Why templates have to be approved

A template is a message you write in advance and Meta approves before you are allowed to send it. You need one any time you start a conversation — see The 24-hour window.

Why Meta insists

WhatsApp is a personal app. Meta's whole position is that it stays that way, so anything a business pushes into someone's chat list unprompted gets checked first. The review is looking for messages that are misleading, abusive, or nothing like what the business claimed they were.

It is not a quality review. Meta is not judging your writing — plain and clear passes easily.

What a template looks like

Four parts, only one of which is required:

Header (optional) — a line of text, or an image, video or document.
Body (required) — the message itself.
Footer (optional) — small print underneath.
Buttons (optional) — up to three: open a link, call a number, or a quick reply the customer can tap.

Templates can contain variables — blanks written {{1}}, {{2}} that you fill in per recipient:

Hi {{1}}, your order {{2}} is out for delivery and should reach you today.

The three categories

Every template must be one of three. Choosing correctly matters: it decides the rules Meta applies and what each send costs you.

Marketing

Anything promotional — offers, launches, newsletters, re-engagement, "we miss you". If there is any selling in it, it is Marketing.

The most expensive category, the strictest review, and the one customers block over. Only ever sent to contacts who have opted in.

Utility

Messages about something already happening between you and that customer: an order confirmation, a shipping update, a payment receipt, an appointment reminder, a booking change.

Cheaper than Marketing and reviewed more leniently, because the customer is expecting it. The catch: it must genuinely follow from an existing transaction. Dressing up an offer as an "update" gets the template rejected, and repeatedly doing it damages your number.

Authentication

One-time passcodes and nothing else. A fixed shape Meta enforces, with a copy-code button. See Send one-time passcodes.

Do not pick the cheap category and hope

Meta re-categorises templates it thinks are miscategorised, and repeated attempts to pass marketing off as utility hurt your number's standing. Pick the honest one.

How approval goes

Submit a template and it sits as Pending. Most come back within minutes; some take several hours; occasionally a day. Then it is Approved and usable, or Rejected with a reason.

Wap2b also runs its own check before your template ever reaches Meta, and blocks anything clearly misleading. That is deliberate — a template Meta rejects is a small mark against your account, and it is better to catch it here.

How many templates do you need?

Fewer than people expect. A small business runs comfortably on a handful:

One welcome or enquiry acknowledgement
One order or booking confirmation
One delivery or status update
One re-engagement message for old customers
One promotional template you rewrite as needed

Because variables fill in the specifics, one template covers thousands of different messages.