does not appear on your phone. It lives in Chrome on the computer you installed it on.
Your chats stay on that computer too. There is no WA Folders account, no WA Folders server and no analytics.
What it costs
The free plan has no time limit: 5 folders, 5 search results per search, 3 exports a day, 5 voice-note transcriptions and 20 translations a day, and 2 reminders at a time. Pro is a one-time $4.99 payment, with no subscription, and removes those limits. There is no free trial of Pro; the free plan keeps working until you decide to buy.
If the Today view is empty
A fresh install has not seen your chats yet. Open the handful of conversations you care about once, with WA Folders running, and the Today view fills in. If the panel itself is missing, reload web.whatsapp.com, then check that WA Folders is enabled at chrome://extensions and that you are in desktop Chrome rather than the WhatsApp desktop app, which looks similar but is not a browser page. Still stuck? Write to toolshed+wafolders@mail.grokbot.com.
WA Folders is an independent extension and is not affiliated with WhatsApp or Meta.