WhatsApp 24-Hour Window Explained, With Real Shop Examples

A customer messages your page's WhatsApp number at 11 pm on Friday: "Ei saree ta ache? Price koto?" Your team is off for the weekend. On Sunday morning someone types a reply, hits send, and it fails. WhatsApp will not deliver it.

That is the 24-hour customer service window at work. It is the most important rule on the WhatsApp Business Platform, and the most misunderstood. This post explains it with examples from a normal Bangladeshi shop week, so your team knows exactly what they can send and when.

What is the WhatsApp 24-hour customer service window?

The 24-hour window is the period after a customer messages your business when you can reply with any normal message. Meta calls it the customer service window. It opens when the customer messages you, restarts each time they write again, and closes 24 hours after their latest message.

Three rules cover almost every case:

1. The customer opens it. A message from them starts a 24-hour clock. Meta's pricing docs say a call from the customer opens it too.
2. The customer resets it. Each new message from them restarts the full 24 hours.
3. You cannot extend it. Your replies, your templates and the customer reading your messages do not move the clock.

This rule exists only on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the API. If you are still on the phone app, see WhatsApp Business app vs API.

What can you send inside and outside the window?

Inside the window you can send anything; outside it you can send only approved templates.

How does the 24-hour window work in practice?

These five examples follow one shop through a normal week. Times are Bangladesh time.

Example 1: the late-night enquiry

• Friday 11:00 pm. Customer asks about a saree. Window open until Saturday 11:00 pm.
• Saturday 10:00 am. Shop replies with photos and the price. Allowed, free-form.
• Saturday 10:20 am. Customer: "Blue ta ache?" Window now runs until Sunday 10:20 am.

The shop's reply did not reset anything. The customer's question did.

Example 2: the weekend gap

• Friday 11:00 pm. Customer asks a question. Window until Saturday 11:00 pm.
• Sunday 9:00 am. Shop tries to reply. The window closed 10 hours ago. The message fails.

The shop's options now: send an approved template, for example a utility message if the customer had asked about an existing order, or a marketing template if the customer opted in to offers. If the customer replies to it, a new window opens.

Example 3: the order that ships later

• Monday 3:00 pm. Customer places an order in chat. Window until Tuesday 3:00 pm.
• Thursday 11:00 am. The parcel leaves with the courier. The window closed on Tuesday.

The shipping update must be a utility template:

আসসালামু আলাইকুম {{1}}, আপনার অর্ডার {{2}} আজ কুরিয়ারে দেওয়া হয়েছে। ডেলিভারির সময় ৳{{3}} প্রস্তুত রাখুন।

Most order updates in a COD shop go out after the window, which is why every shop on the API needs a few approved utility templates.

Example 4: the template that reopens the chat

• Thursday 11:00 am. Shop sends the shipping template above.
• Thursday 11:15 am. Customer replies: "Kobe pabo?" A new window opens until Friday 11:15 am.
• The shop can now answer freely, send a tracking link, or a photo of the parcel label.

A template that invites a reply is a cheap way back into a free-form conversation.

Example 5: the customer from an ad

When a customer arrives by tapping a Click-to-WhatsApp ad and you reply within the customer service window, Meta opens a longer free entry point window, during which your messages to that customer are not charged. Meta sets its length and rules, so check the current terms on Meta's pricing page.

What happens if you send a free-form message after the window closes?

The message is not delivered. On the WhatsApp Cloud API, the send fails with a re-engagement error, code 131047, meaning more than 24 hours have passed since the customer last wrote. Many inbox tools block the send before it happens and ask you to pick a template instead.

Do not try to work around it with a personal phone or an unofficial tool. That moves the conversation off your official number and puts that number at risk.

How much does the 24-hour window cost?

The window is no longer completely free. As of October 2026, Meta's rules are:

Rates depend on the category and the recipient's country, and Bangladesh has had its own rates since 1 October 2026. One practical consequence of the October 2026 change: Meta says that if your WhatsApp Business account has no payment method, service messages stop being delivered once they become chargeable, so add one before you pass the free tier. For the history of the July 2025 switch to per-message pricing, read WhatsApp per-message pricing from July 2025.

How do you keep more conversations inside the window?

Reply while the customer is still in the chat. Every hour of delay pushes the conversation closer to the edge, and a sale that needs a template to restart is a sale at risk.

Practical habits:

• Answer within minutes, not hours. Most enquiries arrive in the evening and late at night. That is when coverage matters.
• End with a question. "Kon size ta dekhte chan?" invites a reply and resets the window.
• Ask for opt-in during the chat. "Notun collection ashle ekhane janabo?" A yes lets you send marketing templates later.
• Prepare utility templates before you need them. Order confirmed, shipped, out for delivery, delivery failed. Get them approved once, use them every day. Our guide to template categories explains which messages qualify.

Does the 24-hour rule apply on Messenger and Instagram?

Messenger and Instagram have their own 24-hour standard messaging window with different rules. For example, Meta's human agent tag lets a person reply to a customer's message later than 24 hours in some situations. The rules differ from WhatsApp's and change from time to time, so check Meta's current Messenger and Instagram platform policies.

How does SaleMag handle the 24-hour window?

SaleMag checks the window for every WhatsApp chat on the WhatsApp Business API. While it is open, your team or the AI chatbot replies freely. Once it closes, the inbox asks you to send an approved template instead of a free-form reply, so nobody wastes time on messages that will fail.

Because SaleMag's AI chatbot answers enquiries in the customer's language as they arrive, including late at night, more conversations get their answer while the window is still open. For order updates after the window, you can send approved templates from automations triggered when an order is placed or fulfilled.

Next steps

Write down the four messages you most often send after the window closes, usually order and delivery updates, and turn them into utility templates. Then look at how fast your team replies at night. To answer inside the window around the clock, start free with SaleMag or see pricing.