The free WhatsApp Business app (green B icon, not plain WhatsApp) hides three genuinely useful automations: greetings, away messages, and quick replies. What follows sets all three up properly — iPhone and Android side by side — plus what to do when you outgrow them.
⚡ Key Takeaways
- Check you're on the Business app first — standard WhatsApp has none of this. iPhone buries it under Settings, Android under the three-dot menu; the features match once you're in. Three tools exist: greetings for first contact, away messages for closed hours,
/shortcuts for everything repetitive. And the honest ceiling: native replies acknowledge, they don't answer — questions and bookings need an AI front desk on top.
First, the app itself. Standard WhatsApp → WhatsApp Business, free, same number kept (landline or mobile), contacts intact.
iPhone versus Android navigation, since they hide things differently:
⋮, top right) → Business Tools (sometimes via Settings first).Greetings fire on first-ever contact (or after 14 silent days):
> Three sentences max. Name, honest response window ("within the hour"), one useful ask (postcode? service needed?).
Away messages cover closed hours, holidays, shutdowns:
[CALLOUT: Important Setting]
"Outside business hours" only works if hours exist: Business Tools > Profile > Business Hours first. No hours saved, no closed-detection.
Quick replies aren't automatic — they're / shortcuts for answers you send fifty times:
+)./-prefixed (/hours, /pricing, /address)./, pick, send.WhatsApp text formatting for sharper auto-messages:
*like this*_like this_~like this~Monospace: triple backticks around itBold the call-to-action, bullets for the rest. Walls of plain text get skimmed.
When replies don't send, it's almost always one of five: phone off or offline (the free app needs your device online — no cloud involved); battery optimisation asleeping WhatsApp (exempt it in system settings); business hours never saved (away-on-hours has nothing to read); recipient filters excluding the sender; or group chats (auto-replies are 1-on-1 only, always).
And the ceiling, stated plainly: native replies set expectations, nothing more. No pricing answers, no diary checks, no bookings closed. Static versus AI side by side: cost free / £20–100/mo bots / try-free front desk; replies static / menu-bound / genuinely contextual; FAQs unanswered / half-answered / answered from memory; booking none / link-based / direct into Google Calendar; phone-off dead / cloud alive / cloud alive; escalation manual / rigid / instant WhatsApp handoff to you. Dozens of daily enquiries with full hands is exactly when messages should become bookings by themselves.
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Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)
Personal WhatsApp — auto-replies there?
No. Business app exclusive, free but exclusive.
Phone off — still replying?
On the free app: no. Device online or nothing sends. Need replies with the phone dead? That's API territory — Susan territory.
Group chats?
Never. One-on-one customer chats only, by WhatsApp's design.
All this free?
Every native tool in the Business app: yes, completely.