Guide · Inside the window · For the owner whose team types reply 1 for delivery, 2 for pickup

WhatsApp reply buttons and list messages: letting customers tap an answer instead of typing one

Inside a customer's 24-hour window, a business on the WhatsApp Business Platform can send a message with up to three buttons, or one button that opens a list of up to ten options. The customer taps instead of typing, and the answer comes back to your system as a clean choice rather than a sentence to interpret. Both are ordinary replies: no template, no approval, and free within Meta's monthly allowance.

Published 1 October 2026

Reply buttons: up to three choices

Meta's page describes a message with a body, an optional header and footer, and up to three predefined replies shown as buttons. The customer taps one and WhatsApp sends their choice back as a message your system recognises by the button's identifier.

Buttons: At most three. Each label at most 20 characters, and labels must differ from each other.
Body: Up to 1,024 characters. Web addresses in it become links automatically.
Header: Optional: a line of text, or an image, video or document. The product photo above the question, the invoice above the choices.
Footer: Optional, up to 60 characters. The small line under the body.
What comes back: The button's identifier and its label, as a message from the customer. Your system does not parse text; it reads the identifier.

Three buttons suit a decision: confirm, change or cancel an appointment; delivery or pickup; yes or no with a third way out. Meta's own example is a workshop reminder with Change and Cancel underneath.

List messages: one button, up to ten options

When three is not enough, Meta's list message shows one button that opens a sheet of options grouped into sections. The customer picks one row and it is sent as their reply.

The button: One only, at most 20 characters. It is the thing the customer taps to open the list.
Sections and rows: Up to ten sections, and up to ten rows across all sections combined. Each row has a title and an optional description of up to 72 characters.
Body: Up to 4,096 characters, with web addresses linked automatically.
Header and footer: Optional, text only, each up to 60 characters.
What comes back: The chosen row's identifier, title and description, as a message from the customer.

Ten rows is a menu, not a catalogue: time slots for tomorrow, the branches you deliver from, the five packages you sell. For products with photos and prices the catalog is the right tool.

When you can send them, and what they cost

Inside the window only

Buttons and lists are non-template messages. They can be sent only inside the 24-hour window a customer opened by writing to you, and inside it they are free within Meta's monthly allowance per number. Outside the window the equivalent is a template with buttons, which goes through approval and is charged by category. The window guide and the guide to the 1 October reply charge have the terms.

Meta lists other interactive replies alongside these two: a button that opens a web address, a request for the customer's location, and address messages, which Meta's page restricts to India. The two on this page are the ones every business uses on day one.

Using them well

Ask one question per message. Three buttons answer one question. Two questions in one body with three buttons under them is how a tap means the wrong thing.
Make the label the whole answer. "Tomorrow 10:00" beats "Option A". Twenty characters is enough for a time, a branch or a yes.
Give the tap a consequence. The identifier that comes back should do something in your system: book the slot, flag the cancellation, route to a person. A button that leads to a human reading it an hour later is a typed reply with extra steps.
Watch the clock. The window closes 24 hours after the customer's last message, and an unanswered button message does not extend it. A customer who did not tap by then can only be reached with a template.

Questions

Can we send a message with buttons to a customer who has not messaged us today?

Not this kind. Reply buttons and lists are non-template messages, which Meta allows only inside the 24-hour window. Outside it you send an approved template, which can carry buttons of its own and is charged by category.

How many options can one message hold?

Three as buttons under the message, or ten as rows in a list behind a single button. Meta's list limit is ten rows in total, however many sections you split them into.

Do these cost anything?

They are service messages inside the window, free within Meta's monthly allowance per number and charged beyond it since 1 October 2026. The reply-charge guide explains the allowance; nothing about the buttons themselves is priced separately.

Can a customer type instead of tapping?

Yes, and your system should expect it. The buttons make the common answer one tap; they do not remove the keyboard.

Sources

Meta's developer documentation: Interactive reply buttons messages, read 1 October 2026.
Meta's developer documentation: Interactive list messages, read 1 October 2026.

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

Want customers tapping an answer instead of your team reading one?

We set up a business's WhatsApp number on a proper system where the everyday questions go out as buttons and lists, each tap books, confirms or routes on its own, and the window is watched so nobody is left for a template. A short call is the easiest way to see whether it fits your business.

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