WhatsApp Business glossary.

The customer service window, templates and their categories, messaging limits, quality rating, coexistence and more: each term as Meta defines it, and what it means for your store or business.

Your business, no store

Last updated: 14 October 2026

What is the WhatsApp customer service window?

Customer service window · Also called: 24-hour window

A 24-hour period that opens when a customer messages you and resets with each new message from them. Inside it you can reply with any message, no template needed; outside it, only a Meta-approved template reaches them.

What does it mean for you?

Your replies to customers' questions fall inside the window; anything you start yourself, such as an order confirmation or a campaign, needs a template. On the official connection (WhatsApp API), the first 1,000 replies a month are free from Meta, per number.

What are WhatsApp message templates, and what are their categories?

Message templates and their categories · Also called: Templates

A template is a message you write in advance and Meta reviews before use, and it is the only kind of message that reaches a customer outside the customer service window. Each template has one of three categories: Marketing, Utility (such as an order confirmation) and Authentication (verification codes).

What does it mean for you?

On the official connection (WhatsApp API), order notifications, cart reminders and campaigns are templates. Meta says review can take up to 24 hours, requires the customer's opt-in before any template, and prices each message by its template's category.

What are service messages, and how many free replies does Meta give?

Service messages and the free tier · Also called: Free tier

To Meta, a service message is any non-template message, written by a person or by AI, sent inside the customer service window. Each number gets its first 1,000 service messages a month free, and unused ones don't roll over.

What does it mean for you?

Since October 1, 2026, Meta charges replies above the free tier at the service rate of the customer's country. On the official connection you pay Meta's fees to Meta directly, with no ATMET markup; ATMET Chat channels have no message fees.

What is the WhatsApp messaging limit?

Messaging limit · Also called: Daily messaging limit، Messaging tier

The number of different customers you can start a conversation with by template, that is outside the customer service window, in a moving 24 hours. Meta sets it at the business portfolio level, shared by all its numbers, in steps: 250, then 2,000, 10,000, 100,000, and unlimited.

What does it mean for you?

Meta lists three ways to reach 2,000: verify your business, have your partner verify it, or send 2,000 templates delivered to different customers within 30 days at high quality. After that Meta raises it automatically when your messages are high quality and you used half your limit in 7 days.

What is the quality rating of a WhatsApp number and its templates?

Quality rating · Also called: Phone number quality، Template quality

Meta's rating of your number from the past 7 days of messages, based on how customers react, such as blocks and reports: Green (high), Yellow (medium) and Red (low). Each template also has its own quality rating.

What does it mean for you?

Since October 7, 2025 a drop in quality no longer lowers your messaging limit, but high quality is required to raise it. A template that reaches Red is paused by Meta for 3 hours, then 6, then disabled. Meta advises messaging only people who opted in, with useful messages and not too many.

What is WhatsApp coexistence?

Coexistence · Also called: Onboard WhatsApp Business app users

A Meta feature that connects a WhatsApp Business app number to the official API without leaving the app: you reply one to one from the app, send at volume through the API, and the chat history stays in sync between the two.

What does it mean for you?

You need a number on the WhatsApp Business app, version 2.24.17 or later, and up to 6 months of chats can be synced. Messages you send from the app stay free, and sending through the API is fixed at 20 messages per second. Any Meta partner can offer it; in ATMET Chat it is called "Coexistence Mode".

What is a WhatsApp Business account (WABA)?

WhatsApp Business account (WABA) · Also called: WABA، WhatsApp account، Messaging account

The account that held your business's number, templates and billing at Meta. Meta is splitting it into two: a WhatsApp account, holding the number and the business profile, and a Messaging account, holding the templates and payment details.

What does it mean for you?

The split is in beta; in its first phase (second half of 2026) Meta moves accounts over automatically, and your existing WABA ID now identifies the Messaging account. For messaging to work, the partner you use needs access to both accounts.

What is a Meta business portfolio?

Business portfolio

Where you manage your business's assets on Meta, such as Facebook Pages, Instagram accounts and WhatsApp accounts, and decide who works on them and with what access.

What does it mean for you?

On WhatsApp, the messaging limit is set at the portfolio level and shared by all its numbers, and business verification is for the portfolio. Each WhatsApp account or Messaging account belongs to one portfolio only.

What is Meta business verification?

Business verification

Meta checks that your business portfolio belongs to a real business registered with the local authorities. It is not Meta Verified, and it gives no verified badge.

What does it mean for you?

