Platform access level: This guide is for learners taking Arist courses over WhatsApp. You do not need an Arist login or any platform role to follow it.
Arist delivers courses as short WhatsApp messages, so your training arrives in the app already on your phone rather than on a site you have to remember to visit. You read a lesson, reply in the same conversation, and pick the course back up whenever you have a few minutes. This guide covers recognizing the Arist conversation, replying START to begin, answering a question, and what to do when something arrives as a link.
1. Recognizing the Arist conversation
Your course arrives in one ordinary WhatsApp conversation, listed alongside everyone else you message. There is no app to install and nothing to sign in to, because WhatsApp already knows who you are from your phone number.
The conversation comes from a business account rather than a person, which is why WhatsApp shows you a card offering Block and Profile the first time it appears. Tapping the sender's name opens that profile if you want to check who is messaging you before you reply.
Note: Because Arist messages you from a business account, WhatsApp offers you Block on that card. Blocking stops your lessons from arriving at all, so if you need a break, reply PAUSE in the conversation instead.
2. Opting in with START before your first lesson
WhatsApp is the one delivery method where a course waits for you to speak first.
Arist's opening message says so directly, telling you your first message is on its way and asking you to reply with START to begin receiving messages.
Send START as its own message, in any capitalization, and the course begins. Until you do, no lesson arrives. WhatsApp asks you to opt in before a business can keep messaging you, and START is how you opt in.
Important: A course you never replied START to looks like an unanswered course to whoever is tracking it. If you have been told to expect training on WhatsApp and nothing has arrived, check the conversation for the opening message and send START.
If nobody has enrolled you yet and you were given a link, a QR code, or a course code instead, see Self-Enrolling in a Course.
3. Answering a lesson's question
Most lessons end with a question, and you answer by replying in the conversation. Each question tells you what kind of reply it expects.
Multiple choice asks for a letter: Reply with the letter matching your answer, such as B.
Multiple select asks for several letters: The question shows the prompt "List all choices like: A,B,C", so send the letters together, separated by commas.
Rating questions ask for a number: Reply with a number inside the range the question names.
Open questions ask for your own words: Write back in a sentence or two.
If Arist cannot read your answer, it asks the question again and tells you what to send, so a mistyped reply costs you nothing. See Taking an Arist Course, Survey, or Nudge for how a course moves from one lesson to the next.
Try it: Open your Arist conversation and answer the question waiting there. One reply is usually all it takes to unlock the next lesson.
4. Receiving an image or video as a link
Some lessons carry a picture or a video, and on WhatsApp a few of them arrive as a tappable link instead of appearing in the message. That is expected, and the link opens the same content.
Animated images always arrive as a link: WhatsApp does not show animations the way it shows still pictures, so Arist sends the picture as a link instead.
Videos always arrive as a link: Tapping it opens the video, which plays without a sign-in.
A long lesson pushes its picture out to a link: WhatsApp only carries a picture inside a message up to a certain length of text, so a wordy lesson arrives with its picture linked underneath.
If you build courses as well as take them, the character budgets and media rules behind all three live in Understanding Formatting and Content Limits.
5. Getting a reminder when a question is waiting
If a question sits unanswered, Arist follows up in the same conversation with a short reminder, and it may follow up more than once over the following days. A reminder never means trouble, and replying picks the course straight back up where it left off.
If a reminder lands at a bad moment, you can pause the course rather than leave the question sitting there. Replying PAUSE stops the lessons and the reminders together until you are ready.
6. Pausing lessons or opting out
You steer your own delivery by replying with a single keyword, typed on its own:
PAUSE stops lessons until you are ready: Your place is held rather than cancelled, so nothing is lost while you are away.
START or RESUME picks the course back up: The next lesson arrives right away.
STOP or UNSUBSCRIBE opts you out: Your delivery ends and Arist sends you a confirmation, so choose PAUSE instead if you only need a break.
SUPPORT or HELP reaches a human: You get your enrollment details and who to contact.
For the full list, including what each keyword does on other delivery methods, see Using System Keywords.
Tip: Reply PAUSE rather than STOP when you are heading into a busy stretch. Pausing keeps your progress and your enrollment intact, and one word brings the course back.
7. Knowing what a WhatsApp course includes
WhatsApp carries courses, and only courses. Standalone surveys and the single timely messages Arist calls Nudges reach learners on other delivery methods, so everything that arrives in your Arist conversation belongs to the course you are taking.
Lessons also arrive inside a delivery window your organization sets, and on WhatsApp that window is always at least five hours wide. Expect your lesson somewhere inside your organization's usual hours rather than at the same minute every day.
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Note: Need help at any point? Reach out to your Arist Customer Success contact, or email support@arist.co.