The WhatsApp 24-hour customer service window explained (with the 7-day free entry point window)

The WhatsApp 24-hour window is the rule that decides what a business may send, and when. Meta calls it the customer service window: it opens when a customer messages or calls your business, stays open for 24 hours and restarts every time they message or call again. Inside it you can reply with anything, from plain text to images, documents, buttons and lists. Outside it you can only send an approved message template. This article explains the mechanics with a real timeline, the pricing changes that took effect on 1 October 2026, and the separate free entry point window that Click-to-WhatsApp ads open.

How the window opens, resets and closes

Meta's pricing documentation describes the window as a 24-hour timer. Four rules cover almost every situation:

1. It opens when the customer reaches out. A WhatsApp user messaging you, or calling you on WhatsApp, starts the timer.
2. It resets on every new message or call from the customer. Each one sets the timer back to a full 24 hours.
3. Your own messages do not extend it. Sending a reply, a template or a reminder does not reset the timer; only the customer can.
4. When it expires, only templates are allowed. You can still reach the person, but only with an approved template, and only if they have opted in to hear from you.

A worked timeline

Meera books a skin consultation with Sunrise Clinic in Jaipur. Here is how the window behaves across two days:

If the clinic's software had tried to send that Wednesday reminder as ordinary text, Meta would have rejected it with error 131047, which means more than 24 hours have passed since the recipient last replied. The fix is always the same: send a template instead. Our WhatsApp API error codes cheat-sheet lists 131047 alongside the other common failures.

What you can send inside and outside the window

Two other rules interact with the window:

• Messaging limits. Messages inside an open window do not count toward your portfolio's messaging limit, which only covers unique people reached outside a window. See WhatsApp messaging limits in 2026.
• Per-user marketing limits. If a customer replies to a marketing message, the window that opens means further marketing messages you send in it do not count toward Meta's per-user marketing limit.

What changed on 1 October 2026

For more than a year, many businesses treated the window as "free time". That is no longer accurate. Meta's pricing page, effective 1 October 2026, says:

• Service messages are no longer unlimited and free. A service message is any non-template message, such as an agent's reply. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages per month; from the 1,001st, they are charged. The free allowance resets monthly and does not roll over. Reactions stay free and do not count toward the 1,000.
• Utility templates sent inside an open window are charged again. They were free from 1 July 2025 to 30 September 2026.
• No payment method, no paid service messages. If an account has no payment method, Meta delivers service messages within the free 1,000 and then stops delivering them.

Messages from customers to you are never charged. Rates depend on the message category and the customer's country, and Meta changes them only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October. We do not quote rates in articles because they go out of date; see how WhatsApp API pricing works and Meta's pricing page for the current card.

What it means for a typical support desk (illustrative)

Arjun runs support for an online electronics store from one WhatsApp number. In a busy month his team sends about 3,500 replies inside open windows. Under the current rules, the first 1,000 are free and about 2,500 are charged as service messages. If his team also sends dispatch updates as utility templates while customers are chatting, those are charged too. Merging short replies into one fuller message and letting a chatbot answer simple tracking questions with a single message each can reduce the count without hurting service.

The free entry point window: up to 7 days from Click-to-WhatsApp ads

There is one situation in which everything you send is free for longer than 24 hours. Meta calls it the free entry point (FEP) window:

1. A customer messages you by tapping a Click-to-WhatsApp ad, using WhatsApp on Android or iOS (desktop and web apps are not supported for this).
2. That opens a normal customer service window.
3. If you reply within that window, your reply is free and opens a free entry point window starting at the time you replied.
4. The FEP window can stay open for up to 7 days. While it is open, Meta does not charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages.

The 7-day length applies from late September 2026; before that it was 72 hours, which is the figure many older articles still quote. Two exceptions: messages generated by Meta's own AI agent (Meta Business Agent) are still charged inside the window, and the Facebook Page call-to-action button is no longer listed by Meta as a free entry point, so do not plan around it.

Two practical points for campaigns:

• Reply quickly. The free window only opens if you answer while the initial 24-hour window is still open. An ad that lands leads at 11 pm needs a chatbot or an on-call agent.
• The free window does not replace opt-in. It changes what Meta charges, not what policy allows. Ask the customer whether they want future updates before you add them to marketing lists; our guide to WhatsApp opt-in shows good wording.

Common mistakes and how to avoid them

• Treating "last message" as "last customer message". Only the customer's messages and calls count. A business that replied at 9 am to a customer who last wrote at 8 am yesterday has a closed window.
• Sending a free-form follow-up from a bulk tool. Campaigns to people who have not written recently must use templates.
• Assuming app messages open the API window. On a number that uses WhatsApp coexistence, messages sent from the Business app do not open the API's 24-hour window.
• Forgetting time zones. The window is a 24-hour timer, not a calendar day, so a 10:15 am message gives you until 10:15 am the next day in any time zone.

How Broadchat shows the window

In the Broadchat Inbox, each conversation carries an Active Session or No Session label, and you can filter chats by whether the 24-hour window is open. When the window has closed, a banner tells the agent that only template messages can be sent to that contact, the agent can pick an approved template from the chat, and free-form sends outside the window are blocked on the server so agents do not run into 131047. For Click-to-WhatsApp campaigns, the chatbot builder has a Click-to-WhatsApp ad trigger, so an instant first reply goes out even at night and the free entry point window opens. Agencies that resell WhatsApp to clients through the partner program can set up the same flows for each client.