WhatsApp Business auto reply: greeting, away message and templates

The automatic replies the app gives you

WhatsApp Business has two built-in automatic messages:

• Greeting message. Sent once to anyone who writes to you for the first time, or who writes again after 14 days without talking to you, according to WhatsApp’s help centre.
• Away message. Sent to anyone who writes outside the hours you choose, or always, for holidays.

Quick replies are not automatic: you trigger them yourself by typing ‘/’. And since 2026 some businesses also have Meta’s own AI agent in the app (more on that below).

How to set them up

On the phone, in WhatsApp Business: Tools → Greeting message or Away message, then switch it on and edit the text.

For the away message, Schedule has three options, according to the help centre:

• Always send: useful for holidays or a closure.
• Custom schedule: from one time to another.
• Outside of business hours: uses the opening hours in your business profile, day by day. The right choice for split days or different Saturday hours, and it only appears once those hours are filled in.

Under Recipients, both messages offer the same four choices: everyone, everyone not in your address book, everyone except some contacts, or only some contacts. ‘Everyone’ is right unless, say, suppliers who message late don’t need the notice.

The help centre adds that the phone needs an internet connection for either message to go out: switched off in a drawer, it sends nothing.

How to write one that works

Three rules, and every text below follows them:

1. Say when you will reply, not that you are ‘busy’. ‘Tomorrow from 9:30’ reassures; ‘shortly’ doesn’t.
2. Include whatever can be done without you: the address, the link to the menu, how to get there. Every question the message answers is one you won’t have to.
3. Ask for what you need to reply fast. ‘Tell me the day and how many of you’ turns a six-message conversation into a two-message one.

Twelve texts to copy, by trade

Restaurant · greeting

Hi, thanks for messaging Casa Mar. For a booking, tell me the day, the time and how many of you, and I’ll confirm straight away. You’ll find the menu on our website.

Restaurant · away

We’re in the middle of service and can’t answer right now. If it’s a booking for tonight, call us on 91 000 00 00; for another day, leave the day, time and number of people and we’ll confirm as soon as we’re out of the kitchen.

Hair salon · greeting

Hi! This is the team at Lola Peluquería. To book, tell us which service you’d like and which day suits you. We’re open Tuesday to Saturday, 10:00 to 20:00.

Hair salon · away

We’re closed until 10:00 tomorrow. Leave the service and the day you’d prefer here and we’ll give you a time as soon as we open.

Dental clinic · greeting

Hi, you’ve reached Clínica Alameda. To book or change an appointment, tell us your name and what you need and we’ll reply during surgery hours (Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 20:00). For an emergency, please call 91 000 00 00.

Dental clinic · away

The clinic is closed. We’ll reply tomorrow from 9:00. For a dental emergency out of hours, call 91 000 00 00.

Physiotherapy · greeting

Hi, this is the team at Fisio Centro. Tell us in one line what’s bothering you and which days suit you, and we’ll suggest a time with the right physio.

Physiotherapy · away

We’re with patients and can’t check the phone. Leave your message and we’ll reply between appointments, usually within two hours.

Garage · greeting

Hi, you’ve reached Talleres Norte. For a quote, send us the registration and what’s wrong with the car; to drop it off, tell us which day suits you. We’re open Monday to Friday, 8:00 to 18:00.

Garage · away

The garage is closed. Leave the registration and what you need and we’ll reply first thing tomorrow, before we open.

Academy · greeting

Hi! Thanks for messaging Academia Sur. Tell us the course or subject and the student’s age, and we’ll send you the timetable and book a free trial lesson.

Academy · away

We’re teaching and will reply when we finish (from 20:30). If it’s about a trial lesson, tell us the course and the time you’d prefer and we’ll hold a place for you.

The businesses and numbers are made up. Never promise a reply time you won’t keep.

Meta Business Agent: the third option, if you have it

In June 2026 Meta announced its own AI agent for WhatsApp, Meta Business Agent. In the app it sits under Tools → AI agent, and according to the help centre it is only available to select businesses in a limited number of countries, with a waiting list for the rest. It answers questions about your hours, location, products, prices, payment and delivery from the information you give it, and alerts you when a customer needs a person. Getting started is free; Meta has said access will move to paid subscriptions.

If you have it, try it, knowing three things the same help page spells out. It switches off the greeting and away messages and broadcast lists while it is on. It disconnects your linked devices, and WhatsApp for Windows can’t be re-linked. And Meta uses the messages in those chats to improve its own AI, even while the agent is muted. Also check whether it can book into the diary you actually use and take a deposit.

What no automatic message does

The greeting and away messages stop customers feeling ignored. They don’t save you the work: the next morning someone still has to read, check the diary, reply and collect any deposit. And three limits won’t be fixed by better wording:

• They don’t understand. The greeting says the same thing to someone asking a price, someone cancelling and someone who dialled the wrong number.
• They don’t do anything. They don’t look at the diary, book, take payment or alert anyone.
• They don’t follow the conversation. The customer replies to the automatic message, and that second message waits until you get there.

For that you need an assistant on the WhatsApp Business Platform: one that reads what the customer says, checks the real diary, books, takes the deposit and passes the chat to a person when it should. That is what Conserjía sets up and looks after for small businesses, and under EU law (AI Act, art. 50) it says it is an AI in its first message. First, read what a chatbot for WhatsApp can and can’t do in a small business.