Why templates get rejected

WhatsApp reviews every template before you can send it. Most rejections come from a short list of mistakes, and you can catch all of them before you submit.

A rejection costs you more than the minutes it takes to fix. A sale announcement that clears review a day late misses the first day of the sale. Read this page once before your first template, and check new templates against it until the rules are second nature.

A shape that gets approved

This shape follows the formatting rules WhatsApp checks.

Hi {{1}},

Our Diwali sale is live. Everything in the new collection is 20% off until Sunday midnight.

Your code is DIWALI20. Use it at checkout on any order above ₹999.

Thank you for shopping with us.
Reply STOP to unsubscribe.

Part	Why it is there
A greeting with a variable	`Hi {{1}}` personalises the message and gives the variable words around it
The purpose, first	The first line after the greeting says what the message is about. Reviewers and customers both decide from it.
The details	What, until when, and how. Short paragraphs with a single line break between them.
A closing line	Ending on a sentence such as "Thank you for shopping with us" means the message never ends on a variable
A way to opt out	"Reply STOP to unsubscribe" shows you respect consent. It only works if STOP is set up as an opt-out keyword. See Opt-in and opt-out.

Content WhatsApp does not allow

These are refused however well the template is written.

Threats. Nothing that pressures customers with consequences. A payment reminder saying legal action will follow if the customer does not pay is rejected. A reminder that states the amount and the due date is fine.

Asking for sensitive data. Templates cannot collect personal information such as card numbers or passwords. Polls and questions like "Which size do you wear?" are fine.

Restricted products. Everything you sell and promote must follow the WhatsApp Commerce Policy. It restricts products such as alcohol, some ingestible supplements, and anything illegal. If your store sells in a restricted category, expect templates promoting those products to be refused.

Format mistakes

Each of these gets a template rejected. Open one to see the fix.

A variable on its own line, or at the start or end

Every variable needs words around it, and the message cannot begin or end with one.

Rejected:

Hello
{{1}}
{{2}}

Accepted:

Hello {{1}}, your order {{2}} is confirmed. Thank you for shopping with us.

Variables that skip numbers or have the wrong braces

Variables start at {{1}} and count up with no gaps, with two braces on each side.

Rejected: {{1}} then {{3}}, or {1}, or {{{2}}}.

Accepted: {{1}}, {{2}}, {{3}}.

If a URL button uses a variable, it continues the count from the text. A message using {{1}} and {{2}} has a button link ending in {{3}}.

Language does not match, or languages are mixed

The text must be in the language you picked for the template, and in that language only.

Rejected: English text with Hindi selected as the language. Hinglish, such as "Aapka order confirm ho gaya hai", under any language.

Accepted: the full message in English with English selected, or the full message in Hindi with Hindi selected.

To reach customers in two languages, create two templates.

Shortened links, or links to someone else's site

Links must show where they go and should point to your own domain.

Rejected: https://bit.ly/3xYz, https://tinyurl.com/sale.

Accepted: https://yourstore.com/collections/diwali.

If you need a different link per customer, use a dynamic URL button ending in a variable rather than a short link.

Extra spaces or blank lines

Spaces at the end of the message, double spaces between words, and more than one blank line between paragraphs all cause rejections.

Separate paragraphs with a single blank line. Delete any trailing space after the last word. Text pasted from a document or email often carries hidden extra spaces, so paste into a plain text editor first.

Emojis in quick reply buttons

Quick reply buttons cannot contain emojis, and their text is limited to 20 characters.

Rejected: 👍 Yes please.

Accepted: Yes please.

Emojis in the message text are fine.

A phone button with the wrong number format

Phone numbers on a call button need the country code and no plus sign.

Rejected: 9876543210 (no country code), +919876543210 (plus sign).

Accepted: 919876543210.

Spelling and grammar mistakes

Reviewers read the text. Typos and broken grammar make a message look like spam, to the reviewer and to your customers.

Proofread before submitting. Read it aloud once, which catches what reading silently misses.

When the category does not match

This one does not show up as a rejection, which makes it easy to miss.

If you file a template as Utility and the text promotes something, WhatsApp approves it as Marketing instead. It then costs what Marketing costs and counts as marketing for everything else.

The usual cause is a helpful extra line. "Your order has shipped" is Utility. "Your order has shipped! Here's 10% off your next order" is Marketing. Keep order updates plain, and send offers as their own template.

If your template is rejected or stuck

flowchart TD
    S["Submitted"] --> Q{"Status?"}
    Q -->|APPROVED| U["Use it"]
    Q -->|REJECTED| R["Find the cause on this page"]
    R --> F["Fix the text"]
    F --> A["Submit once"]
    A --> Q
    Q -->|"PENDING over 24 hours"| P["Click Sync Status, then refresh"]
    P --> C{"Changed?"}
    C -->|Yes| Q
    C -->|No| N["Check it against this page and submit a corrected version"]
    N --> Q

Rejected. Go through the sections above. The cause is almost always one of them. Fix it and submit again.

Still pending after 24 hours. Click Sync Status in the template list and refresh the page. Reviews can take a full day, and the list does not always update on its own. If it is still pending after that, check the text against this page and submit a corrected version.

Submit once. Do not send the same text again and again hoping for a different reviewer. Repeated submissions of the same content do not speed anything up. Change what was wrong, then submit.

If you believe WhatsApp rejected a template by mistake, you can ask for a second review with Request for Review in your Meta Business Manager, where available.

Paused templates

An approved template can still be paused later. WhatsApp pauses a template when many of the people who received it block it. While it is paused, broadcasts and Ecomm+ messages using it fail with the error Template is Paused.

A pause is WhatsApp telling you customers did not want this message. Resubmitting the same text brings the same result. Look at who you sent it to and what it said:

Too many people, too often. Send to a narrower group who opted in recently.
The message felt like spam. Lead with something useful to the customer, not with the offer.
No way to opt out. Customers who cannot unsubscribe block you instead.

Then create a new version under a new name and send it to a smaller audience first.

When to take extra care

Most templates get through on the first try if they follow this page. Be more careful with:

Your first few templates. You have not yet learned how strict review is for your kind of store.
Anything about money owed. Payment reminders are where threatening wording slips in.
Anything time-bound. Submit sale and launch templates at least a day early, so a rejection still leaves time to fix it.