This article explains the WhatsApp customer service window, what you can send inside and outside it, and how HueChat shows it in the Team Inbox.
Each time a customer messages your business, a 24-hour timer starts. This is the customer service window. While it is open, you can reply with free-form messages: text, images, documents, buttons and lists, in any wording, without Meta approval. The timer refreshes with every new message from that customer, so an active conversation stays open as long as the customer keeps writing.
When 24 hours pass without a customer message, the window closes. You can then only send pre-approved message templates. Free-form replies are blocked until the customer writes again.
Meta bills per delivered message since July 2025:
Failed deliveries are not billed. HueChat adds no markup on Meta's rates. The pricing page on huechat.ai has a calculator for estimates.
Messages that come from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button open a 72-hour window instead of 24 hours, as long as you respond within the first 24 hours. This gives you three days of free conversation with a new lead. HueChat shows these conversations like any other; the longer window is applied by Meta.
Screenshot: a conversation where the window has closed and the composer offers the template picker.
Instagram and Messenger have their own 24-hour rule but no paid templates. Outside the window on those channels you must wait for the customer to write again.
If a message fails with a window or template error, email support@huechat.ai with the conversation link.