WeChat Official Account messaging

How a business messages users through a WeChat Official Account, read from Tencent's own developer documentation (developers.weixin.qq.com, English edition) on 2026-09-22. Hunted for growth edge 6 / Most-wanted #40, which asked whether the super-apps usually described as restrictive actually are. T1: first-party documentation of the platform's own rules. What the docs did not say is noted below as a gap, not filled from elsewhere.

WeChat is restrictive, but not in the way the other channels here are. It does not gate who may send. It gates what may be sent outside a conversation, and requires consent per notice.

Three ways to send

1. Customer service messages — free-form replies (text, image, voice, video, music, one-article news, menus, coupons, Mini Program cards). Allowed only after the user does something, and the allowance depends on what they did:

   User action	Messages allowed	Window
   Sends a message	5	48 hours
   Clicks one of three custom-menu types	3	1 minute
   Follows the account	3	1 minute
   Scans a QR code	3	1 minute
   Completes a payment	unlimited	48 hours

2. Template messages — for Service Accounts, and only for "service instant notification": information changes, government notices, receipts, transactions, check-ins, status changes, login alerts. The operating standard forbids advertising and marketing templates, coupon and points promotions, messages sent to users who have not accepted the service, sending "too often", and wording built to make users click or reply. The stated penalties are marketing filtering and blocking of the template capability or the whole interface; the page gives no durations.

3. Subscription notifications — only for certified Service Accounts. The user subscribes by tapping a pop-up placed in an article or web page. A one-time subscription allows one notification, with no expiry. A long-term subscription allows many, and is open only to public services such as government affairs, livelihood and medical care.

Where it sits on the spectrum

Beside WhatsApp, the design is the same shape and tighter at every point. WhatsApp has a 24-hour customer-service-window and pre-approved templates for anything outside it, and a business may use templates for marketing if it pays the marketing rate. WeChat's window is 48 hours but capped at five replies per user message; its templates may not market at all; and its opt-in is counted per notice, not per relationship. The consent the user gives is small and used up.

So the gate here is about content and consent, not identity. sender-verification recorded three designs: block sending until verified (WhatsApp, Apple, RCS), no gate (Telegram), and a gate that sells discovery (LINE). WeChat adds a fourth: account certification unlocks a channel type, and the channel types are split by purpose, with marketing given no push channel at all.

What the docs read here do not say

Who may register an Official Account, whether a foreign company can, what certification costs and how long it takes. The English guide pages read on 2026-09-22 do not state these, so this page does not either.

Related

kakao-bizmessage · line-messaging-api · telegram-bot-api · customer-service-window · message-template · sender-verification · synthesis