Whatsable
WhatsApp can limit or remove business access for missing opt-in, ignored stop requests, policy violations, or sustained low quality — not for a published rate or block percentage you can game.
- Number + opt-in: They gave you their mobile number, and they opted in to subsequent messages or calls from your business. Both parts. A number alone is not permission.
- Honor stop / block: If they blocked you, asked to discontinue, or opted out — on WhatsApp or off it — they are off your contacts. Do not send.
- Templates vs 24h session: Free-form replies only inside 24 hours of the last user message. Outside that window, approved templates only, used for their designated purpose.
- No published thresholds: WhatsApp does not publish a reply ratio, a block percentage, or a send-rate number you can treat as a threshold. If a page quotes one, it invented it.
Run this send against the list. If a line fails, do not send.
- They gave you their mobile number, and they opted in to subsequent messages or calls from your business. Both parts. A number alone is not permission.
- They have not blocked you, asked you to discontinue, or opted out, on WhatsApp or off it. If they have, they are off your contacts. Do not send.
- The send does not deceive, spam, or surprise them. They should already expect a message like this from you.
- You are not impersonating anyone. Your Business profile is accurate, with a support contact plus an email and/or website and/or phone.
- If you are starting this conversation on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the message is an approved template used for its designated purpose. Meta can pause or reject that template.
- If they messaged you last, you are inside 24 hours of that last user message. Outside that window, only an approved template.
- If a bot is answering inside that 24-hour window, a person can still take over through a clear escalation path.
A failed line is how accounts get limited or removed. WhatsApp can limit or remove access for negative feedback, harm, policy violations, or quality. People can block and report. If quality stays low, systems limit how many people you can message. Messaging people at scale without authorization can get access removed. A termination can ban the organization from future WhatsApp products.
Those are the official enforcement lines. WhatsApp does not publish a reply ratio, a block percentage, or a send-rate number you can treat as a threshold. If a page quotes one, it invented it.
The rest of this page is the policy behind each check.
Sources: WhatsApp Business Policy, WhatsApp Business Terms, WhatsApp Messaging Guidelines.
Will this WhatsApp send get my business banned?
WhatsApp does not publish a score you can compute before you hit send. The seven-line check is on the first screen. The rest of this page is the policy behind each line.
Did they give you their number and opt in?
The Business Policy is two parts, not one. You may contact people on WhatsApp if (a) they gave you their mobile phone number, and (b) you received opt-in permission confirming they wish to receive subsequent messages or calls from you.
You own the opt-in method. You also own local law. WhatsApp does not pick the form for you. The developer opt-in page says it is up to businesses to determine the method, that they obtained opt-in in a manner that complies with laws applicable to their communications, and that they provided the notices and permissions those laws require.
As of the November 2024 WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy update, that opt-in can be general and not specifically for WhatsApp, as long as you follow local laws. You still need the number and the opt-in. The live page wording is:
As per the November 2024 WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy update, before messaging people on WhatsApp, businesses are required to obtain opt-in permission, which can be general and not specifically for WhatsApp, as long as businesses comply with all local laws. Businesses may contact people on WhatsApp if: (a) they have given their mobile phone number; and (b) businesses have received opt-in permission from the recipient confirming that they wish to receive subsequent messages or calls from a particular business.
When you collect that opt-in, the same page requires three things:
- Clearly state that the person is opting in to receive communication from the business.
- Clearly state the business name they are opting in to receive messages from.
- Comply with applicable law.
Supported examples on that page include SMS, a website, a phone IVR flow, and in person or on paper. Other methods can be policy-compliant if they meet the same bar. Local law can still demand a narrower consent than Meta's platform bar. Meta does not replace that law. It tells you to follow it.
If this send is going to someone who never gave you the number, or never opted in, stop. That is the first ban path, and it is the one most "spam" complaints sit on.
Source: Get opt-in for WhatsApp.
Have they already asked you to stop?
Honor every block, discontinue, and opt-out. On WhatsApp or off it. Remove them from contacts. The Business Policy says that in those words.
