Which WhatsApp can send automatic replies?
Three products carry the WhatsApp name, and only two of them can reply on their own.
- WhatsApp, the personal app, has no greeting, away or quick reply settings.
- The WhatsApp Business app is a free download for small businesses (business.whatsapp.com). It adds a Tools tab with greeting messages, away messages, quick replies and labels, all managed from one phone and its linked devices.
- The WhatsApp Business Platform, usually reached through the Cloud API, is what software connects to. Messages flow between Meta’s servers and the tool you use, so nothing depends on a phone being online. Chatbots, AI agents and shared team inboxes run here.
Most small businesses should start with the app. This guide sets it up step by step, then explains when the Platform, or an AI agent inbox like our WhatsApp CRM, starts to make sense.
How to set up a WhatsApp greeting message
A greeting message introduces your business automatically. WhatsApp sends it when a customer messages you for the first time, or when they write again after 14 days with no messages in that chat; someone who wrote to you last week will not get it again (WhatsApp Help Center).
- Open the WhatsApp Business app and go to the Tools tab.
- Tap Greeting message and turn on Send greeting message.
- Tap the message text, write your own and save it.
- Tap Recipients and choose who receives it: everyone, people who are not in your contacts, everyone except the people you pick, or only the people you pick.
- Tap Save, then test from a number that has never messaged you.
Android and iPhone
The steps are the same on both. The wording differs in one place: on iPhone the option for people outside your contacts is called Exclude my contacts, while Android phrases it around your address book.
If the greeting does not send
- The 14-day rule. Anyone who messaged you in the last 14 days is skipped, which is why a test from your own second number often seems to fail.
- The recipient filter. “Everyone except” or “only send to” settings may be leaving the person out.
- Meta Business Agent. Connecting Meta’s AI agent switches greeting messages off automatically.
- No internet on the phone. The app sends automatic messages from your device, so the phone needs an active connection.
How to set up a WhatsApp away message
An away message tells people when you will reply. Unlike the greeting, it is triggered by time rather than by first contact (WhatsApp Help Center). The steps are the same on Android and iPhone.
- In the Tools tab, tap Away message.
- Turn on Send away message and edit the text.
- Tap Schedule and pick one option: Always send, Custom schedule or Outside of business hours.
- Tap Recipients, choose who receives it, and save.
Outside of business hours only works once you have set opening hours in your business profile, so fill those in first. It is the right default for most shops: a customer who writes at 23:00 learns when you open, and nobody gets an away message in the middle of your working day.
The away message also runs on your phone: no internet connection, no automatic message. Write it so it does not repeat your greeting, because a first-time customer who writes after hours may receive both, back to back.
Quick replies: saved answers you send with “/”
Quick replies are not automatic. They are saved messages you insert while typing, and they often save more time than the automatic messages do, because most of a busy chat day is the same few answers written again and again.
- In the Tools tab, tap Quick replies, then the + button.
- Write the message, add a shortcut word such as “shipping” or “price”, and save.
- In any chat, type / to list your quick replies, pick one, adjust it if needed and send.
- You can store up to 50 quick replies.
- Quick replies can include images and videos on your phone, but media in quick replies is not supported on WhatsApp Web or Desktop.
- The app also creates a few quick replies from your business profile, such as your hours and address, so a complete profile gives you better defaults (WhatsApp Help Center).
Labels and lists: see who is waiting for what
Labels mark chats so you can find them later: new order, waiting for payment, follow up. You can create up to 20 labels and put several on one chat. Press and hold the chat, tap the label icon, pick the labels and save (WhatsApp Help Center).
WhatsApp is gradually replacing labels with lists, custom filters for your chat list, so your app may show lists instead. For teams, the app links up to four devices to one number; WhatsApp’s multi-agent option, part of a Meta Verified subscription where it is offered, raises that to 10 and lets you assign chats (WhatsApp Help Center). Past that point, or once the same people also answer Instagram, Telegram and email, teams move to a shared inbox.
WhatsApp Business Platform: chatbots and the 24-hour rule
The WhatsApp Business Platform is how WhatsApp connects to software: chatbots, AI agents, shared inboxes, order notifications. You need a Meta business portfolio, a WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) and a phone number, and you connect either directly or through a Meta partner. Three rules shape everything you can automate there.
