Global Relay
Federated Messaging
Integrating a new WhatsApp feature within the Global Relay desktop app for compliant messaging
1
Project Overview
What is the Global Relay App?
Global Relay is a software company providing cloud-based messaging, archiving, and compliance services for organizations worldwide. Its flagship messaging app securely captures and archives communication channels—email, instant messaging, social media, and SMS—so that businesses, including highly regulated industries like finance, can meet record-keeping and compliance requirements.
While the app already supported SMS, Android Messages, and direct message archiving, many clients—particularly in Europe—relied heavily on WhatsApp for professional communication.
2
The Opportunity
Federated Messaging
The product team was tasked with integrating federated archival messaging for WhatsApp into the Global Relay platform. This meant that users could send, receive, and archive WhatsApp messages natively within the app, while ensuring compliance, continuity, and a seamless user experience across desktop, iOS, and Android.
As we had a large European base, we had three primary audiences to consider in the integration of WhatsApp within the app:
Existing clientele who already depended on Global Relay for compliant communication.
Prospective clients evaluating compliance platforms, for whom WhatsApp support would be a selling point.
European clients where WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business were widely used in regulated industries.
As an Intermediate UI Designer on the Global Relay App team, I collaborated closely with UX designers, product managers, and developers. My responsibilities included:
Designing flows for WhatsApp-style conversations within the app.
Maintaining visual continuity between WhatsApp’s familiar patterns and Global Relay’s brand guidelines.
Creating cross-platform visuals for iOS, Android, and desktop.
Adding new design elements to the UI Team’s style guide and design system for long-term consistency.
Assisting in the creation and review of UX wireframes and functionality.
3
Requirements and Goals
Establishing an MVP
The integration was planned for a Fall 2023 release, requiring careful scoping to deliver a minimum viable product (MVP) with key functionality and integration of the WhatsApp application into our app. Working with our product manager (and in collaboration with Meta’s WhatsApp team), we defined which WhatsApp features could realistically be supported in the first release.
These included: Start a new conversation, Delivery failure notifications, Send, read, and error receipts, Delete and forward message options, and WhatsApp avatar badges.
4
Design Approach
Creating a Familiar Yet Compliant Experience
Designing the WhatsApp integration required balancing three priorities: compliance, usability, and familiarity. The goal was to give users a seamless way to send and archive WhatsApp messages within the Global Relay platform, while ensuring the experience still felt native to their devices and recognizable as WhatsApp. To achieve this, I focused on preserving WhatsApp’s most essential features, blending its visual language with Global Relay’s established brand system, and designing cross-platform experiences that reduced friction for users. The following principles guided the final design:
Core Functionality
The starting point was ensuring that users could continue to rely on the WhatsApp features they considered most critical for everyday communication. This included the ability to start new conversations, send and receive messages, and see delivery and read receipts—all while knowing these exchanges were being archived compliantly. By recreating the familiar WhatsApp interaction model within Global Relay’s platform, we reduced the need for users to leave the app or create redundant workflows.
Visual Continuity
Because users were still technically communicating through WhatsApp, it was important to signal that relationship visually. I integrated subtle WhatsApp-specific cues—such as avatar badges and status indicators—into the design system, so users would recognize the environment without confusion. At the same time, these elements had to harmonize with Global Relay’s established interface, ensuring that the integration felt like a natural extension of the app rather than a foreign overlay.
Simplified Archival Messaging
One of the biggest pain points prior to this integration was the manual effort required for users to document WhatsApp conversations. To solve this, we created a dedicated WhatsApp option directly on the home screen, which allowed users to start an archival message with one tap. This simple entry point transformed what used to be a tedious, error-prone process into an intuitive, compliant workflow. It was a small but impactful way to reduce user burden and increase adoption.
Integrated Experience
Because the app needed to work across desktop, iOS, and Android, the designs had to account for platform-specific expectations while still maintaining consistency. I created parallel flows and screen designs tailored for each environment, ensuring that the experience felt native to the device yet aligned with Global Relay’s overall product ecosystem. New design components were documented in the UI team’s style guide, creating a foundation that could be scaled for future feature additions and refinements.
5
Reflection
Obstacles That Shaped the Design
Like any integration involving third-party platforms and regulatory constraints, the WhatsApp project surfaced a number of challenges that shaped both the design and the final product. Some obstacles were technical, rooted in the limitations imposed by Meta’s security framework. Others were organizational, reflecting the realities of limited time and resources within the design and development teams. Each of these constraints required creative problem-solving and compromise—while also providing valuable lessons about designing for compliance-heavy environments and cross-platform integrations.
Technical Limitations: Meta’s security restrictions prevented validating WhatsApp numbers until after a first message was sent, causing potential user frustration.
Scope Constraints: Inline replies and full parity with WhatsApp’s delete feature could not be supported in the MVP due to archival requirements and resource limitations.
Brand Continuity: While basic WhatsApp elements were integrated, future releases were needed to fully strengthen the sense of continuity.
Despite these constraints, the process underscored the importance of designing with both user expectations and compliance realities in mind. Each challenge became an opportunity to refine how we balanced regulatory requirements with intuitive, familiar interactions.
The learnings from this integration not only informed future iterations of the WhatsApp feature but also provided a framework for approaching similar third-party integrations across the Global Relay platform.
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Next Steps
Continuing the Integration Journey
Following the MVP release, the team planned to build on the foundation by adding “nice-to-have” features such as inline replies, enhanced delete functionality, and stronger WhatsApp branding continuity. Efforts were also directed toward refining cross-platform parity to ensure a seamless experience across desktop, iOS, and Android. Beyond this project, the workflows established with Meta provided a model for future third-party integrations, positioning Global Relay to scale compliant messaging services with greater efficiency.
