Deliverability and consent2 min read
WhatsApp quality rating and messaging limits
Quality rating: what it measures
The rating sits on each phone number and, separately, on each template.
- Number quality reflects recent blocks, reports, mutes and archives, and the reasons people give.
- Template quality adds engagement, such as read rates.
You see it per number in WhatsApp Manager. A platform can show it to you; nobody can change it for you.
When quality falls
Sustained low quality can restrict your whole portfolio's sending. A low-rated template is paused for 3 hours, then 6 hours, then disabled, so check both.
The rating weighs recent messages most, so recovery comes from changing what people receive now. There is no set recovery time: stop the problem sends, review what changed and watch the status.
Messaging limits: what they cap
A new business can message 250 unique people first in a moving 24 hours, and verification raises that to 2,000. The limit applies to your business portfolio and is shared by all its numbers.
It counts unique people who receive messages outside a customer service window in a moving 24 hours.
- Replies inside an open window don't count. A mostly inbound business rarely reaches the limit.
- It counts people, not messages. Three templates to one person use one slot; one template to 3,000 people uses 3,000.
- A new number adds no allowance. It shares the portfolio's limit.
Check your live limit in WhatsApp Manager; Meta can change the tiers.
Rate limits are a third thing
Rate limits are about speed. They show up as their own errors:
| Code | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| 80007 | Account send rate exceeded | Slow down and retry |
| 130429 | Number's throughput ceiling | Slow down and retry |
| 131056 | Too many messages to one person too fast | Space them out |
| 131048 | Spam rate limit on the number | Fix audience and content before retrying |
Retry the first three with Meta's backoff. The fourth is about quality, so retrying unchanged is the wrong move.
Keep both healthy
- Collect real opt-in and record the wording, place and time.
- Honor opt-outs at send time, across all marketing. Error 131050 should suppress future marketing automatically.
- Segment first. A broadcast to everyone includes people it doesn't fit.
- Send in batches. You stay under throughput limits and can stop if early results look wrong. Messages already sent can't be recalled.
- Watch each template. A template drawing complaints is what you can fix today.
Warming up a new number
This is a sensible rollout, not a Meta rule.
- Start with inbound. Point your website button, ads and order emails at the number; the free WhatsApp link and QR generator makes the link. Replies don't use the outbound limit.
- Grow outbound slowly. Start with opted-in customers who asked for the update, then widen over several sends.
- Check after each step. If quality drops, stop before the next batch.
What to do when the number is already flagged
- Stop outbound marketing for now.
- Keep answering inbound. Replies inside the conversation window don't use the limit, but feedback still counts.
- Compare template quality with recent campaigns.
- Find the segment: imported lists, weak consent records or too broad an audience.
- Suppress marketing for opt-out errors; handle temporary failures separately.
- Restart slowly, with an engaged segment and a template worth reading.
Sending less, to people who asked, keeps working after the limits rise.
