orca.floThe WhatsApp 24-hour window, explained for UAE businesses
Short answer
On the WhatsApp Business API, a 24-hour customer service window opens each time a customer messages you. Inside it you can send normal replies; outside it only a Meta-approved template. Since 1 October 2026 Meta charges replies after the first 1,000 a month per number: AED 0.0576 each to UAE numbers.
Updated
The 24-hour window is the rule that surprises most businesses when they move to the WhatsApp Business API. It decides what you’re allowed to send, when you need a template, and what you pay Meta. Here is how it works, with Meta’s UAE rates.
How the window works
Every time a customer sends you a message (or calls you), Meta opens a 24-hour customer service window for that customer. While it is open you can reply freely: text, photos, documents, buttons, anything. Each new message from the customer restarts the 24 hours.
When the window closes, you can only start talking again with a message template that Meta has approved: an order update, an appointment reminder, an offer. Once the customer answers the template, a new window opens.
What you can send, and what Meta charges for UAE numbers (1 October 2026)
| Situation | What you can send | Meta’s fee per delivered message |
|---|---|---|
| Customer wrote in the last 24 hours | Any normal reply | Free for the first 1,000 replies a month per number, then AED 0.0576 |
| Customer wrote in the last 24 hours | A utility template (booking or order update) | AED 0.0576: utility templates are charged inside the window too |
| More than 24 hours since the customer wrote | Approved templates only | Marketing AED 0.2115; utility or authentication AED 0.0576 |
| Customer came from a click-to-WhatsApp ad and you replied within 24 hours | Anything, for up to 7 days (free entry point window) | Free |
Does the window apply to the WhatsApp Business app?
No. The 24-hour window and Meta’s per-message fees belong to the WhatsApp Business API (WhatsApp Business Platform). In the free WhatsApp Business app on your phone you can message a customer whenever you like. On OrcaFlo’s QR link to the WhatsApp Business app none of Meta’s API rules or fees apply, but there’s no green tick and some ban risk, because it isn’t an official WhatsApp app.
How OrcaFlo handles the window on the official API
Replies inside the window
The assistant answers within seconds, so almost every reply lands inside the window.
Templates for later messages
You create templates in OrcaFlo, it sends them to Meta and shows each one’s status. Follow-ups use templates OrcaFlo submits for you in English and Arabic.
Meta’s fees go to Meta
Meta bills its fees to your own WhatsApp Business account; OrcaFlo’s own price stays the same on either connection.
Price
No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 2¢ per message. No setup fee. More: WhatsApp Business API pricing in the UAE, how to use message templates and the official API with OrcaFlo.
Questions
On the WhatsApp Business API you can reply freely for 24 hours after a customer’s last message. After that, you can only send a template that Meta has approved, until the customer writes again.
Partly. Since 1 October 2026 each business number gets 1,000 free service replies a month; after that Meta charges AED 0.0576 per reply to a UAE number. Utility templates are charged even inside the window.
Send an approved message template. Marketing templates are for offers, utility templates for order and booking updates. When the customer replies, a new 24-hour window opens.
No. It only applies to the WhatsApp Business API. In the WhatsApp Business app on your phone there is no window and no Meta per-message fee.
When a customer messages you from a click-to-WhatsApp ad and you reply within 24 hours, Meta opens a free entry point window of up to 7 days, in which it doesn’t charge for your messages.
Related
WhatsApp message templates: the three types, approval and cost
Read more GuideWhatsApp Business API pricing in the UAE, explained
Read more WhatsApp Business APIThe official WhatsApp Business API for UAE businesses, with an AI that answers
Read more GuideWhatsApp Business app vs the WhatsApp Business API
Read moreStop losing customers to slow replies.
No plan fee for 14 days and your first 500 messages free, then from $14.99 a month + 2¢ per message. No setup fee. Let OrcaFlo answer tomorrow’s messages.