You don't need it to start sending, but it raises your messaging limit from 250 to 2,000 customers and your numbers to 20, shows your business name in chats after review, and is required for an Official Business Account. Meta's decision can take up to 14 business days.

What is a WhatsApp Business display name?

Display name

Your business name as customers see it on your WhatsApp Business profile, set for each number when you add it. Once Meta approves it after review, it also shows at the top of the chat and in the chat list.

What does it mean for you?

You don't need it approved to start messaging. When your messaging limit rises, Meta reviews the name automatically, so pick one tied to your business and within WhatsApp's policy. Meta allows 10 changes in 30 days.

What is the WhatsApp Cloud API?

WhatsApp Cloud API · Also called: WhatsApp Business Platform، The official WhatsApp API

Meta's interface that lets a business send and receive WhatsApp messages programmatically, as part of the WhatsApp Business Platform. It is usually what people mean by "the official WhatsApp API".

What does it mean for you?

You use it through a platform or a partner, not from an app on your phone. In ATMET Chat it is called "the official connection (WhatsApp API)", and campaigns on approved templates and interactive messages go out through it. The older On-Premises API stopped working on October 23, 2025.

What is the free entry point window?

Free entry point window · Also called: FEP، Click-to-WhatsApp ads

When a customer messages you from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad on the Android or iOS app and you reply inside the customer service window, Meta opens a free window that may remain open for up to 7 days.

What does it mean for you?

While it is open, Meta does not charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages to that customer, per Meta's pricing page as updated on September 30, 2026. So following up with someone who came from the ad carries no Meta message fees during it.

What are WhatsApp interactive messages?

Interactive messages · Also called: Reply buttons، List messages

Messages with buttons or a list the customer taps instead of typing: up to 3 ready-made reply buttons, a list of up to 10 options, or a button that opens a link. They are sent inside the customer service window.

What does it mean for you?

They make it easier for your customer to choose and reply, and they go out on the official connection (WhatsApp API). Outside the window you need a template, and one template can carry up to 10 buttons.

What is a WhatsApp Official Business Account?

Official Business Account · Also called: OBA، Blue checkmark

A status Meta grants a business number, showing a blue checkmark next to its name. It requires business verification, 30 days on the platform, two-step verification and an approved display name.

What does it mean for you?

Meta says it does not grant this status to WhatsApp Business app numbers. Business verification alone gives you no badge, but it is required to apply for one.

Who are Meta's WhatsApp Business partners?

Meta's WhatsApp Business partners · Also called: Solution Partner، Tech Provider، Business Solution Provider (BSP)

Companies that provide the WhatsApp Business Platform to businesses on their behalf. Meta groups them: Solution Partners handle billing, integration and support, while Tech Providers’ clients pay Meta directly.

What does it mean for you?

ATMET is a Meta Business Partner. Through ATMET Chat you pay Meta's message fees to Meta directly from your WhatsApp Business account's payment method, with no ATMET markup.

What do WhatsApp message status ticks mean?

Message status · Also called: Delivery status، Read receipts

Meta reports each message as sent (one tick), then delivered (two ticks), then read (two blue ticks), or failed. A message counts as read only once it has been delivered.

What does it mean for you?

Meta charges for a message only when it is delivered, so one that never arrives is not charged. Meta accepting a message when you send it doesn't mean it arrived: the delivered status tells you that.

What is the WhatsApp Business app?

WhatsApp Business app

A free app from WhatsApp with everything in the personal app plus business tools: a business profile, greeting and away messages, quick replies, labels and a catalog. It works with one phone number.

What does it mean for you?

It is enough if you answer a limited number of customers yourself. When your business needs several users or campaigns on approved templates, Meta points to the WhatsApp Business Platform, and you can keep the app through coexistence if your number is on it.

Why do you need a customer’s opt-in before messaging them on WhatsApp?

Opt-in · Also called: Customer consent

Meta requires a customer's agreement to be messaged before you send them any template.

What does it mean for you?

Campaigns go to customers who agreed to hear from you, and on the business plans you import contacts with their consent confirmed. Meta lists messaging only people who opted in among its guidelines for keeping your quality rating up.

About these terms

Where the definitions come from, and when they change.

From Meta’s own WhatsApp Business Platform documentation and WhatsApp’s Help Center, read on the date at the top of this page. When Meta renames something, the entry uses Meta’s current name and lists the older one beside it.

No. They are Meta’s and WhatsApp’s, and apply to every business on WhatsApp, whichever provider it uses. Each entry says what the term means for a store or a business, and where ATMET Chat comes in.

The entry is updated to Meta’s new wording, and the «Last updated» date at the top moves with it.

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