What to do with WhatsApp messages after hours

A customer messages your business at 10:40 p.m. on a Saturday: "Do you have this model? How much is it?" You're having dinner. By Monday at 9 a.m., thirty other chats sit on top of theirs, and by then they may have bought from someone who answered first.

Handling WhatsApp after hours doesn't mean being available around the clock. It means no message gets lost while you're away, and the next morning you know where to start. Here are four steps that work with the WhatsApp Business app alone, what the 24-hour window means the next day, and how to do it with Claude.

What a customer who writes at night expects

You can't promise an instant reply, and you don't need to. What you control is whether they know their message arrived and when they'll hear back. A business that says "we'll reply tomorrow at 9" and does it looks more reliable than one that sometimes answers at 11 p.m. and sometimes two days later.

Step 1: Set your hours and add them to your profile

Decide when you actually answer: hours you don't keep are worse than none. Write them in one line ("Monday to Friday, 9 to 6") and add them to your business profile in the app.

It isn't only for customers to see. According to the WhatsApp Help Center, the option to send your away message only outside business hours is available once you've set business hours in your profile.

Step 2: Write an away message that works (and schedule it)

"Thanks for your message, we'll get back to you soon" says nothing. A useful away message says when you'll reply and saves the customer a question. An example (made up):

Hi! We're closed right now. We're open Monday to Friday, 9 to 6, and we'll reply first thing tomorrow. If you tell us which product you're after, we'll have the quote ready.

The last sentence gets the customer to write what they need, so the question is complete when you open the chat.

You turn it on from the business tools in the app. According to the same help page, you choose when it's sent (always, on a custom schedule, or only outside business hours) and who gets it: everyone, everyone not in your address book, everyone except certain contacts, or only certain contacts. Three things to watch:

• Your phone needs an internet connection. WhatsApp says so: without one, the away message isn't sent.
• Don't promise what you won't deliver. "We reply within 5 minutes" at 11 p.m. is worse than saying nothing.
• Test it. WhatsApp doesn't document how often the away message goes out again to the same contact. Message yourself from another number and see what happens.

Step 3: Separate the urgent from the opportunities

Not everything that arrives at night is the same. Three groups are enough:

• Truly urgent. An order in progress with a problem, a failed payment. If you get these, decide who handles them, through a separate channel.
• Opportunity. Questions about price, availability or payment methods. Not urgent because of the hour, but they go cold.
• General question. Hours, address, things with a known answer. These can wait.

If most of what comes in at night is opportunities, the moment that matters is the next morning.

Step 4: A ten-minute morning routine

Answering top-down rewards whoever wrote last, not whoever was closest to buying. Try this:

1. List everything that came in since you closed: who wrote, what they asked and when.
2. Opportunities first, then general questions, and within each group, newest to oldest.
3. Reply with their name and their question: "Hi Martina, about the blue model you asked about…"
4. Write down what's still open, with a time: "confirm stock at 3 p.m."

Want to know how long you actually take to reply after hours? Chatty's main blog explains how to see it in your WhatsApp Business metrics (in Spanish).

The 24-hour window: what you can send the next morning

It depends on where you reply from.

Through the WhatsApp API, the one platforms like Chatty use, every customer message opens a 24-hour window to reply with free-form messages, according to Meta's documentation. After that, only an approved template, which is paid. Do the math: a message from Saturday at 10:40 p.m. that you open Monday at 9 a.m. is more than 34 hours old, so the window closed on Sunday night. And since October 1, 2026, Meta also charges for free-form replies inside the window, after the first 1,000 per month per business number; details are on its pricing page.

From the WhatsApp Business app, that window doesn't apply. Meta's coexistence documentation says messages sent from the app aren't subject to the 24-hour window and don't affect API pricing. The same page lists the away message as an app feature that isn't supported on the Cloud API: with a platform, its software sends the auto-reply; with a coexistence number, the app's away message keeps working. Chatty's main blog covers this in what WhatsApp Coexistence is (in Spanish).

How to do it with Claude

Step 4 is reading chats and sorting them, which Claude does well. With Chatty's connector for Claude, your business WhatsApp is linked through Meta's official route, in coexistence with the app.

• The connector builds the follow-up queue on its own, every hour, with the reason for each chat, how long it has been waiting and whether the 24-hour window is still open. In the morning you don't scroll the inbox: you ask.

Show me what's still waiting since I closed yesterday, starting with the people who asked about price or availability.

• You know who it is before you reply. If you leave the chat history option checked in Meta's form, your last 6 months of chats come in, and Claude can tell you whether someone bought before.
• You reply from your phone. Since the number stays in the app, Claude can build links that open each chat on your phone with the reply already written. You send it yourself, from the app, even after 24 hours.

On the Conector plan, Claude only reads. On Conector Plus it can also reply through Chatty and set reminders for you, and nothing goes out unless you approve it. There's a 15-day free trial, no credit card; after that, Conector is US$ 50 per month. Plans are in the pricing section.

What not to do

• Put a bot on night duty just so nobody waits. A generic reply at 11 p.m. doesn't replace a good one at 9 a.m.
• Leave the inbox until noon. The longer a chat waits, the more likely it falls outside the window and goes cold.

Frequently asked questions

How do I set up an away message in WhatsApp Business?

From the business tools in the app, turn on the away message, write the text, and choose when it's sent and who gets it. To send it only outside business hours, add your hours to your business profile first.

Does the away message go to all my contacts?

You decide. To keep it away from your personal contacts, send it only to everyone not in your address book.

Does the away message work with the WhatsApp API?

Not as a Meta feature: it belongs to the app. On the API, the auto-reply is sent by your provider's software. With a coexistence number, the app's away message keeps working.

What happens if I reply after 24 hours?

From the WhatsApp Business app, nothing: you write as usual. Through the API, only with a Meta-approved template, which has a cost.

What's the difference between an away message and a greeting message?

The away message tells people you're not available and follows a schedule. The greeting message, according to the WhatsApp Help Center, is sent when someone messages you for the first time or after 14 days without messaging you.

Does Claude reply to my customers while I sleep?

No. On the Conector plan it only reads. On Conector Plus it drafts replies, and each one goes out only when you approve it.

The setup walkthrough is in how to connect WhatsApp to Claude. Comparing options first? Read WhatsApp and Claude: official API vs. WhatsApp Web.