How do WhatsApp away messages and greeting messages work?
Away messages and greeting messages are features of the WhatsApp Business app, configured on the phone. They do not exist on the WhatsApp Business Platform — there is no equivalent setting, because the Platform is an API and expects the software connected to it to decide what to reply. The behaviour is easy to reproduce, but you build it rather than switch it on.
What they do in the Business app
A greeting message sends automatically the first time someone messages, or after 14 days of inactivity.
An away message sends outside hours you set. Both are configured in the app and run on the phone.
Why the Platform has neither
The Platform delivers messages to whatever software you connect and does nothing on its own. There is no phone holding settings, so there is nothing to configure them on.
That is a trade, not an oversight: the same absence is what lets the reply depend on who is asking, what they said, and whether anyone is actually available.
How the behaviour is rebuilt
A greeting becomes an automation on a first-message trigger.
The 14-day rule becomes a silence-gap trigger with the number of days you choose, rather than the fixed value the app uses.
An away message becomes a time-of-day condition, which can also account for the day of the week — something the app’s version handles crudely.
What to watch
All of these are replies to an inbound message, so they are inside the 24-hour service window and cost nothing.
An away message that names hours you do not keep is worse than none. It is the one automation people forget to update when hours change.
PingPlug ships quick-start automations for two of these: Welcome Message on a contact’s first-ever message, and Welcome Back when someone returns after a gap you set. Out of Office covers the away case. All three are editable, which is the point of rebuilding rather than inheriting a fixed setting.