WhatsApp templates and the 24-hour rule
The 24-hour rule
Meta allows free-form conversation only for 24 hours after the customer's last message. Inside that window you reply with ordinary text.
Once the window closes you cannot send an arbitrary message — only a pre-approved template. When the customer replies to the template, the window opens again.
What a template is
A template is prepared text reviewed and approved by Meta. It can carry variables: customer name, order number, date.
Templates come in categories:
- Utility — order status, appointment reminders, confirmations;
- Marketing — offers and promotions;
- Authentication — one-time codes.
Creating a template
Templates are created and approved on the provider's side:
- for WhatsApp Business and WhatsApp Cloud — in Meta Business Manager, under WhatsApp Manager → Message Templates;
- for Gupshup, Twilio and 360Dialog — in that provider's console.
Approval usually takes anywhere from minutes to a day. The most common rejection reasons are promotional wording inside a utility template and mistakes in the variables.
Sending a template
- Open a conversation whose 24-hour window has closed.
- Choose to send a template from the message box.
- Pick the template and fill in its variables.
- Send.
To send templates to a list of contacts at once, use Campaigns → WhatsApp.
Cost
WhatsApp messages are billed separately from your platform plan. On Gupshup they are drawn from your WhatsApp credits — see Settings → Billing.
Tips
- Get your utility templates approved in advance — you will need them exactly when the window has already closed.
- Never use marketing templates for service notifications: that is what gets numbers restricted.
- Watch your credit balance so a broadcast does not stop halfway.