WhatsApp limits and quality rating

Almost every “why didn’t that message send?” on WhatsApp comes down to one of two things: the 24-hour window, or an unapproved template. Your messaging tier and quality rating matter far less day to day than people expect — and neither is something DMLY can change. Start here: the tier and quality rating you see in DMLY are read-only. DMLY reads them from Meta and shows them to you. Nothing in DMLY blocks, slows, or throttles a send based on either value. If Meta decides you have hit your tier, Meta stops the message on its side — you will not see a DMLY warning first.

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The limit that actually bites: the 24-hour window

WhatsApp only lets you send a normal, free-form message to a contact within 24 hours of their last message to you. The clock starts on their message, not yours, and it does not reset when you reply. Outside that window, the only thing WhatsApp delivers is an approved template. DMLY enforces this the same way everywhere — in the Inbox composer, in Automations, in Broadcasts and in Sequences — because they all read the same window. When the window has closed on a conversation, the Inbox tells you plainly: WhatsApp’s 24-hour customer-care window is closed for this conversation. To re-engage, send an APPROVED template — free-form messages are blocked by Meta until the recipient texts back. The composer then asks you to pick a template. See Message templates for how to get templates approved, and WhatsApp rules and limits for how this plays out across a whole campaign.

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Messaging tier

Your messaging tier is Meta’s cap on how many different customers you can start a conversation with in any 24 hours. It does not limit replies to people who messaged you first. Find it on Bot Setup → WhatsApp → Configuration, on the Messaging limit row. It reads as one of: Meta raises your tier automatically as you send more and keep quality up. DMLY has no button that raises it, and no setting that lowers it.

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Quality rating

The Quality badge on the same Configuration tab is Meta’s read on how your recipients react to you — mostly blocks and “report” taps. Quality falls when people block you or report your messages — so it is driven by what you send and to whom, not by anything you can configure. A template Meta pauses for quality shows up in DMLY as Rejected on the Templates tab, which is often the first visible sign of a quality problem.

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What DMLY enforces vs what Meta enforces

Knowing which side stopped a message tells you where to go fix it. If sends fail and none of the DMLY reasons apply, the answer is on Meta’s side — check WhatsApp account disabled or restricted, and see Logs for what DMLY recorded per message.

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Raise your limits

Raising a tier is entirely a Meta-side job. DMLY links you to the right Meta pages from Bot Setup → WhatsApp → Configuration, under WhatsApp Cloud API settings — these open Meta, they do not change anything in DMLY.

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Limits that hit broadcasts

Some recipients failed and the rest went out

On a WhatsApp broadcast, a free-form text message to a contact whose 24-hour window has closed fails for that recipient only — the rest of the broadcast is unaffected. DMLY records the failure rather than silently dropping it. Send an approved template instead and it reaches everyone, window or no window.

The reachable-only audience still includes closed windows

Limiting a broadcast to reachable contacts excludes people who opted out. It deliberately does not exclude closed windows, because on WhatsApp an approved template reaches them anyway.

Where is Marketing Messages on WhatsApp?

Marketing Messages (paid) only appears on Facebook and Instagram broadcasts — it is a Meta product for reaching opted-in subscribers outside the 24-hour window. On a WhatsApp broadcast the whole Reach section is not shown at all, so there is nothing to look for. It is also not live yet on Messenger and Instagram: the option carries a Coming soon badge, and selecting it replaces the composer with Coming soon — pending Meta approval. On WhatsApp, an approved template is how you reach someone outside the window.

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