Beacon Messenger is two products in one install, and Shopify's new Canvas editor treats them completely differently. If you opened the app on a Canvas theme today and only half of it worked, this is why, and what to do about it.
The half that does not care what theme you run
Order confirmation, shipping updates with the tracking link, cash-on-delivery confirmation and abandoned-checkout reminders are sent through Meta's WhatsApp Business API from your own number. They are triggered by what happens in your store: an order is created, a fulfillment ships, a checkout sits unpaid. None of that passes through the theme. Beacon Messenger listens for Shopify's order and fulfillment events, composes the message and sends it.
So a store built entirely in Canvas can switch on every notification the app has, and nothing about Canvas gets in the way. The consent rules are the same too: marketing-style messages such as abandoned-checkout reminders default to requiring the customer's marketing consent as recorded in Shopify.
The half that lives in the theme
The chat button and the Share on WhatsApp block are a theme app extension: an app embed and an app block you switch on in the theme editor. Shopify's Canvas documentation says you can't add or configure app blocks or app embeds in Canvas yet. On a theme with the Canvas badge the button cannot be enabled, and the "open the theme editor" link in the app has nowhere useful to go, because a Canvas theme only opens in Canvas.
Shopify's note to developers says it expects to support theme app extensions before Canvas becomes the default editor, and that apps will not need changes for it. Beacon Messenger is already built the way Shopify asks, so there is nothing to reinstall when that arrives.
Until then, the button needs a theme without the badge. If you want to work in Canvas, do it on a copy made with Duplicate in Canvas and keep your original as the live theme with the embed on. The setup page in the app now says the same next to the link.
"Can't Sidekick just add a WhatsApp link?"
It can. A button that opens a wa.me link to your number is a few lines of theme code, and Sidekick writes sections. If one person answers WhatsApp for your store and a plain link is all you need, that is a reasonable choice and it costs nothing.
What the link does not do is the part most stores grow into: several agents with their own numbers and roles, business hours in your time zone so the button hides when nobody will answer, and a prefilled message that already contains the product or cart the customer was looking at, so the conversation starts with context. That is what the embed carries, and it is why we built it as an embed instead of telling merchants to paste a link.
What to set up on a Canvas store this week
- Connect the WhatsApp Business account and turn on the notifications you want. These work now.
- Decide whether the chat button matters before Canvas supports app embeds. If it does, keep a non-Canvas live theme.
- If a static link is enough in the meantime, ask Sidekick for a button to your wa.me link and replace it with the embed later.
Plans are flat monthly with a hard message cap, so a Canvas store running notifications only pays the same as any other store. The Beacon Messenger post on Canvas has the Themes-page walkthrough for telling a Canvas theme from a regular one.
Questions we expect
Do Beacon Messenger's WhatsApp notifications work on a Shopify Canvas theme?
Yes. Order confirmation, shipping updates, cash-on-delivery confirmation and abandoned-checkout reminders are triggered by store events and sent through the WhatsApp Business API. The theme is not involved, so Canvas changes nothing for them.
Why can't I enable the WhatsApp chat button on my Canvas theme?
The chat button is a theme app embed, and Shopify's Canvas documentation says app blocks and app embeds can't be added or configured in Canvas yet. Enable it on a theme without the Canvas badge, or wait for Shopify to add support, which it says will happen before Canvas becomes the default editor.
Will I need to reinstall Beacon Messenger when Canvas supports app embeds?
No. Shopify has said apps built on theme app extensions will not need changes. The embed will appear in Canvas when Shopify enables it.
More on Shopify Canvas from Beacon Wave Studio
- Shopify Canvas can write a gallery section. Here is what it can't do yet Snug Gallery
- Running a sale on a Shopify Canvas theme: what the shopper sees SafeSale
- Shopify Canvas doesn't support Markets yet. What that means if you sell in more than one country GeoBeacon
- Which of your Shopify apps does Canvas affect? A one-minute test, and why Restock Ops passes it Restock Ops