Keep message templates compliant

WhatsApp requires all business-initiated messages sent outside the 24-hour messaging window to use pre-approved templates. To ensure high delivery rates and avoid penalties, your templates must comply with WhatsApp's official guidelines and best practices.

This page covers the rules you must follow, what may cause rejection, and how to ensure your templates remain active and effective.

NOTE

If your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) or sender gets banned, refer to our Banned or disabled WhatsApp Business Account or sender section for more information and escalation steps.

Template approval and quality

To initiate conversations with users outside the session windows, use only registered message templates. You can register templates in the Senders (opens in a new tab) section of the web interface or through the Create a WhatsApp template (opens in a new tab) API request.

Meta reviews and approves all templates before use. Approval is usually immediate if your business is verified, but may take up to 24 hours otherwise. Once approved, a template receives one of several status levels that define its quality and eligibility for sending

Template statuses

Template statuses show Meta's review outcome, quality rating, and whether the template can be used for sending.

Status	Description	Sendable
In review	Template under Meta review	❌ No
Rejected	Did not meet policy or formatting rules	❌ No
Active - Quality pending	Approved, awaiting engagement feedback	✅ Yes
Active - High quality	Positive feedback, low complaint rate	✅ Yes
Active - Medium quality	Some negative feedback, may risk pause	✅ Yes
Active - Low quality	Frequent negative feedback, at risk of pause	⚠️ Yes (limited)
Paused	Automatically paused due to low quality	❌ No
Disabled	Permanently blocked for repeated violations	❌ No
Appeal requested	Under Meta appeal review	⚙️ Pending

Template quality rating

Every approved message template receives a quality rating based on usage, customer feedback, and engagement.

The rating appears whenever a template has an Active status and is displayed after the hyphen in the status name:

Active – Quality pending (highlighted in green)
Active – High quality (highlighted in green)
Active – Medium quality (highlighted in yellow)
Active – Low quality (highlighted in red)

Templates start with a Quality pending rating. As user feedback is collected, Meta may update the quality rating to reflect performance. If a template repeatedly receives negative feedback or low engagement, its rating may drop and eventually cause a status change (for example, from Active to Paused).

As long as a template remains in an Active status, regardless of its quality rating, it can still be sent to users. However, once its status changes to any other state (such as Paused or Disabled), it cannot be sent until reactivated.

Template quality control

Meta continuously monitors message template performance using metrics such as block rates, spam reports, and engagement levels. Based on these results, templates may be paced or paused to protect sender reputation and maintain high message quality.

Template pacing

Template pacing helps maintain message quality and protect sender reputation by allowing time for customer feedback before a template is sent at scale.

Pacing applies to both marketing and utility templates. Newly created templates, unpaused templates, or those without an Active – High quality rating may all be subject to pacing.

When pacing is active, messages are delivered normally until Meta’s quality threshold is reached. After that point, delivery slows or pauses temporarily while customer feedback is reviewed. If feedback is positive, message delivery resumes automatically. If negative feedback persists, the template pauses.

Utility templates are subject to pacing only if a utility template was previously paused. After such an event, newly created, unpaused, or low-quality utility templates may be paced for up to seven days.

Template pausing

If a template continues to receive negative feedback or high complaint rates, Meta automatically pauses it. During a pause, the template cannot be sent to users until its status returns to Active. Pausing durations increase with repeated quality issues:

First pause: 3 hours
Second pause: 6 hours
Third pause: Permanently disabled

Paused templates cannot be sent until their status returns to Active. Once unpaused, template quality resets based on the most recent feedback. Repeated low-quality performance may lead to template removal, account restrictions, or permanent WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) deactivation.

If a template consistently receives negative feedback (for example, blocks, reports), WhatsApp may pause it automatically to protect user experience.

If your template is paused, you will be notified by WhatsApp Manager notification, email, and webhook (if you are subscribed to the template update webhook).

During the pause, you can:

Resolve the issues: Go to WhatsApp Business Manager to resolve the issues or contact Support (opens in a new tab).
Edit the template content: If the content may be perceived as spam or phishing, edit it to remove potentially sensitive words.
Reshape the target audience: Adjust the audience if the content is relevant only to a specific group, such as a loyalty program, to avoid reaching unintended recipients.

IMPORTANT
Any changes you make to the template will go live within two minutes, allowing immediate use without waiting for the three-hour period to end. Meta will continue to track the block rate for the updated template.
Do nothing: The template will go live again after the pause period. However, frequent use of low-quality templates that have been paused may impact the template quality rating, ultimately reduce the messaging limit, or permanently disable the template.

Formatting requirements

Ensure that your templates are correctly formatted to pass validation.

Do:

✅ Use lowercase alphanumeric template names (invoice_reminder_1).
✅ Use paired curly brackets for parameters: {{1}}, {{2}}.
✅ Start placeholders with {{1}} and increase sequentially.

