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Guide

A WhatsApp AI agent that answers your customers inside Meta’s rules.
Your customers already write to you on WhatsApp, at any hour, and expect an answer in minutes. A WhatsApp AI agent answers those messages for your business: it reads the question, replies from what your business knows, and hands the conversation to a person when it should. Meta sets firm rules for how a business may message people, and they shape what the agent can do.

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How WhatsApp works for a business

Businesses reach WhatsApp in two ways. The WhatsApp Business app runs on a phone and suits a person answering by hand. The WhatsApp Business Platform, often called the API, connects a business number to software, which is what an AI agent needs. Many numbers can use both: the team keeps the app on the phone while software answers through the platform. The platform is built around who wrote first.
  • The customer writes first. Meta’s documentation describes how a message from the customer “opens a 24 hour customer service window.” Inside that window, the business can send normal, free-form replies.
  • The window closes. After 24 hours without a new message from the customer, the business can only send an approved template: a message written in advance and reviewed by Meta, with variables such as a name or an order number.
  • The business writes first. That always takes a template, too.
Templates come in three categories: marketing, utility and authentication (Meta pricing).

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Meta’s rule on AI

Meta’s terms for the WhatsApp Business Platform have a section on AI providers. It says that “providers and developers of artificial intelligence or machine learning technologies” are “strictly prohibited from accessing or using the WhatsApp Business Platform, whether directly or indirectly,” “when such technologies are the primary (rather than incidental or ancillary) functionality being made available for use.” The same section allows that a business “may retain an AI Provider as your Solution Provider.” (Meta Terms for WhatsApp Business Platform, section 4.7) In plain terms: a general-purpose assistant offered on WhatsApp, where the AI itself is the product, is what the clause targets. An agent that answers your customers about your orders, bookings and policies is part of your business’s service. Keep the agent on that job, and read section 4.7 yourself; Meta’s reading of its own terms is the one that counts.

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Opt-in and opt-out

Meta’s policy is direct: “Businesses are required to obtain opt-in before messaging people on WhatsApp.” The opt-in must “clearly state the business’s name that a person is opting in to receive messages from,” and businesses must “provide clear instructions for how people can opt out of receiving specific categories of messages, and honor these requests.” (Meta opt-in guidance) A customer who writes to you has started the conversation. Messaging someone first, a reminder or a win-back offer, needs their opt-in on record.

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What it costs

Meta charges “on a per-message basis” since July 1, 2025. Template messages are charged when delivered, and “rates vary based on the template’s category and the recipient WhatsApp phone number’s country calling code.” Meta publishes its rate cards and changes them on a schedule, so check the pricing page before you plan volume. Meta bills your WhatsApp Business account directly. Replies inside the window are changing too. From October 1, 2026, Meta charges per message for service messages, the agent’s replies included, with 1,000 free a month per number. Above that, replies are delivered only if the WhatsApp Business account has a payment method. The WhatsApp channel page explains where to add one.

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What to watch for

  • The window closes on your team too. It is Meta’s rule, not the agent’s. A new message from the customer opens a fresh window, so a template is only needed when your team writes first after the window closed. Plan who sends it.
  • Two answers at once. If a person replies from the Business app while the agent also replies, the customer gets two voices. One of them should step back.
  • More than text. Customers send voice notes, photos of a broken item and PDFs. An agent that only reads text misses half the questions.
  • A clear way out. Some questions need a person. The customer should be able to ask for one and get one, with the conversation so far in front of them.
  • Opt-outs that stick. “STOP” in any language is an instruction, not a message to answer.

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Set it up in Centillion

Centillion connects a WhatsApp business number through Meta’s own sign-up, and the same agent that answers on your website answers on WhatsApp, with the same knowledge. You need admin rights on the Centillion workspace, access to your Meta business, and a plan with integrations, Hobby and up. The full reference is the WhatsApp page.
1

Import an account into the workspace

Open More → Channels in the workspace sidebar, choose WhatsApp, and click Import account. If your team uses the WhatsApp Business app on this number, leave Keep using the WhatsApp Business app on. It starts on.
Workspace WhatsApp page before any accounts are imported, with an Import account button

Import an account into the workspace, then choose the agent that answers it.

2

Finish Meta's sign-up

Meta’s sign-up opens. Sign in, choose your business, and select or verify the number. The sign-up window expires after five minutes; if you lose your place, start again. Check that the imported number is the one you meant. It stays in the workspace without an agent assigned.
3

Add the account to your agent

Open Channels in your agent’s sidebar and choose Add account on the WhatsApp card. Select the imported account. Replies start paused. If the account was already imported, start here without repeating Meta’s sign-up.
WhatsApp card on an agent's Channels page with Add account and Manage workspace accounts

Add an imported workspace account from your agent's WhatsApp card.

4

Turn on replies and test

Turn on Automatic replies, then message the number from another WhatsApp account. In the Playground’s channel menu, Test on WhatsApp shows a QR code and a link that open a chat with the number on your phone.

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What the agent does every day

  • Inside the window, it replies in up to 4,000 characters. It reads text, images, voice notes, audio and documents: voice notes are transcribed and document text is read.
  • Outside the window, WhatsApp refuses free-form messages, so Centillion does not try. The conversation waits in Helpdesk, where your team picks an approved template, fills in its variables and sends it.
  • Beside the Business app, a reply your team sends from the app is imported and pauses the agent on that conversation, so two answers never go out at once.
  • When a customer asks for a person, a person takes over from the helpdesk inbox. That needs Helpdesk turned on (Standard and up) and the Centillion live chat or Escalations tool turned on for WhatsApp under Tools. Live chat pauses the agent on that conversation. A ticket from Escalations pauses it only with Pause AI when a ticket is created on, under Settings → Helpdesk → Human handoff.
  • When a customer replies STOP, automatic replies stop and the number goes on your workspace’s do-not-call list. START turns replies back on. Common equivalents such as unsubscribe, cancel and parar work too.
To message many customers first, with a template and a playbook the agent follows when they reply, use an outbound campaign. The campaign leaves out anyone who opted out, and you confirm their consent before launch.

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Questions

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Is an AI agent allowed on WhatsApp?

Meta’s terms prohibit AI providers when the AI is the primary functionality being made available. An agent that answers your own customers about your business is part of your service. Read section 4.7 of Meta’s terms for the exact wording.

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Can the agent message a customer first?

Only with an approved template, and only to someone who opted in. In Centillion, your team sends a template from a Helpdesk ticket, or you send one to many customers with an outbound campaign.

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Why did the agent not answer a customer who wrote yesterday?

The 24-hour window had closed. The conversation waits in Helpdesk, and your team sends an approved template from the ticket.

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Can my team keep the WhatsApp Business app on the same number?

Often, yes. Leave Keep using the WhatsApp Business app on when you connect, and keep the app open on the phone during sign-up. Meta decides eligibility by business, number, country and app.

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Who pays Meta for the messages?

You do. Meta bills your WhatsApp Business account directly. Template messages are charged by category and by the recipient’s country, and Meta’s pricing page has the current rates.

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Try it

Connect a number, turn on automatic replies, and send it a voice note from your own phone. The reply and the conversation show up in the dashboard.

Start free

Start on the Free plan, or take a seven-day trial of a paid plan. Your agent is live on your site in an afternoon.

Book a demo

Fifteen minutes with the team, on your own use case.
Or ask the assistant on this page.

WhatsApp

Every setting, limit and Meta requirement for the WhatsApp channel.

AI outbound calling

Consent, disclosure and calling hours when the agent phones customers.

Helpdesk

Where your team takes over conversations and sends templates.
Last modified on October 29, 2026