Template Categorization

Template Category Guidelines

For each category, we outline the message objective, business goal and example templates.

Marketing templates

Marketing templates are our most flexible. They can enable businesses to achieve a wide range of goals, from generating awareness to driving sales and more.

Also considered marketing templates are:

• Templates with mixed content (e.g. Both utility and marketing, such as order update with a promo or offer).
• Templates where contents are unclear (e.g., contents are only “{{1}}” or “Congratulations!”).

Utility templates

Utility templates are typically triggered by a user action or request. They must include specificity about the active or ongoing transaction, account, subscription or interaction to which they relate. For example, an order confirmation must contain an order number.

Authentication templates

Authentication templates enable businesses to authenticate users with one-time passcodes (usually 4-8 digit alphanumeric codes), potentially at multiple steps in the login process (e.g., account verification, account recovery, integrity challenges).

Authentication templates are our most restricted. For a template to be classified as authentication, a business must:

• Use WhatsApp’s preset authentication message templates, which include optional add-ons like security disclaimers and expiry warnings
• Configure a one-time password button (copy-code or one-tap)
• Follow content restrictions: URLs, media, and emojis are not allowed for authentication template content or parameters. Additional length restrictions of 15 characters also apply to parameters.

Category Validation

When you send the API a template creation or template edit request, you must indicate the template's category, based on the guidelines above. Assuming there are no errors in the request itself, we will validate the category you indicated based on these same guidelines and the contents of the template. We will then create the template and set its status to one of the following, based on the outcome of the validation process:

• APPROVED
• PENDING
• REJECTED

Approved

An APPROVED status indicates that we agreed with the category, and the template successfully passed template review , so it can now be used in template messages . An email and WhatsApp Manager alert will inform you that the template was approved, and a message_template_status_update webhook will be triggered with the event property set to APPROVED .

Typically, only authentication templates are approved immediately since their content is preset.

Pending

A PENDING status indicates that we agreed with the category you designated in your request, and the template is now undergoing template review . The outcome of the review will be communicated via email and WhatsApp Manager alert. In addition, a message_template_status_update webhook will be triggered with the event property set to APPROVED or REJECTED .

Rejected

A REJECTED status indicates that we disagreed with the category you designated in your template creation request. Rejections are communicated via email, WhatsApp Manager alert, and message_template_status_update webhook. The webhook will have the event property set to REJECTED and the reason property set to INCORRECT_CATEGORY .

If rejected, you have the following options:

• Create a new template with the desired category and appropriate content.
• Manually update the template's category .
• Request a review .

WhatsApp Manager Validation

If you use WhatsApp Manager to create a template, we will validate the category before creating the template. If we disagree with the category that you have chosen, we will warn you of the mismatch:

If you continue with your selection despite the mismatch, the template will be created but its status will be set to Rejected. You can then request a review or edit the template's category.

If you select the recommended category, the template will be created and either approved immediately, with its status set to Active - Quality Pending(this is only possible with authentication templates), or undergo template review , with its status set to Pending.

Automatic Category Assignment

If you want to avoid rejection due to miscategorization entirely, you can include the allow_category_change property set to true in your template creation request. We will assign the appropriate category based on the template's contents and our template guidelines, then set the template's status to PENDING and send it through template review . Note that automatic category assignment is only possible during template creation.

{
  "name": "<NAME>",
  "category": "<CATEGORY>",
  "allow_category_change": true, // Set to true to have us assign a category
  "language": "<LANGUAGE>",
  "components": [<COMPONENTS>]
}

Automatic Category Updates

Starting June 1, 2024, to ensure that all templates are correctly categorized, we will implement a recurring process that automatically identifies and updates the category of any marketing or utility templates that have been miscategorized, according to our guidelines. This process, and how we communicate these changes, are explained below.

Note that this process does not apply to templates with a PENDING or PENDING_DELETION status, and does not affect template status (i.e., if a template is already APPROVED it will stay APPROVED , even if its category changes).

On the first day of each month, we will notify you of any miscategorized marketing or utility templates that will be updated on the first day of the following month:

• An email will be sent to any people in the business portfolio who have been granted full control of the WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) that owns these templates. The email will contain a link to the WhatsApp Manager> Message Templates> Manage Templatespanel. Templates whose categories will be updated on the first day of the following month will have an "information" icon beside their name. Hovering over the icon will display the category it will be updated to, and the date when it will be updated.
• The WhatsApp Manager> Message Templates> Manage Templatespanel will display a banner with a link to a downloadable CSV identifying these templates.
• Business Support will list the name and current category of these templates, as well as the categories they will be updated to on the first day of the following month.
• A template_category_update webhook will be triggered for each template whose category will be updated, with a correct_category property in the payload set to what the template's category should be.

Then, on the first day of the following month, we will automatically update the categories of these templates so they are consistent with our guidelines, and inform you of the changes:

• An email will be sent to any people in the business portfolio who have been granted full control of the WABA that owns the templates whose categories have been updated. The email will highlight the number of templates whose categories were updated and include a link to the WhatsApp Manager> Message Templates> Manage Templatespanel, where you can download a CSV of the impacted templates.
• A template_category_update webhook will be triggered for each template whose category has been updated. The correct_category property will indicate the template's new category.

Requesting Review of Impacted Templates

If you feel that a given template's category should not be, or should not have been, updated, you can request a review .

Getting a List of Impacted Templates

The WhatsApp Manager's Manage Templatespanel identifies any templates whose categories will be updated the following month. However, you can use the GET /<WABA_ID>/message_templates endpoint to get this list, and to determine which templates have already been updated.

To use the API, request the category and correct_category fields:

GET /<WABA_ID>/message_templates?fields=category,correct_category

This will return the IDs of all of the WABA's templates, and each template's category and correct_category values. You can then compare these values:

• If the values match (e.g. they are both MARKETING ), the template's category has already been updated with the correct_category value.
• If they mismatch and the correct_category is not an empty string or null (e.g. category is UTILITY but correct_category is MARKETING ), the template's category will be updated on the first day of the next month with the correct_category value.
• If the correct_category value is an empty string or null, the template has not been impacted.

Manual Category Updates

You can change the category of a template that has a status of REJECTED at any time by editing the template using either the API or WhatsApp Manager.

Note that templates with an APPROVED status cannot be edited. Editing a template does not change its ID.

Via API

• Edit the category and components of the template so they align with the guidelines of its category. The template will undergo category validation and template review again.
• Edit only the category of the template. The template will undergo category validation and template review again.

If the template passes validation and review, its category will be updated and a template_category_update webhook will be triggered. The new_category property in the webhook payload will indicate its new category.

Via WhatsApp Manager

Edit the content of the template so it aligns to the guidelines of that category, maintain the category selection, and re-submit the template for approval.

If the template passes validation and review, its category will be updated and a template_category_update webhook will be triggered. The new_category property in the webhook payload will indicate its new category.

Requesting Review

If you believe the category we have determined is not consistent with our template category guidelines, you may request a review of the template via Business Support (it is not possible to do this via the API). To request a review:

In WhatsApp Manager, select the rejected template to load it in the template editor. In the This template has been rejectedbanner, click Go to Business Support.

Click Rejected message templates, select the rejected template, and click the Request reviewbutton to begin the review process.

Select Correct category was rejectedas the reason.

Once you submit, the template status is then updated to In Review.

If the category review is not approved, the template status remains REJECTED and displayed in WhatsApp Manager as Rejected. If the category review is approved, the template status is set to PENDING and subsequently goes through template review. If the template passes this review, the template status is updated to APPROVED and displayed in WhatsApp Manager as Active - Quality Pending.