WhatsApp Flows are interactive, form-like experiences built from structured screens, which a customer completes inside the conversation instead of on a web page. A booking, a loan application, an insurance quote or an order — asked and answered in the thread, with the answers arriving in your system.
How this guide is built: the components, the delivery methods and the four lifecycle states all come from Meta’s own Flows documentation. Where something is conditional rather than required, it says so.
What are WhatsApp Flows?
WhatsApp Flows are structured screens inside a WhatsApp conversation that collect information from a customer — the chat equivalent of a form, without a browser, a tab or a lost customer. They run on the WhatsApp Business API, and the answers come back to your system encrypted.
Screens → sent as a template or in a conversation → the customer answers → the data reaches your system
- Screens: the questions a customer sees, in the order you set.
- Flow JSON: the definition those screens are built from.
- An endpoint: only when the screens need live data or validation.
- Encryption: required for the data a customer sends back.
- A state: every Flow is in one of four, and two of them mean it has stopped working.
Source: Meta, WhatsApp Flows documentation.
What is a WhatsApp Flow built from?
A Flow is built from four things, and only three of them are always required — the backend endpoint is conditional, which is the difference between a Flow you can ship this week and one that needs engineering time.
| Part | What it does | Required? |
|---|---|---|
| Screens | The questions the customer sees, and the order they appear in | required |
| Flow JSON | The definition the screens are built from, including fields and validation | required |
| Endpoint | Your backend, called when a screen needs live data or a decision | conditional |
| Encryption | Protects the data the customer sends back to you | required |
| Health monitoring | Webhook alerts telling you when a Flow starts failing | recommended |
Meta describes Flows as offering “structured screens, endpoint integration, encryption, reusable templates, and health monitoring”. The last one matters more than it sounds.
Source: Meta, WhatsApp Flows, on components and encryption for Flows data exchange.
How does a Flow reach a customer?
A Flow reaches a customer in one of two ways: attached to a template message you send first, or opened inside a conversation the customer has already started.
The difference is the same one that governs every WhatsApp message. A template goes out on your initiative, so it needs approval and an opt-in. A Flow opened inside an active conversation is a reply, which is why support and sales teams can offer one the moment a customer asks a question.
In practice most businesses use both: the template for the campaign, the in-conversation Flow for the customer who wrote in first.
Source: Meta, WhatsApp Flows, on Flows as a template message and in-conversation Flows.
Do you need a backend endpoint for a Flow?
Only when the screens need something your system knows. A Flow that asks fixed questions and hands you the answers needs no endpoint; a Flow that shows live availability, checks eligibility or prices something does.
That distinction decides how quickly you can launch. An enquiry form, a feedback survey or a sign-up can go live without touching your backend. An appointment Flow that shows real slots, or a quote Flow that returns a real number, has to call your system while the customer waits — and Meta documents implementing that endpoint as its own piece of work.
A sensible first Flow is the version without the endpoint. It proves customers will finish it before anyone writes integration code.
Source: Meta, WhatsApp Flows, on implementing an endpoint for Flows.
What are the four Flow states, and what gets one throttled?
Every Flow sits in one of four states — Draft, Published, Throttled or Blocked — and the last two mean customers are no longer getting through, even though the Flow still exists and your campaign is still running.
- Draft: being built, and only you can see it.
- Published: live, and reachable by customers.
- Throttled: failing often enough that delivery has been limited.
- Blocked: stopped.
A throttled Flow is the dangerous state, because nothing about it looks broken from the outside. Messages still send, the campaign still spends, and the forms quietly stop completing. This is what the health monitoring exists for: webhook alerts that tell you a Flow is degrading before the numbers do.
Meta’s documentation covers recovering throttled or blocked Flows back to published, so the state is not permanent — but someone has to notice it first. That is an operational job, not a build-and-forget one.
Source: Meta, WhatsApp Flows, on Flow states and recovering throttled or blocked Flows.
What do businesses build with WhatsApp Flows?
Meta documents four use cases directly: pre-approved loans and credit cards, insurance quotes, personalised offers, and collecting purchase interest — all cases where a form was previously a web page the customer had to be persuaded to visit.
The pattern holds wherever a conversation already ends in a form. An admissions enquiry that becomes an application. A support thread that becomes a return request. A cart reminder that becomes an address confirmation. Each is a moment where the customer is already talking to you, and sending them to a browser is where they are lost.
