Short answer: Google Business Profile chat ended on July 31, 2024, for every profile, and no setting brings it back. Customers can still call from your profile, and in select countries and regions you can add a text message or WhatsApp link under Edit profile, then Contact. Point your website button at a contact or booking page.
Google Business Profile chat no longer exists. Google switched off the chat and call history features for every Business Profile on July 31, 2024. If the Message button disappeared from your profile, nothing is wrong with your listing, and there is no setting that brings it back. This guide covers what customers can use to reach you from your profile now: the call button, a text or WhatsApp link where Google offers one, your website, and the questions they ask in Ask Maps.
Updated October 2026: this guide has been rewritten. The earlier version described chat as a feature that comes and goes by category or region. In fact Google retired it for all profiles on July 31, 2024, and the guide now covers the contact options that replaced it.
In this guide
- 1. What happened to Google Business Profile chat?
- 2. Why is there no Message button on my profile?
- 3. Make the call button work
- 4. Add a text or WhatsApp link where Google allows it
- 5. Send profile clicks to a contact page and a booking link
- 6. Answer questions before customers ask, in Ask Maps
- 7. Contact options compared
1. What happened to Google Business Profile chat?
Google’s Business Profile Help page says that from July 31, 2024, chat and call history are no longer available in Business Profile, so owners cannot talk to customers through chat. Customers who had ongoing chats were notified on July 15, 2024. Owners could download past chats and call history through Google Takeout until August 30, 2024; that window has closed, so the old conversations cannot be recovered now.
On the same page Google points owners to other ways to stay reachable: a phone number on the profile so customers can call, text or WhatsApp contact for eligible accounts, other chat channels you already run, and Reserve with Google for bookings in some countries and regions.
2. Why is there no Message button on my profile?
Because the feature was removed for everyone. Older advice blamed a missing button on slow replies, the business category, the app versus desktop, or a policy flag. None of that applies any more: no profile has Google’s built-in chat.
If you see a chat option on a competitor’s listing today, it is a text message or WhatsApp link that the business added in its contact details. Messages sent that way go to the business’s own phone or WhatsApp account, not into Google.
3. Make the call button work
The call button is the contact path every profile still has. Check that the primary phone number rings a line someone answers during your listed hours, and that the hours themselves are current, including holiday hours.
Call history went away with chat, so Google no longer keeps a list of calls for you. If you want to know which calls came from the profile, use a call-tracking number as the primary number and list your main business number as an additional phone, which Google’s guidelines allow. Keep the same main number on your website and citations.
4. Add a text or WhatsApp link where Google allows it
Google now lets eligible profiles add a messaging option to their contact details. It is available only in select countries and regions, so the option may not appear for your profile. Where it does:
- Open your Business Profile and select Edit profile, then Contact.
- Next to Chat, select Edit and open the dropdown.
- Choose WhatsApp and paste a WhatsApp click-to-chat link (for example
https://wa.me/followed by your full number with country code), or choose Text message and enter a number that can receive texts. - Select Save, then open your live listing on a phone and test the link.
If you add both, Google shows customers only the text message option, so pick the channel your team actually watches. For setting up and answering these messages well, see our guide to Business Profile messaging best practices.
5. Send profile clicks to a contact page and a booking link
Your website button is the one contact path you fully control. Point it at a page built for the click a searcher just made, such as a contact or quote page with a short form and your phone number, rather than a homepage that makes visitors hunt for the form. Tag the link with UTM parameters so the visits show up as Business Profile traffic in your analytics; our UTM tracking guide shows how.
If your category supports it, add an appointment or booking link as well. Our appointment links guide covers the setup, and Reserve with Google is an option in some countries and regions.
6. Answer questions before customers ask, in Ask Maps
Many questions that used to arrive as chats are now asked in Google Maps itself. Ask Maps, which Google launched in March 2026, lets customers type or speak a question and has Gemini answer it from your Business Profile, your website, your reviews and other public sources. You do not write those answers, but you control the material they draw on.
Put the answers to your most common pre-contact questions (prices or price ranges, service area, hours, parking, payment methods, how quickly you can come out) on your website and in your profile description and services. Our Ask Maps guide covers this in detail.
7. Contact options compared
| Contact option | Where it lives | Availability | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|
| Call button | Phone number on the profile | Every profile | Urgent and high-intent enquiries |
| Text or WhatsApp link | Contact > Chat in the profile editor | Select countries and regions | Customers who prefer to message, after-hours enquiries |
| Website contact or quote page | Your website, linked from the profile | Every profile | The main lead path you fully control |
| Appointment or booking link | Profile booking fields, Reserve with Google | Depends on category and region | Businesses that sell set time slots |
| Ask Maps answers | Google Maps, generated by Gemini | Where Google has launched it | Answering pre-contact questions so the customer calls or messages ready to buy |
Sources: Google Business Profile Help: chat and call history removal · Google Business Profile Help: add text and WhatsApp messaging options