1. The 24-hour customer service window
When a customer messages or calls your business, a 24-hour customer service window opens, and each new message or call from them resets it to 24 hours. While it is open you can send any normal message: text, images, buttons, a chatbot menu, an AI-written answer. When it closes, you can only send pre-approved template messages (Meta documentation).
In practice, a question that arrives on Friday evening and is answered on Monday morning can no longer get a normal reply. That is why speed matters on this channel: the window only renews when the customer writes again, and a fast first answer is what makes them write again.
2. Templates outside the window
A message template is a pre-approved message in one of three categories: marketing, utility or authentication. Templates are reviewed automatically when you create or edit them, review can take up to 24 hours, and a template that collects negative feedback or low read rates can be paused (Meta documentation). You may also message only people who have opted in to hearing from you.
3. Pricing per message
Meta has charged per delivered message since July 1, 2025, replacing conversation-based pricing. Rates depend on the message category and the recipient’s country. Two changes took effect on October 1, 2026: service messages, meaning your free-form replies inside the window, are charged after 1,000 free deliveries per business phone number each month, and utility templates sent inside an open window are charged again. Messages customers send you are free, and a chat that starts from a Click to WhatsApp ad opens a free entry point window of up to 7 days (Meta pricing).
WhatsApp chatbots and AI chatbots on the Platform
A rule-based WhatsApp bot shows menus and reacts to keywords. An AI chatbot, or AI agent, reads the message and writes an answer from your own information. Both work only inside the 24-hour window unless they send a template. Meta’s platform terms (section 4.7) bar providers of general-purpose AI assistants from the platform when the AI itself is the main product. An agent that answers your own customers about your own business is a different use, but read the clause against your setup (Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business Platform).
Meta also has its own AI agent inside the WhatsApp Business app, Meta Business Agent, currently open only to select businesses in a limited number of countries (WhatsApp Help Center). For a full walkthrough of building a bot, see our guide on how to build a WhatsApp chatbot.
WhatsApp AI agent with a shared inbox: how Pinlyx answers
We make Pinlyx, so here is what it does on WhatsApp and where it stops. Pinlyx connects your WhatsApp number to a unified inbox where WhatsApp sits next to Telegram, Instagram, X, email and live chat, and runs AI agents on top of it: what most people search for as a WhatsApp AI chatbot.
- The agent answers incoming chats. It reads each new message, answers from the knowledge you write for it and works in one of three modes: send automatically, suggest a reply for a person to approve, or only draft.
- It hands over when it should. When it is unsure, when a keyword you chose appears, or when the customer asks for a person, the chat goes to a teammate. Once a teammate replies, the agent stays quiet for that customer.
- Your team works the same thread. Assign conversations, add tags and notes, and move the contact through a pipeline. Every chat is saved to a contact record in the CRM, so the history does not live on one phone.
- Rules on top. A keyword, a pattern, a pipeline stage or the platform can trigger a reply, a tag, a stage change, a handoff or a block.
- Your own AI key. Agents use your own OpenAI, Google Gemini, Mistral or one of 11 other providers’ keys, so the model cost is billed by your provider. Pinlyx does not resell AI.
Automation only answers people who write first, so make writing easy: put a wa.me link or QR code on your website, packaging and Instagram bio. Our free WhatsApp link generator makes both, with a pre-filled first message.
Limits, stated plainly
- Replies only inside Meta’s 24-hour window. Pinlyx does not send template messages, broadcasts or first messages to people who have not written to you. For bulk sending, see WhatsApp bulk messaging.
- The knowledge base is text you write. It does not import web pages or PDFs.
- Pro includes 3 AI agents. Business has no agent limit, and its agents keep learning from your team’s replies.
Price
WhatsApp needs the Pro plan: $24.99 a month, or $20.82 a month billed yearly, with 3 social accounts, 3 team members and 3 AI agents. Business is $99 a month ($82.50 billed yearly) with 10 social accounts, 10 team members and unlimited agents. The Free plan connects one Telegram account and does not include WhatsApp. Every limit is on the pricing page.