Guide · Inbox · For the owner answering WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger from one screen

Answering WhatsApp in Meta Business Suite's Inbox: automatic replies, keyword rules and what Meta's AI agent pauses

Meta Business Suite's Inbox puts WhatsApp, Instagram and Messenger messages on one screen. Meta's Business Help Center explains what it can do, how staff get the WhatsApp chats, how its automatic replies decide what to send, and one change owners miss: switching on Meta's AI agent pauses the automatic replies already set up. Here is what those pages say.

Published 7 October 2026 · Updated 13 October 2026

One inbox for three apps

Meta's Business Help Center describes Inbox in Meta Business Suite as one place to manage messages from Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp. Messages can be seen together, or filtered by app. It lists what else Inbox does:

Keep it in order: Mark a chat unread or to follow up, move it to Spam or Done, and filter by unread, follow-up, or the person it is assigned to. An Ad response filter shows messages sent in reply to an ad.
Say when you are around: An availability status tells people whether the business is online or offline, so they can expect a delay, with set offline times.
Know the customer: Opening a chat shows the customer's details. Labels, an email or phone number and notes can be added; notes are private to the business and the people who manage its Page.
Leads: A leads tab to track, filter and message leads without leaving Inbox.

Meta notes that some messaging features and figures are not available for businesses and ads in Europe and Japan.

Customers in Europe or Japan

Meta's article on those privacy rules says they apply to messages to or from people or businesses in those regions, not only to businesses based there. In Inbox that can mean no Email or Contact list tabs, no message attachments, no automated responses, no appointment features, no activity history and no in-thread suggestions. And a business outside those regions that also hears from people inside them may see messaging figures that cover only the other locations; Meta names Commerce Insights, Page Insights and Instagram Insights. Our reading: a business in the UAE or Pakistan with customers in Europe should expect its message counts to come up short, and should not read the gap as lost customers.

Giving staff the WhatsApp chats

First, the WhatsApp account has to be in the business portfolio. Meta's steps start in Meta Business Suite: Settings, then WhatsApp accounts under Accounts, then Add. Link a WhatsApp Business account brings in one you already have: choose the country code, enter the number, and type in the code Meta sends to the WhatsApp Business app on that number. Create a new WhatsApp Business account starts one from scratch: a name that should match the business's name, a category, optionally a time zone, description and website, then the number and the code sent to it in WhatsApp. Meta's ground rules: only WhatsApp Business accounts can be added, each one can sit in only one business portfolio, the same number can also be connected to the Facebook Page, and you need full control of the portfolio. If WhatsApp accounts is missing from Settings, Meta says that may be because you do not have full control. Numbers that already run on the WhatsApp Business Platform are added to the portfolio automatically.

Meta's steps for letting a member of staff answer WhatsApp in Inbox, written for replies to WhatsApp promotions, start in Meta Business Suite: Settings, then Accounts, then WhatsApp accounts. Choose the account, click Assign people, switch on Messages for each person, then click Assign and Done. The chats then appear under the WhatsApp tab in Inbox. Meta says the person doing the assigning needs full control of the business portfolio.

To give one chat to one person, Meta's steps on desktop are: open Inbox, choose WhatsApp or All messages, select the chat, and pick the person from the Assign this conversation menu under the customer's name. Remove, in the same menu, takes it back, and the Assigned view lists who holds which chats. Meta says this needs Facebook access to the Page, or task access to messages. New conversations can also be handed out automatically: one of Inbox's ready-made automations assigns them to admins as they arrive.

If there is no WhatsApp tab at all, Meta's troubleshooting page says the business may be in a country or region where a WhatsApp Business account cannot be connected to Inbox, and that this may change.

Meta's article on syncing the WhatsApp Business app with Inbox names those places: Australia, Japan, Nigeria, the Philippines, Russia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, the European Economic Area, the European Union and the United Kingdom. Elsewhere, the sync starts from Inbox: open the WhatsApp tab, click Get started and follow the steps, with the phone plugged in and the WhatsApp Business app open throughout. It can bring across your contacts and up to 6 months of one-to-one chat history, and Meta says it will tell your customers that their chats are now handled by a secure service from Meta.

