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Compare Standard and Enhanced WhatsApp Channel Capabilities
View a side-by-side comparison of standard WhatsApp channels (retired on Oct. 22, 2025) and enhanced WhatsApp channels.
Required Editions
| View supported editions. | |
This article applies to:
|
Enhanced WhatsApp channels |
This article doesn’t apply to:
|
Enhanced In-App Chat, Enhanced Web Chat v1, Enhanced Web Chat v2, Standard and Enhanced Facebook Messenger, Standard and Enhanced SMS, Enhanced Apple Messages for Business, Enhanced LINE, and Bring Your Own Channel |
Enhanced WhatsApp channels are built on our new conversation platform. The conversation platform also houses Service Cloud Voice, Enhanced Chat, and all other enhanced Messaging channels, such as Facebook Messenger. This shared platform has several benefits.
- When we roll out a new feature, it’s often shared across all channels on the conversation platform. Service reps get a consistent experience, regardless of channel.
- These channels are designed to scale beyond the customer support use case.
For an in-depth demo of upgrading a standard WhatsApp channel to enhanced, watch this video:
Upgrade from Standard to Enhanced WhatsApp.
| Capability | Standard WhatsApp | Enhanced WhatsApp |
|---|---|---|
| Setup and Routing | ||
| Automated channel setup | No | Yes |
| Can upgrade from standard channels | N/A | Yes |
| Can migrate from an external business service provider | Partially—Migrations from cloud-based implementations aren’t supported. | Yes |
| Omni-Channel Flow routing | Yes | Yes |
| Queue-based routing | Yes | Yes |
| Enhanced routing | No | Yes |
| Tab-based capacity | Yes | Yes |
| Status-based capacity | No | Yes |
| Available with Sales Cloud | Yes | Yes |
| Messaging Session Start and End | ||
| Customer can start session | Yes | Yes |
| Service rep can start session | Yes, via the Start Conversation quick action (beta) | Yes, via the Send Message global action |
| Automated outbound messages | Yes | Yes |
| Service rep can end session | Yes | Yes |
| Service rep can mark session inactive | No | Yes |
| Available session statuses | New, Waiting, Active, Ended | New, Consent, Waiting, Active, Inactive, Ended, Error |
| Customer Experience | ||
| Typing indicator: customer side | No | No |
| Typing indicator: service rep side | No | No |
| Read receipts: customer side | No | No |
| Read receipts: service rep side | No | No |
| Delivered receipts: customer side | No | No |
| Delivered receipts: service rep side | Yes | Yes |
| Desktop application support | Yes | Yes |
| Service Rep Experience | ||
| Quick text | Yes | Yes |
| Message templates | Yes | Yes |
| Einstein recommended replies | No | Yes |
| Rep-to-rep transfer | No | Yes |
| Rep-to-flow transfer | No | Yes |
| Rep-to-queue transfer | No | Yes |
| Flag raise | No | Yes |
| Supervisor whisper to service reps | No | Yes |
| Multi-rep conferencing | No | Yes, up to 2 reps |
| Conversation transcripts | Yes | Yes |
| After-conversation work timer | Yes | Yes |
| Compatible with AI agents | No | Yes |
| Compatible with Einstein Bots | Yes | Yes |
| Channel-object linking | Yes | Yes |
| Individual-object linking | Yes | Yes |
| Channel menu | Yes | Yes |
| Content Sharing | ||
| File sharing | Yes | Yes |
| Text | Yes, up to 1,600 characters | Yes, up to 4,096 characters. Inbound text-only messages over 9 MB are sent as an attachment. |
| Emoji | Yes | Yes |
| Images | Yes, up to 5 MB: .jpg, .jpeg, .png | Yes, up to 5 MB inbound and 25 MB outbound: .jpeg, .png. Images must be 8-bit, RGB, or RGBA. Outbound images that are 5–25 MB are sent as a link. |
| PDFs | Yes, up to 5 MB | Yes, up to 30 MB inbound and 25 MB outbound. Outbound PDFs that are 16–25 MB are sent as an attachment. |
| Documents | No | Yes, up to 30 MB inbound and 25 MB outbound: .txt, .ppt, .pptx, .pps, .ppsx, .doc, .docx, .xls, .xlsx, .csv., .json, .xml, .rtf Outbound documents that are 16–25 MB or of type .txt, .json, .xml, .csv, .ppsx, and .rtf are sent as a link. |
| Audio files | No | Yes, up to 16 MB: .aac, .amr. Supported for inbound only: .mp3, .ogg, .mp4, .mpeg. Only opus codecs are supported. Base audio/ogg isn’t supported. |
| Audio message recorder with playback | No | Yes |
| Video files | No | Yes, up to 16 MB: .mp4, .3gp. Only H.264 video codec and AAC audio codec is supported. Videos with a single audio stream or no audio stream are supported. Outbound .3gp videos are sent as a link. |
| GIFs | Yes | No |
| Stickers | No | Yes |
| Enhanced link messaging components | No | Yes (plain text only) |
| Question with options messaging components | No | Yes |
| Time selector messaging components | No | Yes |
| Auto-response messaging components | No | No |
| Form messaging components | No | Yes (plain text only) |
| Notification messaging components | No | Yes |
| Payment messaging components | No | Yes (plain text only) |
| Authentication messaging components | No | Yes (plain text only) |
| Custom messaging components | No | Yes (plain text only) |
| Post-session survey | No | Yes |
| Right-to-left languages | No | Yes |
| Automated Responses | ||
| Conversation acknowledgment | Yes | Yes |
| Service rep accept | Yes | Yes |
| After-hours response | No | No |
| Inactive conversation | No | No |
| End session | Yes | Yes |
| Security and Consent Management | ||
| Sensitive data rules | Yes | Yes |
| Encryption at rest | Yes | Yes |
| Channel consent type: Implicit opt-in | Yes | Yes |
| Channel consent type: Explicit opt-in | No | Yes |
| Channel consent type: Double opt-in | No | Yes |
| Customers can opt out | Yes | Yes |
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