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Most of what your bot says is a free-form reply — a normal message, written on the spot, in answer to something a customer just sent. Templates are the other kind: a fixed message you wrote and got approved in advance, so you can send it even when no conversation is open. Knowing when you’re forced to use one, and when you’d choose to, saves a lot of confusion later. For how to actually write, submit, and send them in Paige, see the Message Templates how-to. This page is about why they exist and when to reach for one.

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The 24-hour window

WhatsApp draws a hard line around a single idea: a business may message people freely only while a conversation is live. Every time a customer messages you, a 24-hour window opens. Inside it, you can reply with anything — text, images, buttons, a flow — as many times as you like. When 24 hours pass with no new message from them, the window closes. Once it’s closed, you can’t just send a free-form message. The only way to reach that person again is an approved template. The window reopens the moment they reply.
This is a Meta rule, not a Paige one. In the Conversations tab, the green ring around a contact tells you their window is open. No ring means a template is your only way in.

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Why Meta requires approval

Every template is reviewed by Meta before you can send it. That feels like friction, but it’s the thing that keeps WhatsApp worth being on: it isn’t a spam channel. Because businesses can’t fire un-vetted messages at people outside a live conversation, people trust the messages they do get. Approval is a reviewer reading your message the way a customer would. That’s why:
  • Templates have categories — utility, marketing, authentication — that set how they’re reviewed and priced.
  • Every placeholder needs a realistic example, so the reviewer sees a real message rather than a form.
  • Marketing templates are scrutinised harder and approved slower than utility ones tied to something the customer did.
The mechanics of all three are in the how-to.

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Template, or free-form reply?

Inside the 24-hour window you often have a choice. The question is whether the message is conversational or a fixed notification.
A good bot leans on free-form replies while the window is open, and keeps a small set of well-chosen templates for the two jobs only templates can do: reaching people after the window closes, and broadcasting to a list.

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Where to go next

Message Templates

The how-to: categories, components, placeholder rules, approval, and sending from bot code.

Conversations

The 24-hour window in depth, plus contacts, state, and handover.

Broadcasts

Send an approved template to many contacts at once.

Thinking in flows

The companion concept: structured conversations, and when to use them.