What the sync leaves behind

Group chats are not transferred, and groups and status are not available in Inbox; you can keep using the app alongside Inbox for those. The app has to be opened at least once every 20 days, or the sync disconnects and has to be set up again. To undo it, someone with full control of the WhatsApp account goes to Settings, then WhatsApp accounts, chooses the account, then Options and Remove from business portfolio.

20 days or 14 days

Meta's two pages do not agree on that interval. The Business Help Center article on the sync says 20 days. WhatsApp Business's own article on running a business from your phone says to open the app at least once every 14 days to keep the Business Suite inbox connected. Our reading: plan around the shorter one, and give whoever holds the phone a fortnightly reminder rather than a monthly one.

Automatic replies, and which one wins

Meta calls them Inbox automations. They work for Facebook Pages, Instagram business accounts and WhatsApp Business accounts connected to Meta Business Suite, and some are not offered on every app. On desktop they are set up under Inbox, then Automations, then Create automation:

Ready-made: A greeting for someone's first message, an away message, suggested questions with answers, replies for location, contact details and hours, finding chats nobody has answered, and assigning new chats.
Keywords: A reply sent when a message contains up to five chosen words or phrases, such as sale. Desktop only. Meta says matching is case-sensitive and exact, each keyword can be used in only one automation, and the reply goes out after 15 minutes unless someone answers first.
From scratch: A rule with a condition, such as a new message, a label added or a chat assigned, and actions: send a message, add labels, or mark the chat.
On the phone: In the Meta Business Suite phone app: Inbox, the icon in the top-right corner, then Automations, then a template. Under Platforms, switch on each app the reply should cover. The questions template takes up to five questions; the contact, location and hours replies can carry an image or video, or a button to your website.

Meta gives two ordering rules. Automations built from scratch are sent before the others. But when a keyword reply and a ready-made one, such as the away message, both apply to the same message, the ready-made one is sent and the keyword reply is not. A new automation can take a few minutes to appear.

The away message has no off switch: Meta says it follows the schedule set in its settings: on while the status is Away, off while Available. To stop it completely, set the schedule to available all day, every day.
An automatic message nobody remembers setting up: One from Inbox ends with the words Sent by automated response. One that matches the greeting or questions set up in an ad comes from that ad, and is changed in Ads Manager.
An automation missing from the list: Meta says some, such as suggested questions and keywords, may be restricted by regional privacy rules.

What Meta's AI agent pauses

Both of Meta's automation articles carry the same note: turning on Meta Business Agent pauses any existing automations, such as away messages or instant replies. The agent takes over the first answer, and the old automatic replies stop.

Meta's own article on the agent adds two details. The pause lasts while the AI is active in a chat, and the automations resume when the AI exits that chat. And Meta sends a notification to your device when the agent decides a customer needs your attention.

On desktop, Inbox shows an AI Responding label on the conversations Meta Business Agent is handling, so you can see at a glance which chats the AI has. Meta's reply article adds that you can still reply by hand in a conversation the agent is handling.

Our reading: write down your automations before switching the agent on

List what each automatic reply told customers, such as opening hours, location and the answers to common questions, and check the agent can give the same answers before it goes live. Otherwise a customer who used to get the hours instantly may get a different answer, or none.

Our reading: keep notifications on for the device that answers

If the agent's call for help arrives as a notification, notifications need to be switched on for the phone or computer someone on the team actually watches. A notification that lands on a silenced device leaves the customer waiting.

What the agent is and how it is switched on is in the Meta Business Agent guide, the same change inside the WhatsApp Business app in the app AI agent inbox guide, and promotions whose replies land in Inbox in the Ads Manager placement guide.

Questions

Can we set up WhatsApp automatic replies from the Meta Business Suite phone app?

Yes. Meta's Business Help Center describes it: open Inbox, tap the icon in the top-right corner, tap Automations and pick a template, then switch on WhatsApp under Platforms. For the away message, you set a time zone, the days and a start and end time, and it stays off outside those hours.

How can we tell which WhatsApp chats in Inbox Meta's AI agent is answering?