The Messaging Guidelines put the same idea under fraud and spam: repeated unwanted contact, plus purposeful deception or impersonation.
Do not invent a magic unsubscribe phrase and wait for it. If they said stop in a chat, in email, on a form, or by blocking you, they said stop. The next send to that number is the one WhatsApp will count against you.
If this send is going to someone who already asked out, do not send.
Sources: WhatsApp Business Policy, WhatsApp Messaging Guidelines.
Are you starting this chat or answering one they started?
On the WhatsApp Business Platform, you start a conversation only with an approved message template, used for its designated purpose. Meta can review, approve, pause, or reject that template at any time.
You may reply in free form only inside 24 hours of the last user message. Outside that window, approved templates only. The customer-service window starts when they message or call you, and it resets to 24 hours if they message or call again before it expires.
If this send is a new conversation you started, and it is not an approved template used for that purpose, do not send it.
If this send is a reply, and their last message is older than 24 hours, do not send free form. Use an approved template or wait until they write again.
If a bot is handling the 24-hour window, policy still requires a prompt, clear, direct human escalation path. The listed paths are an in-chat human-agent transfer, a phone number, email, web support on the business website, an in-store visit, or a support form. A loop with no way out fails the policy.
Sources: WhatsApp Business Policy, Send messages.
How does WhatsApp judge the send after it goes out?
WhatsApp does not read the encrypted chat to grade you. It scores how people received your messages over the past seven days, weighted by recency. The published signals are blocks, reports, mutes, archives, and the reasons people give when they block you.
You see status, quality rating, and messaging limits in WhatsApp Manager, under Account tools, then Phone numbers. High-traffic numbers can move in short intervals.
The same send-messages guide tells you how to stay out of that pile:
- Follow the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy.
- Send only to people who opted in.
- Make the messages useful and personalized.
- Avoid open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
- Avoid sending too many messages per day.
- Keep the content and length tight.
Templates carry their own rating: Green, Yellow, Red, or Unknown. A pause or a disable stops sends on that template. Unknown means WhatsApp does not have feedback yet. It is not permission to send without care.
Messaging limits are separate from quality color. A messaging limit is the maximum number of unique WhatsApp user phone numbers your business can deliver messages to, outside a customer service window, in a moving 24-hour period. Look up the current figure for your portfolio in WhatsApp Manager or on the messaging-limits page. Do not borrow a number from a blog.
Detection is technology plus human review of reported messages and of unencrypted profile and account information. People can also share feedback and stop marketing messages from a business.
If this send would make a reasonable person block or report you, treat that as the quality event. WhatsApp already told you what it counts.
Sources: Send messages, Messaging limits.
Can you message about regulated goods?
The Business App cannot message about regulated verticals.
The Platform has limited country exceptions, with an 18+ bar and extra gating. The allowed countries and verticals live on the policy page. Do not copy a country list from a third party. Open the policy and read the chart for the vertical you are in.
If this send is about a regulated good and you are on the Business App, do not send it. If you are on the Platform, confirm you are in an allowed country, the recipient is 18 or older, and you meet the license and local-law lines on that page.
Source: WhatsApp Business Policy.
How do you appeal if WhatsApp already limited you?
Do not invent a script.
For the WhatsApp Business App, use the Business Help Center page WhatsApp points at in the policy.
For the WhatsApp Business Platform, use Platform Policy Enforcement.
The Business Terms also say WhatsApp may limit, throttle, suspend, or terminate an account when it finds a breach. If they terminate the account, the company is not to create another WhatsApp business account without their express written permission.
If this send already went out and the number is limited, stop the same class of send. Then follow the official appeal door for the product you are on. That is the whole process this page will name.
Sources: WhatsApp Business Policy, WhatsApp Business Terms.
What does WhatsAble do with this?
WhatsAble sends opted-in messages through the official WhatsApp Business API. You keep the WhatsApp Business app on the same number.
It does not replace opt-in. It does not replace a template approval. It does not replace the 24-hour window. Those stay Meta's rules.
If the send in front of you fails the checks above, WhatsAble will not make it legal. Fix the send. Then send it on the official API.