> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://docs.dmly.io/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Recover a disabled WhatsApp account

> What to do when Meta disables or restricts your WhatsApp Business account, and what DMLY can and cannot do about it.

Meta owns your WhatsApp Business account. If Meta disables or restricts it, your number stops
sending and receiving — and nothing inside DMLY caused it or can undo it. This page explains
how to recognise it, where the real fix lives, and what not to waste time on.

<Warning>
  DMLY has no control over a disabled WhatsApp Business account. There is no in-app button
  that appeals, restores, or re-enables it. Every step that actually changes the outcome
  happens in your own Meta Business account.
</Warning>

## How to tell

DMLY does not show an "account disabled" state — Meta doesn't tell us, so we can't. What you
see instead is indirect:

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="Templates turn Rejected" icon="file-circle-xmark" href="/broadcasts/message-templates">
    When Meta pauses or disables a template for quality, it shows as **Rejected** in DMLY.
    Several templates flipping to Rejected at once is a strong sign Meta has taken action.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Quality goes red" icon="gauge-high" href="/channels/whatsapp-limits">
    The **Quality** badge on your number's **Configuration** tab is fed straight from Meta.
    Red means Meta is already unhappy with the number.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Messages stop both ways" icon="comment-slash" href="/channels/no-inbound-messages">
    Sends fail and nothing arrives in the Inbox. This has other, far more common causes —
    rule those out first.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Other channels are fine" icon="circle-check" href="/channels/overview">
    Messenger, Instagram, Telegram and the Live Chat widget keep working normally. Only the
    WhatsApp number is affected.
  </Card>
</Columns>

<Note>
  A red quality badge is a warning, not a disablement. It means you are heading toward one.
  Quality and messaging limits are covered in [WhatsApp limits and
  quality](/channels/whatsapp-limits) — both are Meta-side numbers that DMLY
  displays but does not enforce.
</Note>

## Rule out the boring causes first

Most "our WhatsApp is dead" reports are not a disabled account. Before you go anywhere near an
appeal, check the two things that look identical from the outside:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Check the number is registered">
    A number can read as verified in Meta and still not be registered for WhatsApp Cloud API —
    in which case it can neither send nor receive. Your **Configuration** tab shows **Number
    registration**. If it says **Not registered**, register it with your 6-digit two-step
    verification PIN. See [No inbound messages](/channels/no-inbound-messages).
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check inbound is reaching us at all">
    If nobody's messages arrive but sending works, the fault is almost always the webhook
    setup in Meta, not a disabled account. [No inbound
    messages](/channels/no-inbound-messages) walks through it.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Tip>
  Ask your administrator to run the WhatsApp diagnostics for your Workspace. It reports, per
  connected number, whether an app is still subscribed to your WhatsApp Business Account and
  whether the number is registered for Cloud API — and when Meta's API refuses the query, it
  echoes Meta's raw error back, which is the clearest evidence you will get from inside DMLY.
  A restricted account does not always make those calls fail, so a healthy readout does not
  rule one out.
</Tip>

## Where the fix lives

Recovery is entirely a Meta process. DMLY's job is to send you to the right place. Your number's
**Configuration** tab has a **WhatsApp Cloud API settings** section with three links out:

<Steps>
  <Step title="Check your billing">
    Open **Open Meta Billing ↗** and confirm a valid payment method is attached. WhatsApp Cloud
    API conversations are charged to it, and a failed payment method takes a number out of
    service quickly.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Check business verification">
    Open **Open Business verification ↗**. An unverified business is limited from the start and
    is the first thing Meta looks at when you ask for a restriction to be lifted.
  </Step>

  <Step title="Open WhatsApp Manager">
    Open **Open WhatsApp Manager ↗**. This is where Meta shows the account's actual status,
    any restriction on it, and the option to appeal or request a review.
  </Step>
</Steps>

<Note>
  Meta decides the outcome and the timeline. DMLY cannot escalate an appeal, see its progress,
  or influence it. If Meta restores the account, your number starts working in DMLY again on
  its own — there is nothing to re-enable here.
</Note>

## What not to do

<Warning>
  Do not disconnect and reconnect the number hoping to clear it. **Disconnect** in DMLY only
  removes the number from this Workspace — it does not touch Meta, your WhatsApp Business
  Account, or the restriction. You will end up with the same disabled number and extra setup to
  redo. See [Remove a WhatsApp number](/channels/delete-whatsapp-number).
</Warning>

Also skip these:

* **Resubmitting the same templates.** If Meta paused them for quality, resubmitting unchanged
  copy fails the same way. Fix what people were complaining about first.
* **Broadcasting harder to "prove" the number is fine.** Volume against a poor-quality number
  makes the rating worse, not better.
* **Moving the number to another Workspace.** The restriction follows the number, not the
  Workspace.

## Keep serving customers meanwhile

While the number is out, your Contacts and history stay exactly where they are — nothing is
lost. Conversations already in the Inbox remain, and every other connected Channel keeps
working. If you have Messenger, Instagram, Telegram or the Live Chat widget connected, point
customers there until WhatsApp is back.

<Accordion title="How do I stop this happening again?">
  Meta's enforcement follows what recipients do. Two habits protect a number more than anything
  else: message people who asked to hear from you, and make it easy to stop. Opted-out Contacts
  are suppressed automatically at send time in DMLY, so honouring an opt-out costs you nothing.

  Watch the **Quality** badge on the **Configuration** tab. Green is healthy, yellow is a
  warning you still have time to act on, red is the last stop before Meta acts. Read [WhatsApp
  limits and quality](/channels/whatsapp-limits) for what drives it.
</Accordion>

<Columns cols={2}>
  <Card title="WhatsApp limits and quality" icon="gauge-high" href="/channels/whatsapp-limits">
    Messaging tiers, the quality rating, and the 24-hour window.
  </Card>

  <Card title="No inbound messages" icon="inbox" href="/channels/no-inbound-messages">
    The far more likely reason WhatsApp went quiet.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Message templates" icon="file-lines" href="/broadcasts/message-templates">
    Why templates get rejected and how approval works.
  </Card>

  <Card title="Remove a WhatsApp number" icon="link-slash" href="/channels/delete-whatsapp-number">
    What Disconnect does — and what it doesn't.
  </Card>
</Columns>