What Is the WhatsApp Customer Service Window?

How does the 24-hour customer service window work?

When a WhatsApp user messages or calls your business number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, a 24-hour timer called a customer service window starts. If the user messages or calls again before the timer expires, it resets to 24 hours (Meta documentation).

Each customer has their own timer, and nothing you send extends it: only the customer’s own message or call restarts the clock.

For example, a restaurant could receive a reservation question at 9 a.m. and keep replying with any text, image or document all day. If the guest writes again at 8 p.m., the timer resets and runs until 8 p.m. the next day.

What can you send inside and outside the window?

Free-form messages are the normal replies a support agent writes. Outside the window, Meta accepts only message templates that it has reviewed and approved, which is how a business sends an appointment reminder or an order update days after the last conversation (Meta documentation). Marketing templates are not currently delivered to WhatsApp users with United States phone numbers, which matters for US-focused teams (Meta documentation).

Do service messages inside the window cost anything?

Since October 1, 2026, Meta charges for service messages on the WhatsApp Business Platform after a free tier of 1,000 delivered service messages per business phone number per month. The free tier resets monthly and does not roll over, and the rate for the 1,001st message onward matches the utility and authentication rate for the recipient’s market (Meta documentation). Utility templates sent as replies inside the window are charged from the same date.

Messages from a user to your business are always free. If a customer arrives from an ad that clicks to WhatsApp and you reply inside the window, a free entry point window opens during which Meta does not charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages; Meta’s pricing page currently says this window may stay open for up to 7 days (Meta documentation). Meta bills these fees separately from any software you use and may update rates up to quarterly, so check Meta’s rate cards for current figures.

Does the window apply to a WhatsApp number linked by QR code?

No. The customer service window is a rule of the official WhatsApp Business Platform. A WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business app number connected to whatsappx.si by scanning a QR code uses WhatsApp’s linked-device feature, like WhatsApp Web, and sends ordinary chat messages with no template system and no 24-hour timer.

WhatsApp states that its products are not intended for bulk or automated messaging and that doing so violates its Terms of Service (WhatsApp help). Its Business Messaging Policy allows you to contact someone only if they gave you their number and opted in, and you must honor opt-outs (WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy). If you create a brand-new WhatsApp number, use it normally for 15–20 days before you connect it; send 5–10 messages at a time, never bulk blasts; and message only people who opted in. Otherwise WhatsApp may restrict or block the number.

How does whatsappx.si handle the customer service window?

With whatsappx.si you scan a QR code to link the WhatsApp you already have, and your whole team replies from one shared inbox. For numbers connected by QR code, agents reply in the chat as they would on WhatsApp Web. Keyword-triggered auto-replies can send a set answer when a message contains a word you choose; AI replies are coming soon.

As an additional option, you can connect a number through Meta’s WhatsApp Business Platform using Embedded Signup inside the app. For those numbers, agents send free-form replies from the same inbox while a customer’s window is open, and you can create message templates (name, category, language) and sync them with Meta, which reviews templates before they can be used outside the window.

You can start with the WhatsApp you already have and add an official number later if you need approved templates, several Meta numbers in one workspace or automation at scale.