Meta's rule is simpler than the confusion around it. For twenty-four hours after a person's last message, you can reply with whatever you want. After that, you can only send an approved template until they message again.
Inside the window
This is where the setter does its real work: qualification, objections, booking, the back-and-forth that reads like a person. No templates, no limits, just the conversation. Most threads close here and never touch the boundary.
Outside the window
The moment the twenty-four hours lapse, free-form messages stop going out. To reopen the thread you need an approved template — and a reason worth using it. That constraint is exactly why the timing of your follow-up matters: a nudge at hour twenty-three is a normal message; the same nudge at hour twenty-five is a template you had to spend.
Build your follow-ups around the window, not against it. The setter should know which side of the line it's on and choose its move accordingly.
Spends her days inside Manychat so operators don't have to.