24-hour customer service window
Also called: the 24-hour window, CSW
The customer service window is a 24-hour period that starts when a customer messages or calls your business on WhatsApp. Every new message or call from that customer resets it to a full 24 hours. While it is open, you can reply with any normal message, no template needed; once it closes, you can only send that customer a template Meta has approved.
Why it matters: A question left unanswered for more than 24 hours is harder to pick up again, because your next message has to be an approved template. Replying inside the window lets your team answer in its own words.
Message template
Also called: template message, WhatsApp template
A message template is text you submit to Meta for review, with variables such as a customer's name or order number. Outside the customer service window, you can only send approved templates. A template header supports an image, video or document, and GIF through the Marketing Messages API, but no audio.
Why it matters: Prepare reminder, confirmation and follow-up templates before you need to send them, and check their approval in WhatsApp Manager.
Template categories: marketing, utility and authentication
Also called: marketing, utility and authentication messages
Meta puts every template in one of three categories: marketing for promotion, utility for non-promotional messages about the customer's order, account or service, and authentication for one-time verification codes. A template that mixes an order update with an offer, or whose content is unclear, counts as marketing. The category also affects how Meta charges for the message.
Why it matters: If you submit an offer as utility, Meta reclassifies it as marketing. Repeated misuse can see all your utility templates moved to marketing for a restriction period.
Opt-in (customer consent)
Also called: consent to receive messages
Opt-in is a customer's permission, given along with their phone number, to receive messages or calls from your business on WhatsApp. Meta requires the opt-in to name your business and to make clear that the person is agreeing to hear from you. The opt-in methods Meta lists include SMS, a website, a phone call with an IVR menu, and in person or on paper.
Why it matters: Collect opt-in in a way Meta accepts, such as a website form, SMS, a phone menu or in person. Clearly state your business name and that the person is opting in.
Opt-out
Opt-out is a customer's request to stop your messages, whether they make it on WhatsApp or anywhere else, and Meta's policy says you must respect it. WhatsApp also gives every customer a setting to stop marketing messages from your business, and after that WhatsApp doesn't deliver the marketing templates you send them.
Why it matters: Give customers a clear way to stop, such as a "Stop offers" button, and record every request in your list. A customer who can't find one may block your number instead, and blocks feed into Meta's quality rating.
Quality rating
Also called: quality score, number quality
Quality rating is Meta's score for a WhatsApp Business Platform number, based on customer reactions over the past 7 days, such as blocks and reports. You can check it in WhatsApp Manager, and each template has its own quality rating too.
Why it matters: A low rating can get your templates paused and hold back increases to your messaging limit, so check it after every campaign.
Messaging limits
Also called: messaging tier, sending limit
A messaging limit is the maximum number of different customers your business can message outside the customer service window in a moving 24-hour period. Meta sets it for the whole Meta Business portfolio, and all your numbers in it share it. A new portfolio starts at 250 and can reach 2,000 after a scaling path such as business verification, if Meta approves, then scale automatically to 10,000, 100,000 and unlimited.
Why it matters: The limit decides how many customers one campaign can reach in 24 hours, so plan Ramadan and Eid sends around your current limit, which WhatsApp Manager shows.
Service messages and the monthly free tier
Also called: service replies, free service messages
Service messages are non-template replies sent inside the customer service window, whether written by staff or an AI assistant. Since 1 October 2026, Meta charges after 1,000 free replies per business number each month, with no rollover. Meta charges templates by category and recipient country, including utility templates inside the window; check its current rate card.
Why it matters: Without a payment method, Meta stops delivering replies once the free tier is used. You can pay Meta directly or through HumAI's invoice.
Display name
Also called: business display name
The display name is the business name customers see on your WhatsApp profile. On the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta reviews it against its display-name guidelines, and WhatsApp Manager shows its approval status. Choose a name that identifies your business and check the current guidelines before submitting it.
Why it matters: An approved display name is one of the conditions for the blue tick, so choose a name that matches your commercial registration or brand from the start.
