The WhatsApp 24-Hour Window and Template Messages, Explained Simply

Quick answer

On the WhatsApp Business Platform, every time a customer messages you, a 24-hour customer service window opens. Inside it you can send any normal reply — text, photos, voice, documents — and those replies are free. Once 24 hours pass without a new message from the customer, the window closes and you can only contact them with a template message: a pre-approved message in the marketing, utility or authentication category, billed per delivered message. The customer's next message opens a fresh window. Fast replies keep almost all customer conversations free.

Key takeaways

• The window opens — or resets — every time the customer sends you a message, and lasts 24 hours.
• Inside the window, normal replies are free and so are utility templates.
• Outside the window, only pre-approved template messages can be sent, and they are billed per delivered message.
• Templates come in three categories — marketing, utility and authentication — priced differently by country.
• Ads that click to WhatsApp open a free 72-hour window when you reply within 24 hours.

Why the 24-hour rule exists

WhatsApp is a personal messaging app first. The 24-hour rule protects users from businesses messaging them whenever they like: a business can talk freely while the customer is engaged, and after that has to use messages WhatsApp has reviewed and that the customer agreed to receive.

The rule only applies to the WhatsApp Business Platform (the API). On the free WhatsApp Business app on your phone there is no window — which is also why the app cannot be automated at scale.

How the customer service window works

• A customer sends you a message at 3 pm on Monday. The window is open until 3 pm on Tuesday.
• During that time you can reply as often as you like with text, images, video, voice notes, documents and product details.
• If the customer writes again at 10 am on Tuesday, the window resets and now runs until 10 am on Wednesday.
• If nobody writes before it expires, the window closes. Your next message must be an approved template.
• Messages you send yourself — including from the WhatsApp Business app linked through Coexistence — do not open or extend the window. Only the customer's messages do.

What template messages are

A template is a message you write in advance and submit to Meta for approval. It can include variables such as {{1}} for the customer's name or order number, a header image or document, and buttons. Once approved, you can send it to anyone who has opted in to hear from you, even when the window is closed.

Each template belongs to one of three categories, and the category decides both the price and what the message may contain:

• Marketing: offers, new arrivals, back-in-stock alerts, abandoned-cart reminders, invitations. The most expensive category.
• Utility: messages about something the customer already did or asked for — order confirmations, shipping and delivery updates, appointment reminders, payment receipts. Cheaper, and free when sent inside an open window.
• Authentication: one-time passwords and login codes. The cheapest category.

What it costs

Since July 2025 Meta bills templates per delivered message, at rates that depend on the category and on the country of the recipient's phone number. Normal replies inside the window are free, and utility templates sent inside an open window are free too.

There is one more free path: when a customer reaches you by clicking a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button and you reply within 24 hours, a free 72-hour window opens. Full breakdown with examples: WhatsApp Business API pricing explained.

How to stay inside the free window

The cheapest WhatsApp strategy is simply to answer fast. Most customer conversations — prices, stock, sizes, delivery, bookings — happen while the customer is still in the chat. Answer within minutes and the whole sale happens inside a free window.

That is the job SOVA's AI assistant does: it answers every message the moment it arrives, day or night, so conversations are handled while the window is open. The SOVA inbox also refuses to send a free-form reply once a window has closed, so nobody on your team runs into a surprise error or charge.

Use templates for what genuinely happens later: dispatch and delivery updates, reminders the day before an appointment, and occasional offers to customers who opted in. For ready-to-use wording, see our WhatsApp message templates for orders, delivery and reminders.

Getting templates approved

• Pick the honest category. Meta checks, and can reclassify a "utility" template that is really a promotion.
• Give every variable a realistic sample value, and do not start or end the message with a variable.
• Write clearly: no misleading claims, no threats, no requests for sensitive data such as full card numbers.
• Submit a separate template for each language you send in.
• Add a way to opt out to marketing templates — for example "Reply STOP to unsubscribe" — and honour it.

Frequently asked questions

What is the 24-hour rule on WhatsApp?

On the WhatsApp Business Platform, a business can send normal replies for 24 hours after the customer's last message. After that, it can only send pre-approved template messages until the customer writes again.

Are replies inside the 24-hour window free?

Yes. Normal, non-template replies inside an open customer service window are free, and utility templates sent inside an open window are free as well.

Does my reply reset the 24-hour window?

No. Only a message from the customer opens or resets the window. Your own messages — from the API or from the WhatsApp Business app — do not.

How long does template approval take?

Meta reviews templates automatically and most decisions arrive quickly, often within minutes and usually within a day. Templates that break the rules are rejected with a reason you can fix and resubmit.

Does the 24-hour rule apply to the WhatsApp Business app?

No. It applies to the WhatsApp Business Platform (API). If your number is on both through Coexistence, messages the AI sends through the API follow the rule, while messages you send from the phone app do not.