Follow the troubleshooting steps in this guide to help ensure your WhatsApp messaging works smoothly.
New to troubleshooting WhatsApp issues?
Start with our Basic troubleshooting steps to check your connection and setup before diving into specific error messages.
Error codes
A list of errors codes, their meanings, and possible solutions.
Code | Details | Possible reasons and solutions |
#131026 Message Undeliverable | Unable to deliver message. Reasons can include:
| Using a non-WhatsApp communication method, ask the WhatsApp user to:
|
#131049 Meta chose not to deliver. | This message was not delivered to maintain healthy ecosystem engagement. | If you do receive this error code and suspect it is due to the limit, wait at least 24 hours before resending the template message. Doing so will only result in another error response since the limit may be in effect for differing periods of time. See Per-User Marketing Template Message Limits for additional information. |
#130472 User’s number is part of an experiment | Message was not sent as part of an experiment. | |
#131050 User has stopped receipt of marketing messages. | Unable to deliver the message. This recipient has chosen to stop receiving marketing messages on WhatsApp from your business. | Do not retry sending messages to this user as they will not be received. |
#131048 Spam rate limit hit | Message failed to send because there are restrictions on how many messages can be sent from this phone number. This may be because too many previous messages were blocked or flagged as spam. | Check your quality status in the WhatsApp Manager. See Template limits and Template quality. |
#130497 Business account is restricted from messaging users in this country. | The WhatsApp Business Account is restricted from messaging to users in certain countries. | See WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy for details on allowed countries for messaging in your business category. |
#131056 (Business Account, Consumer Account) pair rate limit hit | Too many messages sent from the sender phone number to the same recipient phone number in a short period of time. | Wait and retry the operation, if you intend to send messages to the same phone number. You can still send messages to a different phone number without waiting |
#131000 Something went wrong | Message failed to send due to an unknown error. | Try again. If the error persists, inform our support team. |
#131008 Required parameter is missing | The request is missing a required parameter. | Learn more in: |
#131009 Parameter value is not valid | One or more parameter values are invalid. | Learn more in: |
#131016 Service unavailable | A service is temporarily unavailable. | Check the WhatsApp Business Platform Status page to see API status information before trying again. |
#131021 Recipient cannot be sender | Sender and recipient phone number is the same. | Send a message to a phone number different from the sender. |
#131037 WhatsApp provided number needs display name approval before message can be sent. | The 555 business phone number used to send the request does not have an approved display name. | Change the 555 business phone number’s display name. Also see our How to change your WhatsApp Business display name Help Center article. |
#131047 Re-engagement message | More than 24 hours have passed since the recipient last replied to the sender number. | Send the recipient a template message instead. |
#132015 Template is Paused | Template is paused due to low quality so it cannot be sent in a template message. | Edit the template to improve its quality and try again once it is approved. |
#132016 Template is Disabled | Template has been paused too many times due to low quality and is now permanently disabled. | Create a new template with different content. |
#368 Temporarily blocked for policies violations | The WhatsApp Business Account associated with the app has been restricted or disabled for violating a platform policy. | See the Policy Enforcement document to learn about policy violations and how to resolve them. |
#100 Invalid parameter | The request included one or more unsupported or misspelled parameters. | Learn more in: |
Messages failed - incorrect variable type
The most common reason for messages not being delivered is an incorrect variable type in your template.
Meta supports two types of variables:
Number: This looks like {{1}}
Name: This looks like {{name}}
In Dotdigital, we only support the number type. If your message template uses name variables, the message fails to send.
To ensure deliverability, use number variables in your templates.
Learn more in Create a message template for WhatsApp Business.
Messages can fail with the following error codes in this case:
#100: Invalid parameter
#131008: Required parameter is missing
#132012: Template Parameter Format Mismatch
Messages failed - messaging limit exceeded
Every WhatsApp account has a daily messaging limit. If you exceed this limit, your messages fail to send.
Wait until your daily limit resets and plan how to increase your limits.
Learn more in Understand WhatsApp messaging limits.
Messages can fail with the following error codes in this case:
#131049: Meta chose not to deliver
#80007: Rate limit issues
#130429: Rate limit hit
Messages failed - template name conflict
Messages can fail with the #132000 error code if your templates don't have unique names. For example, if you have two templates called "template_name" and "template_name1," and "template_name1" is the one most recently updated, Meta may return "template_name1" when you try to send a campaign with "template_name." This causes the message to fail.
To avoid this issue, make sure each template has a unique name and doesn't share similar components at the beginning of the name. For example, naming them "1_template_name" and "2_template_name" helps keep them distinct and prevent conflicts.
Messages can fail with the following error codes in this case:
#100: Invalid parameter
#132000: Template Param Count Mismatch
Common failure reasons
Some common failures when using WhatsApp are:
Daily send limit reached for the WhatsApp account.
Empty variables in the message. Meta does not deliver messages with empty variables.
Contact's phone number is not linked to a WhatsApp account.
Contact has blocked the sender.
Approximately 1% of WhatsApp users do not receive marketing template messages from any business.
Messages failed - data field without value
If your template uses variables that are replaced with data fields like @FIRSTNAME@, but a contact doesn't have that information in their record, the message won't be delivered. The system incorrectly marks these messages as "Pending" instead of "Failed," but these messages aren't sent to Meta because they would be rejected.
To ensure high deliverability when using dynamic data fields in your WhatsApp campaigns:
Set up default values for data fields. For example, use "Friend" as the default for "FIRSTNAME."
or
Segment your recipients before sending, so you only include contacts who have those data fields populated.
Unsupported template components
Dotdigital won't load or display templates that include unsupported components.
If your template has any of the following, it won't be visible:
Header: Video
Header: Document
Header: Location
Button: Copy offer code
Button: Complete flow
However, templates with newer unsupported components recently added by Meta, such as name variables or the "Call on WhatsApp" feature, are still visible in Dotdigital. These templates can potentially cause issues with WhatsApp functionality.
If you have templates that use these components, remove them before sending any messages.
Click tracking setup
The default static and dynamic URL button on Meta doesn't allow for click tracking.
The only way to track "visit website" button clicks is to add a shortened link that redirects people to your end destination via a dedicated domain.
If you don't use our shortened links, dd1.io, dd2.io, or dd3.io (depending on your account region), you won't be able to track link clicks.
Learn how to Track link clicks in WhatsApp messages.
Basic troubleshooting steps
Follow these actions to resolve issues:
Verify WhatsApp connection
Check if WhatsApp is connected in Dotdigital.
Learn more in Check your WhatsApp connection status.
Check phone number connection and messaging limit
Ensure the phone number is connected to a WhatsApp account and has the correct messaging limit.
Go to Meta > Business Portfolio > WhatsApp Manager > Phone Numbers.
If the status is "Connected," everything is fine.
Verify the current messaging limit.
Ensure templates are active
Only active templates can be used for sending messages.
Check the status of templates in Meta > Business Portfolio > WhatsApp Manager > Manage Templates.
Verify variable replacement
Meta doesn't deliver messages with unreplaced variables.
Ensure that all variables, such as images, text, and links, are entered and that dynamic content exists for the contact. For example, if the @FIRSTNAME@ field is empty for a contact, the message is not delivered.