Business verification (Meta Business Suite)
Also called: Meta business verification
Business verification is the check in Meta Business Suite that confirms your Meta Business portfolio belongs to a registered business and that you are authorised to represent it. You enter your legal name, address, phone and website exactly as registered, and Meta may ask for an official document such as a business licence. A decision can take up to 14 working days.
Why it matters: Verification is one of Meta's paths to a 2,000 messaging limit and one of the conditions for the blue tick. On its own, it doesn't give you a verified badge.
Official Business Account (blue tick)
Also called: OBA, blue checkmark; often searched for as the green tick
An Official Business Account is a status Meta grants to a number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, shown as a blue checkmark beside the business name. To apply, you need compliance with Meta's messaging policy, at least 30 days on the platform, a verified business portfolio, two-step verification and an approved display name. Meta reviews each request and decides, and after a rejection you wait 30 days before applying again.
Why it matters: Meta says an API number without this status doesn't appear in WhatsApp search unless the customer has saved it. Meeting the conditions only lets you apply, and Meta decides.
Meta Verified
Meta Verified is a paid Meta subscription for businesses on WhatsApp, Facebook and Instagram, with a verified badge option, impersonation protection and extra support, depending on plan and country. On WhatsApp it appears in the WhatsApp Business app where available, and subscribing doesn't guarantee the badge: Meta decides after reviewing your activity or documents.
Why it matters: Meta Verified is separate from the Official Business Account, which you request for a number on the WhatsApp Business Platform. If your number is on the API, check in WhatsApp Manager or with your provider which option applies to you.
WhatsApp Business Account (WABA)
A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) is the account inside your Meta Business portfolio that held your WhatsApp Business Platform numbers together with templates, billing and webhooks. Since 23 September 2026, Meta has been splitting it into two: a WhatsApp account for the number and business profile, and a Messaging account for templates, billing and webhooks. The old WABA ID now identifies the Messaging account (Meta's docs, as of November 2026).
Why it matters: If WhatsApp Manager or your provider mentions a WhatsApp account or a Messaging account, it is the same WABA after Meta's split. Meta says the WhatsApp account holding your number always belongs to your business, even when several providers work on it.
Meta Business portfolio
Also called: business portfolio; often searched for as Meta Business
A Meta Business portfolio groups your business's Meta assets, such as its Facebook Page, Instagram account, ad accounts, catalogues and WhatsApp accounts, with the people who can access them. You manage it through Meta Business Suite according to each person's access permissions.
Why it matters: Keep the portfolio in your business's name with full control in your hands, and give your provider access to it rather than letting them open one in theirs. Your number and accounts then stay yours if you change provider.
Cloud API
Also called: WhatsApp Business API, WhatsApp API
The Cloud API is Meta's programming interface for the WhatsApp Business Platform, commonly called the WhatsApp API. Your software sends and receives messages such as text, images, buttons and templates from your business number, with calling where available. You need software or a provider to connect it to your team and systems.
Why it matters: With the Cloud API, your team and an AI assistant can answer from one number, and we connect WhatsApp to your CRM or booking system after assessment and testing. Meta's rules on templates, opt-in and the 24-hour window still apply.
Business Solution Provider (BSP)
Also called: Solution Partner
A Business Solution Provider (BSP) is a company authorised by Meta to provide WhatsApp Business Platform services, such as messaging, integration, support and billing, to other businesses. Meta's developer docs now call it a Solution Partner. A Solution Partner has a Meta credit line, so it can invoice clients for API usage instead of each client adding a payment method with Meta.
Why it matters: Ask any provider whether it is a Solution Partner or a Tech Provider, and who bills you for Meta's messages. That tells you whether you add your own payment method with Meta.
Meta Tech Provider
Also called: Tech Provider
A Tech Provider is a company that has completed Meta's Tech Provider onboarding and can offer full WhatsApp Business Platform services to its clients, alone or with a Solution Partner. Onboarding includes verifying its business and passing Meta's App Review. Unlike a Solution Partner, a Tech Provider has no Meta credit line.
