> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.brainstormer.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# WhatsApp Message Templates

> Reach customers after the 24-hour window closes, and keep your operators' replies arriving.

WhatsApp closes a conversation **24 hours after the customer's last message**. Inside that window your agent and your operators can reply freely. Outside it, WhatsApp only delivers wording it has approved in advance — a *message template*.

Without one, an operator reply sent after 24 hours is rejected by WhatsApp and the customer never hears back. This page is how you fix that.

<Note>
  This applies to the **WhatsApp Business** channel (your own WhatsApp Business
  Account, connected through Meta). The separate WhatsApp channel connected by
  QR code does not use templates.
</Note>

## Where to find it

1. Open your agent and go to the **Distribute** tab.
2. Open **WhatsApp Business**.
3. Below your connected number you'll see **Message templates**.

The section only appears once a number is connected — templates live on your WhatsApp Business Account, so there is nothing to show until one is attached.

## Writing a template

Click **New template**, or **Start from our follow-up template** to begin with wording that already works for operator follow-ups.

### What the message says

Write it as your customer will read it. Mark anything that changes per message with a numbered blank:

```
You have a new reply from our support team:

{{1}}

Reply to this message to continue the conversation.
```

Two rules WhatsApp enforces:

* **Don't start or end the message with a blank.** WhatsApp rejects a message that is only a variable.
* **Give an example for every blank.** A field appears for each one as you type it, along with a preview. WhatsApp's reviewers read your message with real values in it, so a template submitted without examples comes back rejected.

### What the message is for

Pick the option that is honestly true:

| Option | Use it for |
| - | - |
| **Follow up on something the customer started** | Order updates, appointment reminders, an operator answering a question they asked. The cheapest option, and the right one for operator follow-ups. |
| **Promote something** | Offers and announcements the customer didn't ask for. Costs more, and WhatsApp only delivers it to people who opted in to marketing. |
| **Send a one-time passcode** | Login and verification codes only. |

Choosing wrongly here is the most common reason WhatsApp rejects a template — it reads the message and checks that it matches what you claimed.

### Name and language

The name is only ever seen by you, and we suggest one from your wording. The language is WhatsApp's code for the language you wrote in — `en_US`, `es`, `pt_BR`.

## Review

Click **Send to Meta for review**. The template appears in your list as **In review** and usually becomes **Approved** within a few minutes, occasionally up to 24 hours.

You do not have to wait on the page — the list updates itself as WhatsApp reports the outcome. A rejected template shows WhatsApp's own reason next to it.

| Status | What it means |
| - | - |
| **In review** | WhatsApp is looking at it. Not sendable yet. |
| **Approved** | Ready to use. |
| **Rejected** | WhatsApp refused it, with a reason shown. Delete it and write a new one. |
| **Paused by Meta** / **Flagged** | Customers marked messages using it as unwanted. Not sendable while paused. |
| **Disabled by Meta** | Removed by WhatsApp after sustained negative feedback. |

## Keeping operator replies arriving after 24 hours

This is the part that matters most day to day.

Under **When a customer has gone quiet**, choose one of your approved templates. From then on, when an operator replies to a WhatsApp conversation whose 24-hour window has closed, their message goes out inside that template instead of being dropped.

The picker only offers templates that can carry a reply: **approved, with exactly one blank in the body**. That blank is where the operator's own words go — which is the whole point. A template with no blank could only send a generic notice, and one with two blanks would need a value nobody can supply.

<Warning>
  Three things to know before you switch this on:

  * **WhatsApp charges for each of these messages.** A reply sent inside the
    24-hour window is free; one sent outside it is not.
  * **Line breaks are removed.** WhatsApp doesn't allow them inside a blank, so
    a multi-paragraph reply arrives as one paragraph.
  * **Very long replies are shortened.** The customer can reply to reopen the
    conversation, and your operator can then send the rest normally.
</Warning>

Choose the empty option at the top of the list to turn this off again. With it off, an operator reply outside the window is not delivered — the behaviour before this feature existed.

## Deleting a template

Deleting removes it from your WhatsApp Business Account. If it was your follow-up template, that choice is cleared at the same time, so you are never left pointing at something that no longer exists.

Recreating a template with the same wording means another review — WhatsApp does not remember a template it has deleted.

## What your agent does

Nothing here changes how the AI agent behaves. **Your agent still only ever replies** to a message that just arrived, which means its window is always open. Templates exist for the one case the agent can't cover: a human following up after the customer has gone quiet.


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