You can set weekday hours and a timezone on Squadkin’s WhatsApp Chat Button so the widget stops promising an instant reply when nobody is working. Outside those hours the popup text changes and the button dims. The button stays on the page. The catalog does not remove it, hide it, or describe it as deleted after closing time.
That distinction matters. A shopper who visits at 11 p.m. can still see a way to write to you. The offline sentence is what tells them you will answer in the morning. If the sentence still says “we reply in minutes,” the schedule has not done its job. Write the offline line first, then set the clock.
Set the schedule and the offline text as a pair
The catalog’s business-hours control is per weekday: an open time and a close time for each day, plus a timezone. Friday can close earlier than Thursday because each day has its own pair of times. A shop that is dark on Sunday sets Sunday closed, or sets an empty window, according to the controls you see in the app. The feature is a weekly pattern. It is not a holiday calendar, and the catalog does not document one-off dates such as a bank holiday.
While you are inside the hours, the popup can show the greeting you wrote for a normal chat. Outside the hours, the popup text switches to the offline message and the button is dimmed. Plan both sentences.
- Open greeting: what you can actually do during the shift, such as sizing help or order lookups.
- Offline text: the next time a person will read WhatsApp, in the timezone you configured.
- A second path: the popup can also list email, a phone number, Telegram, or Instagram under the panel, if one of those is staffed when WhatsApp is not.
The catalog does not say that dimming disables the WhatsApp link. Treat a dimmed button as still present. Shoppers may still open a chat. Your offline sentence should assume the message might arrive overnight and sit until the shift starts. Ask someone on the team to check WhatsApp at the open time so those messages are not a surprise.
Pick the timezone your team works in
The timezone belongs to the schedule, not to each visitor’s phone. A store in London that sets a US Pacific clock will dim the button in the middle of the UK afternoon. Choose the zone where the person who answers is sitting. If coverage moves between countries on purpose, this single timezone will not follow the shopper. The catalog does not document geo-IP hours that change by the visitor’s country.
US East Coast teams serving a UK site have the same decision. Set the clock to the desk that replies, and say that in the offline text: “We read messages from 9 a.m. Eastern.” Leaving the zone on a default and hoping the button “knows” the store’s address is how shops promise replies they cannot make.
Agent rows, if you use them, share this widget schedule. The catalog does not give each agent a private set of hours. A sales number and a support number are a chooser, with a name, avatar, greeting, and optional page-type limit. They are not two staff calendars.
A weekend example you can copy
Take a shop that answers Monday to Friday, 9:00 to 17:30, and Saturday 10:00 to 14:00, with Sunday quiet. Enter those open and close times on each weekday. Set the timezone to the desk, for example a UK team on London time or an East Coast team on Eastern time. Write an open greeting that offers help with size, shipping, and orders. Write an offline line such as: “We are closed. We read WhatsApp on the next open morning. For an order number, include it in your note.”
The free plan in the catalog includes business hours with button design, the popup, the consent checkbox, page rules, and analytics. Confirm the price shown in the app at install.
What the shopper should do instead of waiting
Offline text works when it names the next useful action. “Closed” alone does not. Tell them the next open window. If email is listed under the popup, say that order-number questions can go there. If you would rather they wait, say the message will be read at open and ask them to include the product page or the order number.
A consent checkbox can still sit in front of Send outside hours. Until it is checked, Send and the agent links stay disabled. That control is stored in the browser. It is not a closing-time lock. Leave auto-open off overnight so a dimmed panel does not jump onto the page by itself. The button can stay quiet until the shopper taps it.
This is not staff availability in an inbox
Helpdesk products often mark an agent available, route the next chat, and hold the transcript for the team. This catalog does not do that. Hours here change the storefront widget: the words in the popup, and a dimmed button. They do not sign a person in or out of a queue. They do not use the WhatsApp Business API. There is no shared inbox to put an away status on.
Check the result the way a shopper would. Change your test clock by waiting until after close, or by setting a temporary window you know has already ended, then reload the storefront. You want to see the button, see that it looks dimmed, and read the offline sentence in the popup. Open WhatsApp only if you are confirming where a late message would land. Then restore the real hours before you finish.
Analytics still count clicks, popup opens, and send taps on closed days. A busy offline day is a signal to fix the sentence or the staffing, not a revenue report. The dashboard does not attribute orders to those taps.
Questions about opening hours
Can Friday close early?
Yes. Each weekday has its own open and close times. Set Friday’s close earlier than the other weekdays and leave the timezone on the desk that answers.
Does the button hide after hours?
No. The documented offline state changes the popup text and dims the button. The button remains visible. Write the offline message so a late visitor knows when you will read the chat.
Can I set different hours for each agent?
The catalog describes one widget schedule. Agent records hold a number, a name, an avatar, a greeting, and an optional page-type limit. They do not hold a separate clock.
The hour controls are part of the WhatsApp Chat Button page. Install WhatsApp Chat Button when you want that dimmed offline state on your own number. An inbox is a different product if you need agents to log in and out of a queue.