Rules of Quality Score and Messaging Limits in the WhatsApp API
The WhatsApp API is governed by two key mechanisms to manage your message sending: the Quality Score and Messaging Limits. Here’s how they work:
1. The Quality Score
The Quality Score reflects user satisfaction with your messages. It is divided into three levels:
🟢 High: Your messages are well-received, no issues.
🟠 Medium: Some negative signals (unsubscribes, reports).
🔴 Low: Too much negative feedback, your account is at risk.
👉 Why does it matter?
A low Quality Score can result in limitations or suspension of your ability to send messages. To maintain a good score: send relevant, personalized messages only to people who have opted in to receive them.
2. Messaging Limits
Messaging limits define the number of unique contacts you can message within 24 hours. There are 4 limit levels:
1,000 contacts/day
10,000 contacts/day
100,000 contacts/day
Unlimited
👉 Where do you start?
New API accounts are typically activated at 1 000contacts/day.
How to move to a higher limit?
Your messaging limit can increase automatically if:
You maintain a high Quality Score.
You have strong engagement (replies, clicks).
You avoid sending unsolicited or inappropriate messages.
In summary: A high Quality Score = more reachable contacts + better potential for your campaigns.
How to increase the messaging limits
The messaging limits on WhatsApp are designed to automatically adjust based on the quality and volume of messages sent to users. To increase messaging limits on your number, consider the following conditions:
Phone number quality: Ensure that the quality of your phone number is not low, as this can impact your eligibility for a limit increase.
Messaging volume: Over a 7-day period, the number of messages sent should be at least twice the number of unique customers supported in the current messaging limit.
Threshold: The phone number must consistently operate within the current messaging limit for at least 48 hours. Once the business reaches this threshold, its limits are automatically increased.
Let's consider an example to illustrate the tiered structure of WhatsApp messaging limits:
Assume that currently, you are in Tier 1, where the limit is 1,000 unique users per 24 hours.
Over the course of a 7-day period, if you consistently engaged with more than 2,000 users and maintain a positive engagement rate, WhatsApp will automatically upgrade you to tier 2. In Tier 2, your limit increases to 10,000 users per 24-hour period.
Once your account reaches the threshold, the system automatically promotes you to the next tier. The transition period takes at least 48 hours, during which you must send your weekly limit or daily limit of messages for minimum two days.
Phone number status
When the quality rating decreases, the phone number status undergoes the following changes:
Connected: Indicates that your phone number is operating correctly and is successfully linked to your account, establishing a connection with the WhatsApp Business API environment.
Flagged: Indicates when the quality rating reaches a low state. If the phone number is marked as flagged for more than 7 consecutive days, the messaging limit will be reduced to the immediate lower tier.
Restricted: Indicates that the number has reached the messaging limit. During a restricted phase, you cannot send any notification messages until the 24-hour window is reset.
Pending: Indicates that your account is awaiting verification, the certificate is currently unavailable, or the phone number is currently linked to another WhatsApp account.
Offline: Indicates that your business name has been confirmed, a certificate is available to connect to the WhatsApp Business API, but there is currently no active connection.
In the Status column, you can verify the current status of your sender phone number.
How to check quality rating
You can check your phone number status, quality score, and sending limits for your WhatsApp Business account in your Facebook Business account.
To check quality rating, follow these steps:
Login to your Facebook business manager account and navigate to Accounts > WhatsApp accounts > WhatsApp Manager.
Select Phone numbers.
In the Quality rating column, you can view the rating.
How to improve quality rating
If your quality rating is low, WhatsApp will automatically reduce your business initiate conversation limit and also you cannot change or request for change to your quality rating. It is recommended to follow WhatsApp's guidelines to maintain high quality.
To improve quality rating on WhatsApp, consider the following points:
Adhere to WhatsApp Business Policy: Ensure that your message templates comply with WhatsApp's business policy.
Opt-in messages only: Send messages only to users who have explicitly opted in to receive communications from your business. Avoid messaging users who have not provided consent.
Clarity and personalization: Make sure your messages are clear, personalized, and useful to users. Avoid sending open-ended welcome or introductory messages.
Messaging frequency: Be cautious about the frequency of your messages. Avoid sending users too many templates a day.
Review recent templates: Check for new templates sent within the last 7 days. This practice can help to identify and rectify any issues with specific templates that might be affecting your quality rating.