Why it matters: HumAI is a Meta Tech Provider: we set up or move your number, help with business verification, prepare templates and apply for the blue tick when eligible. Meta decides verification and badge approvals.
Phone number migration
Also called: moving your number to the API
Phone number migration means moving a WhatsApp number you already use onto the WhatsApp Business Platform, either directly or, for a WhatsApp Business app number, through Meta's coexistence option. Meta's direct route is to delete the number's account in the app and register it on the Cloud API. You then lose the chat history, and the number can't return to the app unless you deregister it from the API.
Why it matters: Export the chats you need before any move; deleting the account also deletes its backup. Under Meta’s new account model, check how provider access changes rather than assuming the number must move.
Coexistence
Also called: WhatsApp Business app onboarding
Coexistence is Meta’s option for connecting a WhatsApp Business app number to the Cloud API through a provider, where Meta offers it to eligible accounts. Meta documents chat and history synchronisation options, with limits including no group-chat sync or API calling on that number. Your provider checks which options your account can use before any change.
Why it matters: HumAI confirms during the assessment whether Meta’s option is available and suitable before promising you can keep the app. If you need the assistant to answer WhatsApp calls, we assess a suitable setup wherever WhatsApp calling is available.
Webhook
A webhook is a notice Meta's servers send to your system when something happens on your number. Examples are a new customer message, a status change on a message you sent, a call, or a change to your account or template quality. Without webhooks, your software wouldn't know a customer had written at all.
Why it matters: Through an integration agreed and tested after assessment, webhook notifications can pass request details to your CRM, booking system or Dashboard. Ask your provider who monitors delivery failures.
Interactive messages: buttons and lists
Also called: reply buttons, list messages
Interactive messages give customers options to tap instead of typing. A reply-buttons message offers up to 3 preset replies, and a list message opens up to 10 options across up to 10 sections. You send them inside the customer service window, and the customer's choice reaches your system as a reply.
Why it matters: Buttons speed up questions with a few fixed answers, such as the branch or the day. Customers should still be able to type in their own words and be understood.
WhatsApp Flows
Also called: Flows, WhatsApp forms
WhatsApp Flows collects request details through structured steps inside a WhatsApp chat, such as an appointment request, product browsing or registration of interest. The answers reach your system together rather than scattered across messages, and your team confirms appointment requests and prices.
Why it matters: Flows suit requests that need the same details every time, such as name, branch and time. When a request needs judgment, a person or the assistant carries on the chat.
Catalogue
Also called: catalog, WhatsApp catalog
A catalogue is a list of products or services you upload to Meta and connect to your WhatsApp number, so customers can browse it inside WhatsApp. Each item has a name, images and details such as price and description. In the WhatsApp Business app it appears on your business profile; on the platform you send products in messages, and customers can order from them.
Why it matters: Have your team approve prices and check stock, either directly or through a store connection set up after assessment and testing. Avoid promising availability without approved information.
Delivery and read status
Also called: message status, ticks
Message status is how Meta tells your system what happened to each message you sent: sent, delivered to the customer's phone, read, or failed. Meta treats a message as read only once it has been delivered, and charges only for delivered messages.
Why it matters: Statuses show how many customers a campaign really reached and read, and why some messages failed, such as a customer who stopped marketing messages from your business.
Team inbox
Also called: shared inbox, WhatsApp shared inbox
A team inbox is a shared screen where several staff answer one WhatsApp number, with each chat assigned to an owner and its full history in one place. On the WhatsApp Business Platform, Meta provides the API, and the inbox is software your business or provider connects to it. In the WhatsApp Business app you can link up to four devices, and some Meta subscriptions add a multi-agent option to assign chats to staff.
Why it matters: When several people answer without one, chats get lost between phones and nobody can tell who promised the customer what.
Human handover (transfer to a person)
Also called: handover, escalation to a person
Human handover is when a chat moves from an automated reply or AI assistant to a person on your team, with everything said so far. Meta's policy allows automation inside the 24-hour window, but it requires prompt, clear and direct escalation paths, such as an in-chat human agent transfer, phone or email.
