72h Ad Window (FEP)
When a WhatsApp conversation becomes free, how the window is activated, and how to use it in flows
The 72h Ad Window is the exemption WhatsApp grants when the customer arrives through an eligible Click-to-WhatsApp ad or a call-to-action button on a Facebook Page. While it is active, nothing the business sends is charged — including marketing templates. In Meta's documentation the rule appears as Free Entry Point, or FEP.
The window is not automatic
It only starts counting after the business replies within the first 24 hours. If nobody replies within that deadline, the customer loses the exemption — even having arrived from an eligible ad.
How the window is created
1
The customer clicks the ad
An eligible Click-to-WhatsApp ad, or a call-to-action button on a Facebook Page.
2
The customer sends the first message
The window becomes pending: the contact is eligible, but the exemption has not started yet.
3
The business replies within 24 hours
The window becomes active and the 72 hours start counting.
4
The 72 hours end
The conversation goes back to being charged under WhatsApp's normal rules.
The three states
State
What happened
What to do
🟡 Pending
The customer arrived from an eligible ad and nobody has replied yet.
Reply within 24 hours to activate the 72 free hours.
✅ Active
The business replied in time and the 72 hours are running.
Send freely: nothing is charged, including templates.
❌ Outside
There was never an eligible ad, or the 72 hours have already ended.
Normal rules apply: the 24-hour window for free-form replies, charged templates outside it.
Pending and Eligible are the same state
Live Chat calls Eligible for the Ad Window what the flow builder calls Activation Pending. It is the same state with two names — there is no fourth state, and there is no condition called "Eligible".
The same state on each screen
State
In Live Chat
In the flow builder
🟡 Pending
Eligible for the Ad Window · Reply within [time left]
🟡 72h Window (FEP) Activation Pending
✅ Active
Ad Window · free messages · [time left]
✅ 72h Window (FEP) Active
❌ Outside
Template Required
❌ Outside the 72h Window (FEP)
The conditions in the flow builder
There are three boolean conditions. The same ones are available when filtering bot users and Live Chat conversations.
Condition
True
False
72h Window (FEP) Active?
✅ Active
⬜ Not Active (Pending or Outside)
72h Window (FEP) Pending Activation?
🟡 Activation Pending
⬜ No Pending Activation (Active or Outside)
72h Window (FEP) Active/Pending Activation?
✅ Active/Pending
❌ Outside the 72h Window (FEP)
Negating a condition does not identify a state
Since there are three states and the condition is boolean, Not Active can be Pending or Outside, and No Pending Activation can be Active or Outside. The only negation that pins down a state on its own is the third condition's: whoever is neither Active nor Pending is Outside.
Separating the three states with two conditions
Chain the conditions instead of using one alone — that way no branch is ambiguous:
text
Janela de 72h (FEP) Ativa/Ativação Pendente?
├─ não ─► ❌ Fora: template cobrado, ou aguarde o cliente
└─ sim ─► Janela de 72h (FEP) Ativa?
├─ não ─► 🟡 Pendente: responda agora para ativar as 72h
└─ sim ─► ✅ Ativa: envie sem custoCombine with Has interacted in last 24h to choose between a free-form reply and a template: the 72h window waives the charge, but what allows a free-form message is the 24-hour service window.
The two windows are not the same thing
24h service window
72h Ad Window
What opens it
Any message from the customer.
An eligible ad or button, plus a reply from the business within 24 hours.
What it allows
Free-form replies, with no template needed.
Exemption from charges.
Does it restart?
Yes, with every new message from the customer.
No. The 72 hours run only once.
Does the business reply extend it?
No.
No.
If it closes before the other
Only templates are left — and they stay free while the 72h are running.
Charging goes back to normal, even with the 24 hours still open.
What is still charged
- The ad. The conversation is free; the media that brought the customer is not.
- Everything sent after the 72 hours, under the normal category and country rules.
- Conversations with contacts that did not come from an eligible entry point.
Most likely nobody replied within the first 24 hours. Eligibility expires and does not come back — the contact needs to arrive again through an eligible ad.
No. They are independent. If the 24 hours close first, you are still not charged, but you can only send templates.
No. What Live Chat shows as Eligible is the 72h Window (FEP) Pending Activation condition.
In Live Chat, yes: the status above the message box shows the time remaining. In the flow builder there are only the three state conditions, with no countdown.