How auto-replies work (and how to control them)

4 min readUpdated May 2026

Once you switch the AI on, it replies to customers automatically. You stay in control of when it’s on and what it knows, and some things always come to a human no matter what.

Switching it on and off

The AI’s controls live in Inbox → My bot. Switch it on when you’re ready for it to answer customers, and switch it off any time you’d rather handle every chat yourself.

How fast it replies

The AI replies in 0.4 seconds on average, so customers get an answer while they’re still looking at the chat.

What always goes to a human

Refunds and complaints are always handed to a human. The bot never handles those on its own.

Your reply budget

Each plan caps how many replies the bot can send a month (300 on Free, 1,000 on Growth, 3,000 on Scale), and you can set a lower monthly reply budget in Inbox → My bot. Once the budget is reached the bot stops replying and flags those chats for you. Meta charges your business about ₦14 for each reply after 1,000 free replies a month, so the budget is what keeps that bill predictable.

The quality of auto-replies depends on what the bot knows. Keep your catalog current and fill in your policies and custom answers (see Set your policies and custom answers) so it answers correctly.
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Set your AI's toneSet your bot's language (Pidgin & English)Set your policies and custom answers