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Message templates
Pre-approved message formats — required for anything sent outside the 24-hour reply window, and for every campaign.
WhatsApp requires any message you send outside the 24-hour customer reply window — and every bulk campaignmessage — to use a template that Meta has reviewed and approved in advance. Instant's template builder puts that structure together for you and submits it for review.
Categories
Every template is one of three categories, which Meta uses to decide how it's reviewed and billed:
- Marketing — promotions, announcements, offers.
- Utility — order updates, appointment reminders, account notices.
- Authentication — one-time passcodes; the body text is generated automatically by Meta rather than written by you.
Structure
A template is built from an optional header (text, image, video, or document), a required body, an optional footer, and optional buttons. Variables use WhatsApp's {{1}}, {{2}}… placeholders and must be numbered contiguously starting at 1.
| Field | Type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Body | 1,024 characters | Can contain any number of {{n}} variables. |
| Header (text) | 60 characters | At most one variable, and it must be {{1}}. |
| Footer | 60 characters | No variables allowed. |
| Buttons | Up to 10 total | 25 characters each; see button types below. |
Buttons
Available types: Quick Reply (a canned response the customer taps), URL (up to 2, may carry one {{1}} variable in the link), Phone number (one), and Copy code (one). Authentication templates instead use a single dedicated OTP button. If you mix Quick Reply buttons with URL/phone/copy-code buttons, the Quick Reply ones must come first.
Carousels
Marketing templates can also be built as a carousel of 2–10 cards; every card must use the same media type (all image or all video) and carry the same set of buttons.
Language
Set the template's language (defaults to en_US) — you can create the same template in multiple languages if you serve customers in more than one.
Review and approval
Submitting a template sends it to Meta for review. Status moves through:
| Status | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Draft | Not yet submitted. |
| Pending | Submitted, awaiting Meta’s review. |
| Approved | Ready to send and use in campaigns. |
| Rejected | Meta declined it — a reason is shown so you can fix and resubmit. |
| Paused / Disabled | Meta has temporarily or permanently suspended it, usually for quality reasons. |
A template's quality rating (green/yellow/red) reflects how recipients have responded to it over time and is updated automatically as Meta re-scores it.