- Lending and insurance: eligibility, quotes and pre-approved offers, answered in the thread.
- Appointments: a slot chosen inside the conversation rather than on a booking page.
- Admissions: the enquiry form that follows a counsellor’s reply — see our guide to WhatsApp lead generation for universities.
- Ecommerce: address collection and order preferences, next to the catalogue the customer is already browsing.
- Feedback: a short survey that arrives where the customer already replies.
When is a Flow better than sending a link?
A Flow is better whenever the form is short and the customer is already in the conversation, because every tab switch is a chance to lose them. A link is better when the task is long, needs documents, or belongs on a page you already maintain.
The honest test is how many questions you are asking. A handful, answerable from memory, belongs in a Flow. A full application with uploads and a saved draft belongs on the web, and the Flow’s job is to collect the first few answers and hand over.
A Flow is also structured, where a chatbot conversation is not. If you need the same five fields from everyone in the same order, a Flow gives you that; a free-text exchange gives you five different versions of the same answer. Our guide to what a WhatsApp chatbot actually does covers where that line sits.
How does UDO build a Flow for your business?
UDO designs the screens, writes the Flow JSON, connects the endpoint when the Flow needs live data, and sets up the health monitoring so a throttled Flow is caught by an alert rather than by a quiet month.
Billing is per delivered message, with no account opening fee and no monthly subscription — you can see pricing for the current rates by message category. As an Official Meta Tech Provider, we handle the verification and the template approvals that a Flow sent by template depends on.
- Start without a backend: we launch the version that needs no endpoint, then wire your systems in once customers are finishing it.
- Connects to what you run: Salesforce, HubSpot, Zoho, Freshdesk, CleverTap and MoEngage, or your own platform through the REST API.
- Monitored, not forgotten: webhook alerts on Flow health, so throttling is noticed the day it starts.
- One provider for every channel: WhatsApp, SMS, RCS and voice on one account.
- Onboarding handled: our team does the setup, and a business can start the same day.
Source: Unique Digital Outreach, pricing page and WhatsApp Business API.
Put your form inside the conversation
Frequently asked questions
WhatsApp Flows are interactive, form-like experiences made of structured screens that a customer completes inside a WhatsApp conversation. They run on the WhatsApp Business API, and the answers are returned to your system encrypted.
A Flow is defined in Flow JSON, so someone has to build it — but a Flow that asks fixed questions needs no backend work at all. Only Flows that show live data, check eligibility or price something require an endpoint and integration time.
Either attached to a template message you send first, which needs approval and an opt-in, or opened inside a conversation the customer already started, which does not.
Flow JSON is the definition a Flow’s screens are built from — the fields, their order, and the validation applied to them. It is what you edit when you change a question or add a screen.
Throttled means the Flow has been failing often enough that its delivery is limited. It is the state worth watching, because nothing looks broken from the outside — messages still send while the forms quietly stop completing. Meta documents recovering throttled or blocked Flows back to published.
Encryption is required for the data exchange between a Flow and your endpoint, and Meta publishes a dedicated encryption setup for it. That is part of the build, not an optional extra.
Yes, but that is the version that needs an endpoint. The Flow calls your system while the customer is on the screen, so the slots shown are the slots you actually have.
A Flow is structured: the same fields, in the same order, from everyone. A chatbot conversation is free-form, which is better for questions you cannot predict and worse for collecting the same five answers cleanly.
No. The screens open inside WhatsApp, which is why Flows recover the customers a browser link loses. There is no download, no account and no tab switch.
A Flow is carried by a message, so it is billed like the message that carries it — a template you send first, or a reply inside an open conversation. You can see pricing by message category on our pricing page.
Sources
- Meta, WhatsApp Flows documentation: Flows as interactive, form-like experiences with structured screens, endpoint integration, encryption, reusable templates and health monitoring; Flows as a template message and in-conversation; implementing an endpoint; and the Draft, Published, Throttled and Blocked states, including recovering throttled or blocked Flows.
- Meta, WhatsApp Business Management API: message templates: template approval and the customer service window that governs in-conversation replies.
- Unique Digital Outreach, pricing page: billing per delivered message, with no account opening fee and no monthly subscription.
