Quality protection, warm-up and hygiene in WhatsApp campaigns

Overview

Meta rates the quality of every WhatsApp number and every template. The rating uses customer feedback from the last 7 days, with more weight on recent days: blocks, reports, muted and archived chats. When quality drops, Meta acts on its own:

• a template rated red is paused for 3 hours the first time, 6 hours the second time and disabled the third time (errors 132015 and 132016);
• a number that keeps sending low-quality templates may have its own rating lowered.

So that a campaign does not find this out too late, after most of its audience was already refused, the platform acts first:

1. Preventive pause: while the campaign sends, it checks the number and template quality every 5 minutes and pauses the campaign when the number leaves green or the template falls to yellow or red.
2. Confirmation at the start: it does not start a campaign on a number that is not green without your confirmation, and it never starts on a red number or template.
3. Warm-up (optional): it starts slowly and only speeds up while everything is green, with an optional daily cap.
4. Parallel sending warning: it warns you when another campaign is already sending from the same number.
5. 131026 hygiene: it leaves out, by default, the contacts whose last send failed with 131026 (number without WhatsApp, terms not accepted or outdated app).

The Meta rules quoted here were checked in the official documentation on 10/01/2026.

Prerequisites

• A WhatsApp inbox connected through the official API (Cloud).
• Administrator access to create, resume and configure campaigns.

Step by step

Check quality before sending

1. Open Campaigns → WhatsApp and create a campaign.
2. When you choose the inbox, see the number quality (green, yellow, red or not rated yet) and the quality of the chosen template.
3. If the number is yellow or not rated yet, or the template is yellow, the platform asks you to confirm that you want to send anyway, and shows the reason.
4. If the number or the template is red, the campaign does not start. Wait for the quality to recover or switch templates.

When the campaign is paused for quality

1. On the campaign page, a banner explains the reason, for example "the number quality dropped to yellow" or "the template dropped to red", and repeats Meta's rule.
2. The contacts who have not received the campaign yet keep waiting: nobody receives it twice.
3. When the quality is green again, click Resume. To continue at a yellow level, use Resume anyway and confirm. The campaign only pauses again if the quality drops further.

Turn on the warm-up

1. In the campaign form, open Quality protection and turn on Warm-up.
2. Set the starting speed, how often it increases and, if you want, a daily cap of messages.
3. The speed never goes above the number's limit at Meta. When the daily cap is reached, the campaign waits and continues on its own after midnight, in the account time zone.

Contacts without WhatsApp (131026)

1. When a campaign send fails with 131026, the contact gets the No WhatsApp (131026) mark.
2. In the next campaigns these contacts are left out by default, and the audience preview shows how many.
3. To include them anyway, check Include contacts without WhatsApp in the audience.

Settings & options

The 131026 mark clears on its own when the contact writes to the business, when their phone changes or after 90 days.

Use cases

• Old or purchased base: turn on the warm-up with a daily cap to find out early whether the base generates reports.
• Several campaigns in the same week: stagger the sends from the same number instead of running them in parallel.
• New template: watch its quality in the first hours. New templates start as "not rated yet".

Tips, limits & best practices

• Parallel sends to the same base speed up reports and bring the number quality down.
• After a utility template is paused, Meta may hold new utility templates, or the ones that are not green, for 7 days (pacing). Held messages are released gradually or dropped.
• Meta's webhook about the number only reports throughput changes. That is why the platform checks the quality every 5 minutes instead of waiting for a notice.
• 131026 also happens to people who did not accept the new terms or use an old app. That is why the exclusion is temporary.

Troubleshooting

• The campaign did not start and is paused: the number was not green at the scheduled time. Check the quality in WhatsApp Manager and resume, confirming the level if appropriate.
• "Resume" is locked: the number or the template is red, or the template is not approved. Wait for Meta to release it or switch templates.
• A contact who has WhatsApp was left out: open the contact and look for the 131026 mark. It clears when they write to the business, or you can include contacts without WhatsApp in the campaign.

See also

• WhatsApp campaign for contact lists
• WhatsApp campaign results and analysis
• Campaign opt-outs
• Campaign audience