Conversation Window

WhatsApp’s 24-hour customer service window decides whether you can send a free-form message or whether an approved template is required. The rule is simple: a customer messages you, the window opens for 24 hours, and within that window you can reply with anything (text, images, documents, voice). Outside the window, only approved templates can be sent. Understanding this rule directly affects how you configure automations, respond in the Inbox, and time your campaigns.

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How the window works

The window opens (or resets) every time the customer sends you an inbound message. A customer who messages you daily effectively keeps the window open continuously. A customer who hasn’t messaged in over a day requires a template to re-open the conversation.

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What’s allowed inside the window

Within an active 24-hour window, agents and automation replies can send session messages — free-form text, images, documents, audio, or video — without any template approval. This is the most flexible messaging mode and is the entire point of the customer service window. Session messages are how human-supported customer service feels natural on WhatsApp.

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What’s required outside the window

Once the window has closed, the only messages that can be sent are pre-approved WhatsApp templates. This applies to:

• All campaign broadcasts — campaigns are always proactive outbound, never inside a window
• All automation-triggered messages — automations fire on Shopify events (new order, abandoned checkout) or platform events, not customer inbound messages
• Inbox agent replies when no active window exists for that customer

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Free entry-point conversations

Two scenarios open a free 24-hour service window with Meta — meaning Meta doesn’t charge for the conversation on its side (Galantis credit deduction still applies for any template sent outside that window). Why this matters in practice:

• Inbound is cheap: Investing in click-to-WhatsApp ads and the storefront widget converts ad clicks into chats with no Meta conversation cost for the first 24 hours.
• Reply in time: Respond inside the 24-hour window with session messages — no template approval bottleneck, no Meta charge for opening the conversation.
• Capture consent: A customer messaging you first isn’t automatic marketing consent. If you want to send them campaigns later, capture explicit opt-in during or after the conversation. See Opt-in & consent.

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How Galantis tracks the window

Galantis tracks the window state per customer-conversation pair. The Inbox UI surfaces it directly; under the hood, every outbound send checks the timestamp of the customer’s most recent inbound message: The same logic governs billing: a delivered template counts as 1 Conversation credit regardless of whether it opens a new window or extends an existing one. See Billing — conversations.

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Impact on Inbox agents

When an agent opens a conversation:

• Window active → reply box accepts free-form messages, images, voice notes, documents
• Window closed → reply box switches to a template picker; the agent selects an approved template to re-open the conversation

The Inbox interface reflects the current state per conversation. Agents don’t manually check timestamps; the interface guides correct behavior. See Inbox — conversation lifecycle.

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Impact on automations

Automation flows always send templates, regardless of whether a window is open. This is by design — automations fire on Shopify or platform events (new order, abandoned checkout, restock), not in response to a customer message, so they’re always treated as proactive outbound. If you want to incorporate a customer reply into an automation’s logic, use a USER_REPLY_STATUS condition node to branch the flow based on whether the customer responded to a previous message — see Automations — conditions.

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Edge cases

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