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- The window opens with any customer message and lasts 24 hours from their most recent message; your replies do not extend it
- Inside: free-form messages of any kind are free, and since July 2025 utility templates are free too; marketing and authentication templates are billed
- Outside: only approved templates can be sent, billed by category; free-form sends fail with error 131047
- Click-to-WhatsApp ads and Facebook Page buttons open a 72-hour free window that also allows marketing templates at no charge
The 24-hour customer service window is the rule that shapes every WhatsApp workflow: while it is open you can say anything for free; when it closes you can only send an approved template, and pay for it. It is also the rule most often misread, especially after the July 2025 pricing change made utility templates free inside the window. This guide explains the window with timelines and worked examples, and what it means for support, sales and automation.
The rule in one paragraph
When a customer sends your business a message, a 24-hour window opens, measured from that message. While it is open you may send free-form messages of any type. Each further customer message resets the window to 24 hours from that moment; your own messages do not. When 24 hours pass without a customer message, the window closes, and the only way to message the customer is an approved template, until they write again.
What is free and what is billed
| Message | Inside an open window | Outside the window |
|---|---|---|
| Free-form text, media, documents, audio, location, contacts | Free | Not allowed (131047) |
| Interactive messages: buttons, lists, product messages, Flows | Free | Not allowed |
| Utility template | Free (since July 2025) | Rs 0.115 in India |
| Marketing template | Rs 0.8631 in India | Rs 0.8631 |
| Authentication template | Rs 0.115 in India | Rs 0.115 |
The July 2025 change matters: an order update sent while the customer is still in an open window costs nothing, which rewards sending transactional messages promptly.
A timeline
| Time | Event | Window |
|---|---|---|
| Mon 10:00 | Customer: "Do you have this in blue?" | Opens, closes Tue 10:00 |
| Mon 10:05 | You: photo and price (free) | Unchanged |
| Mon 18:00 | Customer: "I will take it" | Resets, closes Tue 18:00 |
| Mon 18:02 | You: payment link (free) | Unchanged |
| Tue 09:00 | You: "Shipped today" as a utility template | Free, inside the window |
| Tue 18:00 | No further customer message | Closes |
| Thu 11:00 | You want to send "Delivered, how was it?" | Template only: utility, Rs 0.115 |
| Thu 11:30 | Customer: "Loved it" | Opens again, closes Fri 11:30 |
The 72-hour ad window
A conversation that starts when someone taps a click-to-WhatsApp ad or a Facebook Page call-to-action button opens a 72-hour free entry point window instead of 24 hours, and within it every message type, including marketing templates, is free. This is why ad-led WhatsApp funnels are cheap: qualification, catalogue, quote and even an offer can all happen without a template charge. The window still resets only on customer messages and closes 72 hours after the last one.
What it means for support teams
Reply within 24 hours and the conversation costs nothing; reply later and the first message is a template. A first-response SLA of minutes and a resolve-within-a-day habit are the whole economics. Asking a closing question ("Is there anything else?") invites a reply that resets the window, which is useful when a follow-up is likely.
What it means for sales
Get the customer to write first: QR codes, wa.me links, ads, a website widget with a WhatsApp handoff. Then move fast: buttons and lists keep them tapping, each tap resets the clock, and the payment link goes out inside the same free window. A lead who goes quiet is reached with a utility template about their own enquiry, which costs Rs 0.115 and reopens the window when they answer.
What it means for automation
Flows must know the state of the window: free-form replies while it is open, a template step when it is closed. Sequences schedule template steps for closed windows and can send free-form steps when a reply reopens it. Appointment and order automations send utility templates that are free while the customer is engaged and cheap afterwards. VGraple CRM checks the window before every automated send so a free-form message is never rejected with 131047.
Examples by industry
A clinic's reception answers "Do you have a slot tomorrow?" within minutes and books it in the same free conversation; the confirmation goes out as a utility template while the window is open, so it costs nothing; the reminder the next day lands outside the window and costs Rs 0.115. A retailer's customer taps a click-to-WhatsApp ad, asks about a saree, gets the catalogue, a price and a payment link inside the free 72-hour window, and the shipping update two days later is a utility template at Rs 0.115. A coaching institute's counsellor replies to an enquiry at 6 pm; the parent answers the next morning, which resets the window, and the fee plan document goes out free. In every case the pattern is the same: talk while the window is open, use utility templates for the follow-up, and reserve marketing templates, with consent, for offers.
Multiple numbers and channels
The window is per customer per business phone number. A customer who messaged your sales number has opened a window there, not on your support number. Instagram and Messenger have their own reply windows under Meta's Messenger Platform rules (24 hours, extended to 7 days with the Human Agent tag for approved accounts) and no template mechanism, so a closed window there simply means waiting for the customer's next message.
Counting the window in your tool
A good inbox shows the remaining time on every conversation and sorts or flags the ones about to close, so agents answer those first. Automations should read the same clock: a flow that tries a free-form message at hour 25 gets error 131047 and the customer gets nothing. VGraple CRM's composer switches to templates when the window closes, flows pick free-form or template automatically, and the broadcast cost preview counts utility recipients with open windows at zero.
Common mistakes
- Assuming your own reply keeps the window open.
- Sending a free-form follow-up the next day and wondering why it failed (131047).
- Treating the 72-hour ad window as 24 hours and paying for templates unnecessarily.
- Forgetting that utility templates are free in-window since July 2025 and delaying updates.
- Confusing the window with Meta's reply rules on Instagram and Messenger, which are separate.
The customer service window glossary entry is the short version; the 131047 help article covers the API case.