Why it matters: Decide up front what always goes to a person, such as booking confirmations, prices and complaints, and who picks it up by when. Every HumAI setup includes handover, and your team approves bookings and prices.
Click-to-WhatsApp ads
Also called: CTWA, ads that click to WhatsApp
Click-to-WhatsApp ads are Facebook and Instagram ads that open a WhatsApp chat with your business when someone taps them, instead of a website. You create them in Meta Ads Manager for a number connected to your Facebook Page or business portfolio, on either the WhatsApp Business app or the API.
Why it matters: An ad only starts the chat, so a fast reply with one clear next step decides whether it becomes a booking. On the platform, a chat that starts from the ad can also open a free entry point window.
Free entry point window
Also called: FEP window
Free entry point window is a term from Meta's pricing page for chats that start from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad. It opens when the customer writes from WhatsApp's Android or iPhone app and you reply within the customer service window. Meta says it may remain open for up to 7 days, with no Meta charge for marketing, utility, authentication or service messages meanwhile (as of November 2026).
Why it matters: Plan follow-ups with ad leads inside this window, since Meta doesn't charge for those messages. Meta can change pricing on the first day of each quarter, so recheck its pricing page before each campaign.
Calling API
Also called: WhatsApp Business Calling API, WhatsApp business calls
The Calling API is the part of the Cloud API that lets your business receive WhatsApp calls from customers and call them from its own number. A call your business starts needs the customer's call permission, which only the customer can grant or withdraw. Meta doesn't offer business-started calls from Egyptian +20 numbers or from a few other countries, such as the US and Canada.
Why it matters: HumAI's assistant answers calls where available and voice notes inside an open 24-hour customer service window, in Gulf Arabic, Egyptian Arabic and English. WhatsApp calls are restricted in the UAE, so voice notes do the talking; the assistant answers WhatsApp calls wherever WhatsApp calling is available.
wa.me links
Also called: click-to-chat link, WhatsApp link
A wa.me link is WhatsApp's click-to-chat feature: a link that opens a chat with your number straight away, without the customer saving it first. You write wa.me/ followed by your full number in international format, without a plus sign, extra zeros, brackets or dashes. You can also add a pre-filled message that appears in the customer's text box.
Why it matters: Put the link on Instagram, Google Maps, your website and receipts, with a pre-filled message that shows the source, such as "I saw the Ramadan ad". It works for any active WhatsApp number, on the app or the API.
Sources
- Meta: Service messages and the 24-hour customer service window
- Meta: Pricing on the WhatsApp Business Platform and current rate card
- Meta: Template components and header media types
- Meta: Template categorization guidelines
- Meta: Get opt-in for WhatsApp
- Meta for Developers: Marketing templates and customer preferences
- WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy (updated 23 September 2026)
- Meta: Template quality rating
- Meta for Developers: Messaging limits
- Meta for Developers: Display names
- Meta: How to verify your business in Meta Business Suite
- Meta for Developers: Official Business Accounts
- Meta: What is Meta Verified for businesses?
- WhatsApp Help Center: About verified business accounts
- Meta for Developers: Updates to WhatsApp Business accounts
- Meta Business Help Center: About business portfolios
- Meta for Developers: About the WhatsApp Business Platform
- Meta for Developers: Solution Partners and Tech Providers
- Meta for Developers: Become a Tech Provider
- Meta for Developers: Migrate an existing WhatsApp number to a business account
- WhatsApp Help Center: How to delete your account
- Meta for Developers: Onboard WhatsApp Business app users
- Meta for Developers: WhatsApp webhooks
- Meta: Interactive reply buttons messages
- Meta: Interactive list messages
- Meta for Developers: WhatsApp Flows
- Meta for Developers: Catalogs overview
- WhatsApp Help Center: About catalog
- Meta for Developers: Status messages webhook reference
- WhatsApp Help Center: About multi-agent
- Meta Business Help Center: How to create ads that click to WhatsApp in Ads Manager
- Meta: WhatsApp Business Calling API, availability by country
- Meta: User call permissions
- WhatsApp Help Center: How to use click to chat