Meta's Business Help Center says that once Meta Business Agent is on, an AI Responding label in Inbox shows which conversations the agent is handling. You can still reply by hand to a conversation it is handling.

How do we know when Meta's AI agent needs us to step in?

Meta's Business Help Center says you receive a notification on your device when Meta Business Agent determines that a customer needs your attention. Customers can also ask in the chat to talk to someone from your team, and the AI transfers them.

Why do our message figures look low when many of our customers are in Europe?

Meta's Business Help Center says privacy rules in Europe and Japan mean some messaging metrics are not logged or reported for messages to or from those regions, so a business elsewhere may see partial figures covering only its other customers.

Our WhatsApp chats stopped appearing in Meta Business Suite. What happened?

One cause Meta names: the WhatsApp Business app must be opened at least once every 20 days to keep the sync with Inbox running. If it lapses, the account has to be connected again from the WhatsApp tab in Inbox.

How often does the WhatsApp Business app need to be opened to keep Business Suite connected?

Meta gives two figures. Its Business Help Center article on syncing with Inbox says at least once every 20 days; WhatsApp Business's article on running a business from your phone says at least once every 14 days. Our reading: opening the app on the phone at least once every two weeks satisfies both.

We cannot see WhatsApp accounts in Meta Business Suite Settings. Why?

Meta's Business Help Center says that may mean you do not have full control of the business portfolio, which adding a WhatsApp account requires. Someone with full control can add it, or give you that access.

Can one WhatsApp account be in two business portfolios?

No. Meta says each WhatsApp Business account can be in only one business portfolio. The same number can, though, also be connected to your Facebook Page.

Can we answer WhatsApp messages in Meta Business Suite?

Yes, for a WhatsApp Business account connected to Meta Business Suite. Meta's Business Help Center says Inbox shows Messenger, Instagram and WhatsApp messages in one place, together or filtered by app.

Why did our away message stop after we turned on Meta Business Agent?

Meta's Business Help Center says turning on Meta Business Agent pauses existing Inbox automations, such as away messages and instant replies.

Why didn't our keyword automatic reply send?

Meta says keywords must match exactly and are case-sensitive, the reply waits 15 minutes in case someone answers first, and a ready-made automation such as the away message is sent instead when both apply.

How do we let a member of staff answer WhatsApp in Meta Business Suite?

In Settings, go to Accounts, then WhatsApp accounts, choose the account and click Assign people. Switch on Messages for that person and click Assign. Meta says the person assigning needs full control of the business portfolio.

Why is there no WhatsApp tab in our Meta Business Suite Inbox?

Meta's troubleshooting page says the business may be in a country or region where a WhatsApp Business account cannot be connected to Inbox, and that this may change.

How do we switch off the away message in Meta Business Suite?

It has no switch. Meta says it follows its schedule, so set the schedule to available all day, every day, to stop it.

Can we set up keyword replies from the Meta Business Suite phone app?

No. Meta's Business Help Center says custom keyword automations are only available in Meta Business Suite on desktop.

Sources

Meta Business Help Center: About Inbox in Meta Business Suite, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: About Inbox automations in Meta Business Suite, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: Set up Inbox automations in Meta Business Suite on desktop, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: Set up reply management for marketing messages in Inbox, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: Assign conversations in Inbox on Meta Business Suite desktop, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: Troubleshoot Meta Business Suite Inbox issues, read 7 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: add a WhatsApp Business account to your business portfolio in Meta Business Suite, read 8 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: sync your WhatsApp Business account with Inbox in Meta Business Suite on desktop, read 8 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: some organic messaging features and metrics unavailable due to privacy rules in Europe and Japan, read 8 October 2026.
WhatsApp Business: run your business from your phone with the WhatsApp Business app, read 8 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: about Meta Business Agent on Messenger or WhatsApp, read 13 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: reply to messages in Inbox in Meta Business Suite on desktop, read 13 October 2026.
Meta Business Help Center: set up Inbox automations on Meta Business Suite mobile app, read 13 October 2026.

More plain-language notes like this one are on the guides page.

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