The short answer
Meta rates your WhatsApp number and each template on how customers reacted over the last seven days: blocks, reports, mutes and archives pull it down, messages people read and answer keep it up. Good quality is also what raises your daily messaging limit, from 250 people a day for a new business up to unlimited.
Your business number has a reputation, and Meta keeps score. A number that people block loses reach; a number people engage with gets more of it. None of this is hidden: Meta publishes how it works, and the habits that protect a number are the same ones that make messages worth reading.
What is the WhatsApp quality rating?
There are two ratings, and they work together:
- The phone number’s quality rating (High, Medium or Low, shown as green, yellow or red in WhatsApp Manager) reflects how people have received all your messages.
- Each template’s quality rating (green, yellow, red, or “pending” while it is new) reflects how people react to that one template.
Meta calculates quality from the past seven days, weighted towards the most recent, using signals from customers: blocks, reports, mutes, archives, and the reasons people give when they block you. Templates are also judged on low read rates.
What happens when a template’s quality drops?
A template that reaches the lowest rating is paused automatically, to protect the numbers sending it:
| Time it hits low quality | What Meta does |
|---|---|
| First time | Paused for 3 hours |
| Second time | Paused for 6 hours |
| Third time | Disabled until you edit and resubmit it |
A paused template cannot be sent, so campaigns using it stall. One paused template does not hurt the number by itself, but a business that keeps sending low-quality templates will see its number’s rating suffer.
New marketing templates are also paced: Meta sends the first part of a campaign, waits for early reactions, then releases the rest if the signal is good. If the reaction is bad, the held messages are dropped and the template is paused. Pacing is why a brand-new template sometimes delivers more slowly than you expect.
How does the WhatsApp messaging limit grow?
The messaging limit is how many different people you can start conversations with in 24 hours. Replies to people who messaged you first do not count. Since October 2025, Meta sets it for your whole business, shared by every number in it.
- 250 a day for every new business.
- 2,000 a day once you verify your business, or send 2,000 delivered messages to different people in 30 days with high-quality templates.
- 10,000, then 1,00,000, then unlimited, each reached automatically within six hours once you use at least half your current limit over seven days while sending good-quality messages.
So quality and reach are the same lever. Sending well is what earns the right to send more.
Seven habits that keep a number green
1. Only message people who said yes
The biggest cause of blocks is a message nobody expected. Record consent when a contact comes in, with where and when, and never import a list you cannot vouch for.
2. Make opting out easy, and permanent
Tell people how to stop and honour it immediately, forever. Someone who cannot opt out will block you instead, and a block costs far more than an unsubscribe.
3. Say who you are in the first line
“Hi Priya, this is Skyline Residency about your enquiry on 99acres” gets read. A message that makes people wonder who sent it gets reported.
4. Avoid open-ended “hello” messages
Meta specifically advises against generic welcome or introductory messages. Every first message should have a reason the customer will recognise.
5. Send fewer, better messages
Relevance beats frequency. One offer to people who asked about that product does more than three blasts to everyone, and too many messages a day is one of the things Meta tells businesses to avoid.
6. Start small with a new template or a new list
Send a new template to your warmest contacts first. Their reactions set its rating before it reaches people who know you less well.
7. Keep utility messages useful
Reminders and order updates are messages people want. Keep offers out of them, so they stay welcome and stay at the cheaper utility rate.
How to check your rating
In WhatsApp Manager → Account tools → Phone numbers you can see your number’s status, quality rating and messaging limit, and each template’s rating appears under Message templates. Look after every big campaign, not only when something goes wrong.
How NudgeBolt helps
NudgeBolt records consent when contacts come in and checks it before every send, honours STOP permanently, paces large broadcasts over hours, and shows your quality rating and daily reach where you decide. Meta’s limits are waited out, never fought. See number health.
Quick answers
What lowers a WhatsApp quality rating?
Blocks, reports, mutes and archives from customers over the past seven days, and low read rates on templates.
How long does a low rating last?
Quality is recalculated continuously from the last seven days, so a few weeks of well-targeted messages bring it back. A paused template returns after 3 or 6 hours.
Why can I only message 250 people a day?
That is the starting limit for every new business. Verify your business in Meta Business Suite, or send 2,000 good-quality messages in 30 days, to move to 2,000.
Do replies count towards the messaging limit?
No. The limit counts people you start conversations with. Replying to customers who message you does not use it up.
Sources: Meta for Developers, Messaging limits, Template quality rating, Template pausing, Template pacing and Send messages: message quality, checked 31 October 2026.
