Letting an AI agent reply on WhatsApp Business without breaking Meta's rules

WhatsApp is where many Indian customers ask for a price, an order status or a booking. An AI agent can answer there, but Meta's Business Platform has rules an email agent never meets. Break them and messages fail or the number's quality rating drops.

The 24 hour customer service window

When a customer messages your number, a 24 hour window opens. Inside it you may send any free-form reply. Once it closes, you may only send a template that Meta has approved in advance.

Apavin tracks the window on every conversation. get_reply_queue shows how long each one has left, so the agent can answer the ones about to close first. A free-form send request after the window is refused with a clear error, and the agent is told to use a template instead.

Templates

Templates are created and approved in Meta's WhatsApp Manager. The agent sends one with send_whatsapp_template, naming an approved template and filling in its variables. A template Meta has not approved is refused.

Opt-outs

If a customer sends STOP, Apavin marks the contact as opted out and refuses any further outbound message to them, from an agent or from a person. START reverses it.

Who pays for messages?

Meta bills conversation charges directly to the WhatsApp Business account you connected. Apavin's plan price does not include them and Apavin does not mark them up.

Does a person approve each WhatsApp message?

Yes, by default. Each one waits in the approval queue with the number it goes from, the recipient and the full text. After sending, Apavin records Meta's delivered and read receipts on the message.

Which plan includes WhatsApp?

Standard includes one WhatsApp Business number alongside one mailbox. Growth includes three numbers and five mailboxes. See pricing.