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Guide · Inside the chat · For the owner who wants to know what the other side of the chat shows

What a customer sees in a WhatsApp chat with your business: the AI label, Meta's notices and their controls

A customer's side of a WhatsApp chat with a business is not quite the same as yours. WhatsApp's Help Center explains the label on a business profile, the notice that says who handles the chat, how messages from Meta's AI are marked and what customers can do about them, and the controls they have over offers, blocking and their own number. Here is what those pages say.

Published 7 October 2026 · Updated 11 October 2026

The business label, and the badge

WhatsApp's Help Center says a customer who taps the business's name sees its profile labelled as a WhatsApp Business account. That label is the default for any business on WhatsApp's business products. Some businesses also show a verified badge, a blue check next to the name, which means Meta verified the business from its activity and the documents it gave.

The badge is not automatic for a paying subscriber; how a WhatsApp Business app number gets one is in the Meta Verified guide.

The notice that says who handles the chat

Some businesses have Meta or another company store their messages and help them reply. WhatsApp then shows the customer a notice in the chat. The Help Center lists three:

Another company helps
The notice says the business works with other companies to manage the chat.
Meta's cloud
When the business uses Meta's hosted Cloud API, the notice says it uses a secure service from Meta to manage the chat.
The app, or the business's own systems
When the business uses the WhatsApp Business app or stores the messages itself, the notice says messages and calls are end-to-end encrypted and only people in the chat can read them.

The same page says Meta does not automatically use what a customer sends a business to choose the ads that customer sees. It adds that businesses can use the chats they receive for their own marketing, including advertising on Meta.

WhatsApp's page on privacy in business messages adds two points. When a business uses Meta's optional services, such as having Meta store its messages and help it reply, WhatsApp shows this in the chat and does not consider those messages end-to-end encrypted. In those chats, Meta uses automated systems to look for breaches of its terms and policies, may act on what it finds, including reporting account information and messages to the authorities when the law requires or allows it, and may share that information with other Meta companies for safety and security. WhatsApp says none of this applies to personal chats, which stay end-to-end encrypted.

Our reading: have a one-line answer ready

A customer who notices the wording change may ask what it means. A short, honest reply, such as which service your business uses to answer and store chats, does more for trust than ignoring the question.

What connecting a system through Meta's cloud involves is in the Cloud API guide.

When the business uses Meta's AI

A business that lets Meta's AI answer customers is marked in several places. The Help Center says customers see a notice in the chat that Meta's AI receives chats to improve its AI and to write messages for the business, an AI marking on each message it writes, and an icon in the chat or on the profile. Under the business name, WhatsApp shows that it uses AI from Meta.

Asking for a person
A customer can ask at any time to stop getting AI-written messages. Then, or whenever the AI cannot help, it tries to connect them with the business.
Feedback
A customer can tap and hold an AI-written message and rate it, with more detail if the rating is negative.
Their data
Because the AI chat is a Meta service, customers ask Meta, through commands typed in the chat, to download or delete its copy. Anything the business itself collected is requested from the business.

The Help Center adds that this is only in some countries for select businesses, that the AI's language is set by the business's phone number, and that its messages may not be accurate or appropriate.

Switching it on is covered in the app AI agent setup guide, and sharing the inbox with it in the AI handoff guide.

Offers, blocking, and the customer's number

WhatsApp requires a business to have a customer's permission before sending offers and announcements, and the Help Center says WhatsApp limits how many a person receives. Customers have these controls in the chat:

Stop and Resume
Tapping Stop ends offers and announcements from that business. Messages the customer chose to receive, such as delivery updates and one-time codes, still arrive. Resume turns offers back on.
Feedback
Customers can say they want more or fewer offers from the business.
A survey about your message
WhatsApp may offer the customer a short survey about a business's message: whether they like it, how much and why. They can tap Start survey or Dismiss. WhatsApp says the answers are not shared with the business, and that WhatsApp and Meta may use them to keep experiences safe and to improve Meta ads.
Block or report
Customers can block or report a business and give a reason. The business cannot see who did it, and WhatsApp may use the reports to act on the account or limit the messages it can send.
A username instead of a number
A customer with a WhatsApp username keeps their phone number private: businesses they have not messaged before do not see it. Sharing it in the chat, for an order or a payment, is their choice.

Our reading: send offers people asked for

Every offer gives a customer the chance to tap Stop, rate it down or block. Send them only to customers who agreed, and not more often than they would want.

Asking for permission properly is covered in the opt-in guide, and customers who arrive without a number in the usernames guide.

Questions

Does Meta check our WhatsApp chats with customers for policy breaches?

In chats where a business uses Meta's optional services, such as Meta storing its messages, WhatsApp's Help Center says Meta uses automated systems to detect breaches of its terms and policies and may act on them, including reporting to the authorities when the law requires or allows it. WhatsApp does not consider those chats end-to-end encrypted. Chats on the WhatsApp Business app are end-to-end encrypted by default.

Can we see what customers say about our messages in WhatsApp's surveys?

No. WhatsApp's Help Center says that when a customer answers a survey about a business's message, the answers are not shared with the business. WhatsApp and Meta may use them to keep experiences safe and to improve Meta ads.

What does it mean when WhatsApp says a business uses a secure service from Meta to manage the chat?

WhatsApp's Help Center says that notice appears when the business uses Meta's hosted Cloud API, so Meta stores the messages and helps the business reply.

Will customers know our WhatsApp replies come from Meta's AI?

Yes. The Help Center says customers see a notice in the chat, an AI marking on each AI-written message, an icon, and that the business uses AI from Meta under its name.

Can a customer stop getting AI replies from our business on WhatsApp?

Yes. They can ask at any time to stop getting AI-written messages, and the AI then tries to connect them with the business.

Can customers stop our WhatsApp offers without blocking us?

Yes. Tapping Stop in the chat ends offers and announcements, while messages they chose to receive, such as delivery updates, still arrive.

Do we see a customer's phone number if they use a WhatsApp username?

Not if they have not messaged you before. WhatsApp's Help Center says their number stays private, and sharing it in the chat is their choice.

Sources

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

Want every chat in one place you own?

We set up a business's WhatsApp number on a system its team runs, so every customer conversation sits in one place the business owns. A short call is the easiest way to see how that would work for you.

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