WhatsApp Business away message not sending: what to check

You turned on an away message in WhatsApp Business, but a customer says they never received it. Start by checking when it should send, who should receive it and whether your phone is connected. This walkthrough covers the WhatsApp Business app on Android and iPhone. Have your actual business hours and message ready.

Check the message and save your changes

Open Tools → Away message and turn on Send away message. Then review the text:

• Android: tap the message to edit it, confirm with OK, then tap Save after reviewing the settings below.
• iPhone: under Message, tap the text to edit it, then tap Save. Continue with Schedule and Recipients.

Tell customers when you can respond using hours you can actually keep. See WhatsApp’s instructions for Android and iPhone.

Check when the message should send

Under Schedule, find the option you selected:

• Always send: sends when a customer messages you, according to your recipient settings.
• Custom schedule: limits sending to the period you configured.
• Outside of business hours: uses the hours in your business profile. This option requires you to have set those hours.

Compare the time the customer wrote with that schedule. If you want an out-of-hours response, first check the hours in your business profile. Before choosing “Always send,” consider whether you also want the away notice to go out while you are serving customers.

Check whether that customer is included

Open Recipients. You can choose Everyone, Everyone not in address book, Everyone except… or Only send to…. Review the selected group and any exceptions as well as the schedule.

Fictional example: you saved a customer’s number and chose “Everyone not in address book.” That customer falls outside your selection. If they should receive the notice, select an option that includes them and save the change.

Keep the device connected and check receipt

WhatsApp says your device needs an active Internet connection to send away messages. If it was offline, having the settings saved does not make the notice send.

After saving, ask someone who agrees to help to message you during the configured period. Check that they belong to the selected recipients and ask whether they received the text. This checks one specific case.

If the settings match the situation and the message still does not arrive, keep a screenshot of the schedule and recipient selection, together with the time of the attempt, so you can describe the problem to support.

If you can’t use the app because it shows a ban notice instead, see how to request a WhatsApp Business review; that is a different issue from an away message not sending.

If you need to insert and review a frequent answer while handling a chat, see how to use WhatsApp Business quick replies.

If the greeting at the start of a conversation is missing, see WhatsApp Business Greeting Message Not Sending.