WhatsApp templates and the 24-hour window, explained
Why WhatsApp only takes replies for 24 hours, and how to write, get approved and send message templates in Exoconnect.
Updated · 5 min read
WhatsApp has one rule that surprises most new businesses: you can’t send any message you like at any time. This guide explains the rule, the 24-hour customer service window, and the way around it, message templates, and shows how both work in Exoconnect.
The short version
- When a customer writes to you, you have 24 hours to reply with anything: words, photos, videos, audio or documents.
- After 24 hours, you can only send a message template: a message you wrote in advance and WhatsApp approved.
- Each new message from the customer opens a fresh 24 hours.
The 24-hour customer service window
Meta calls this rule the customer service window. It opens when a customer sends your business a message, and it lasts 24 hours from their latest message. While it’s open, you reply as you would in any chat.
A few details matter:
- Only their messages count. Your own replies don’t extend the window. If you send three messages and they don’t answer, the window still closes 24 hours after their last one.
- Groups have their own window. In a WhatsApp group, a message from any member opens 24 hours for the whole group. A person’s message in a group doesn’t open a window for a private chat with them.
- There’s no grace period. Past 24 hours, it’s a template or nothing.
Exoconnect follows the window for you. In the Inbox, when a WhatsApp conversation’s window has closed, the reply box is replaced by a note: “WhatsApp only takes replies within 24 hours of their last message, but you can send an approved template any time.” Next to it is Send a template.
What a message template is
A message template is a message you write once and send to Meta for review. Once approved, you can send it to someone who has agreed to hear from you, even after their window has closed.
A template can have variables: blanks, such as a customer’s name or an order number, that you fill in for each person when you send it. It can also have a bold heading, a small grey footer, and buttons.
Meta sorts templates into categories, and prices them differently. Exoconnect offers two:
- Update (Meta’s “Utility”): orders, bookings, payments and account news someone expects from you.
- Promotion (Meta’s “Marketing”): offers, launches, invitations and anything meant to bring someone back.
WhatsApp may file an update that reads like an offer as a promotion. If it does, Exoconnect tells you when you save it.
Write a template
Go to Today, then Templates, and choose New template. The first time, you can pick Write your own or Start from a ready-made one.
To write your own:
- Name it. Only you see the name; customers never do.
- Choose its Language.
- Under What is it for?, choose Update or Promotion.
- Write the Message. Add a variable for anything that changes per customer, like their name.
- Give each variable a sample. WhatsApp reads the samples to review your message; each customer sees their own details.
- If you like, add a Heading, a Footer, or buttons: Quick reply, Link, Call or Copy code (for a coupon).
- Check the Preview, then choose Send for review.
Exoconnect catches the mistakes Meta often rejects while you type, such as a message that starts or ends with a variable, a missing sample, or a message that’s mostly variables.
Start from a ready-made template
WhatsApp keeps a library of its own wording for everyday updates. Choose Start from a ready-made one (or Browse on a new template), filter by Orders, Payments, Bookings or Account, pick one, give it a name, and choose Use this template. If it has a link button, add the link to your own website.
Review and status
WhatsApp reviews each template, usually within a few minutes and no more than a day. The Templates page groups yours by status:
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Ready to send | Approved. You can send it. |
| In review | WhatsApp is still checking it. |
| Not approved | WhatsApp rejected it. Exoconnect shows why, when Meta gives a reason. |
| Paused | People blocked or reported it. Edit it to make it clearer, or wait for the pause to end. |
| Turned off | Its quality stayed low. Create a new one with clearer wording. |
Approved templates also show WhatsApp’s quality rating: high, medium or low. When a review finishes, or WhatsApp pauses or turns off a template, the people who manage connections get a notification.
Edit or delete a template
You can edit a template that is ready, not approved, or paused. Saving sends it to WhatsApp for review again, and WhatsApp allows one change a day to an approved template.
Deleting a template removes it from WhatsApp for good. Messages you already sent with it stay in your Inbox. WhatsApp won’t let you reuse the name for a new template for 30 days.
Templates with parts Exoconnect can’t change yet, such as an image heading, show in the list; edit those in Meta’s WhatsApp Manager.
Send a template
From the Inbox:
- Open the WhatsApp conversation.
- While the window is open, choose + beside the reply box, then Template. Once it has closed, choose Send a template under the note.
- Pick an approved template, fill in its values, and choose Send.
The message appears in the conversation, marked as a template, with the words the customer read. Templates with an image, video or document heading can’t be sent from the Inbox yet.
To see a template on a real phone first, open it in Templates and choose Send a test. Enter your own number with its country code.
From the Inbox, a template goes to one conversation at a time.
Opt-in and costs
Only message people who agreed to hear from you. That’s Meta’s policy, and people who block or report a template can get it paused.
Meta charges businesses for some WhatsApp messages, such as templates, at its own rates. Those charges come from Meta, separate from your Exoconnect plan, and Exoconnect adds nothing on top. See Exoconnect’s plans.
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