What is the WhatsApp 24-hour window?

The definition in two minutes

When a customer messages or calls you on WhatsApp, a 24-hour timer starts. Meta calls it the customer service window.

While the window is open, you reply as in a normal conversation: free text, photos, documents, buttons, lists. Once it closes, Meta only accepts the message templates it has approved.

How it opens and renews

• It opens when the customer sends you a message or calls you. A customer who replies to one of your templates sends you a message, so their reply opens the window too.
• Each new message or call from the customer resets the timer to 24 hours. What you send does not extend it.
• Each customer has their own window: one customer’s window does not open another’s.

Window open, window closed

Window open

You send service messages: free text, images, documents, reply buttons, lists, among others. They need no prior approval.

Window closed

Only message templates approved by Meta go out. You pick from those Meta has already approved.

In both cases, you can only write to customers who have agreed to receive your messages.

• The 24-hour window explained in detail →
• WhatsApp consent: rules and wording →

What it means for a small business

The window sets the pace of your replies. A customer who wrote a few hours ago is within reach of a free-form message. A customer who has been silent for three days is not.

To get back in touch after that time, prepare your follow-up messages as templates. An appointment reminder or an order that is ready generally falls under the utility category, a promotion under marketing.

On price, since 1 October 2026, Meta has not charged for the first 1,000 service messages each month, per business phone number, and charges for the ones after. It also charges, from that date, for utility templates sent within the window.

• What is free and what is paid →

Not to be confused with

The free entry point window

When a customer writes to you from an ad that leads to WhatsApp and you reply, Meta opens a second window, which can last up to 7 days. It exists for billing: during that time, Meta does not charge your marketing, utility, authentication or service messages.

The messaging limit

It caps the number of different customers you can contact outside the window over a rolling 24 hours. It is a separate rule.

The service message

It is the free-form reply you send while the window is open.

Example

Illustrative case: a customer messages a garage at 5:48 pm to ask when her car will be ready. Until 5:48 pm the next day, the team can reply freely. If the car is only ready the day after, the window has closed: the garage then sends a Meta-approved template, for example “Your vehicle is ready”.

Frequently asked questions