Do not:

❌ Use spaces or special characters in names.
❌ Leave unmatched brackets or skip index numbers.
❌ Start or end the message with a placeholder or a newline character.
❌ Use excessive variable placeholders relative to message length, including adjacent placeholders like {{1}} {{2}}.
❌ Include emojis, markup, or newline characters in headers or footers.

Content restrictions

Templates are rejected if they contain:

Misleading or spam-like content
- If Meta detects spam content, it may lock or disable your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA).
Abusive or threatening language
Content that violates WhatsApp's Commercial policy (opens in a new tab) (for example, illegal goods or pricing misrepresentation)
Requests for sensitive identifiers, such as full credit card numbers, bank details or government IDs
- Requesting partial identifiers (for example, last four digits of a card) is acceptable.

Duplicate templates with identical body or footer text are automatically rejected, except when categorized as an authentication templates.

Template categories

Message templates are grouped into categories that define their purpose and determine how Meta evaluates them for compliance. Those categories are: Marketing, Utility, and, Authentication.

The selected category affects approval and compliance. Meta reviews each template during registration and may automatically reclassify it if it does not follow category guidelines. Choosing the correct category is important because it ensures approval and uninterrupted message delivery.

Category	Purpose	Typical use cases	Example
Marketing	To promote products, services, or engagement. These templates may include promotional, awareness, or retention content and can re-engage customers or drive sales.	Announcements or event invitations Promotional offers and campaigns Subscription renewal reminders with incentives Personalized greetings or celebrations	Your cart is waiting! Complete your order today for `{{discount}}`% off.
Utility	To provide non-promotional updates related to a specific customer action or request. These templates confirm, update, or inform users about their orders, payments, or accounts.	Order confirmations, updates, or cancellations Payment or refund notifications Account or service alerts Feedback surveys related to completed transactions	Your order `{{order_number}}` has shipped. Tracking ID: `{{tracking_ID}}`.
Authentication	To verify a user's identity using a one-time passcode (OTP). These are the most restrictive templates and cannot include URLs, media, emojis, or promotional content.	Account verification or sign-up Password reset or recovery Transaction or identity confirmation	`{{1}}` is your verification code. Do not share it.

For more information on template categories, refer to Message type overview.

Category rules

Meta evaluates each message template based on its purpose and content. The following rules define how templates are categorized and what restrictions apply. Choosing the right category during creation helps prevent reclassification or rejection later.

Templates that combine promotional and transactional content are always classified as marketing.
Templates with generic or unclear content (for example, {{1}} or "Congratulations!") are automatically classified as marketing.
Utility templates must relate to a user-initiated action or request.
Authentication templates cannot include media, URLs, emojis, or variables longer than 15 characters.

IMPORTANT

To remain compliant, utility templates must be entirely non-promotional and directly tied to a user-initiated action, transaction, or service.

Templates that contain persuasive language, renewal reminders with incentives, or general surveys without a clear user context are automatically reclassified as marketing.

If repeated miscategorization is detected, Meta may issue warnings, apply temporary restrictions, or reclassify all existing utility templates as marketing without prior notice.

Automatic category updates

Meta continuously reviews approved templates to ensure they remain correctly categorized.

Utility templates with promotional intent are automatically reclassified as marketing.
Marketing or utility templates with authentication content are rejected.
Repeated miscategorization can lead to temporary restrictions on creating or reviewing new utility templates.

Template usage best practices

Follow these guidelines to make your message templates clear, compliant, and effective.

Area	Best practice
Content clarity	State the purpose of your message clearly. Use descriptive template names and avoid internal codes or IDs. Identify your business in every message. Provide a reason for contact, especially when reopening a conversation outside the 24-hour session. Keep messages concise and relevant. Avoid generic or open-ended greetings. Encourage user interaction where appropriate.
Tone	Use an informative, respectful, and natural tone. Avoid legal or complex phrasing. Refrain from adding pressure or urgency tactics.
Personalization	Use placeholders to make messages contextual. Tailor messages to the recipients and their recent activity. Ensure placeholders improve clarity and flow.
Timing	Avoid sending multiple messages to the same user within a short period. Align message timing with user activity, requests, or known preferences.
Compliance	Always follow WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy (opens in a new tab) and WhatsApp Business Terms of Service (opens in a new tab). Avoid misleading, spam-like, or unrelated content that does not align with the user's opt-in purpose.

✅ Good example

Hello {{1}}, your invoice {{2}} is due on {{3}}.

❌ Avoid

Hello {{1}}, here is {{2}}.

If your template is rejected or reclassified

If your template follows all the rules but is rejected or re-categorized incorrectly:

Contact Support (opens in a new tab).
Provide:
- Account name
- Template name
- Example values for each placeholder
- Sample media (if applicable)

Follow WhatsApp branding guidelines Collect and manage user opt-ins