Broadcasting on the WhatsApp Business API is powerful — and easy to get wrong in ways that get your templates paused or your account restricted. Done right, it's one of the most direct channels there is. Here are the rules and the habits that keep it that way.

Broadcasts are template messages

A broadcast is business-initiated, so each message is an approved template — usually a marketing or utility one. You cannot broadcast free-form text. Write the template, get it approved, then send it to your list.

Only message people who opted in

This is non-negotiable, both for policy and for results. Sending to people who didn't agree to hear from you invites blocks and reports, which drag down your quality rating. Collect clear opt-in, and honour opt-out immediately — see our opt-in / opt-out compliance guide.

Messaging limits

Meta's messaging limit is how many different customers your business can reach outside a customer service window in a moving 24 hours. Replies inside an open window don't count. Since October 2025 the limit belongs to your whole business portfolio and is shared by all its numbers. The tiers:

  • 250 for a new portfolio.
  • 2,000 once your business is verified — or after you've reached 2,000 different customers outside the window within 30 days with high-quality templates.
  • 10,000, 100,000, then unlimited, raised automatically when your quality is high and you've used at least half of your limit over the last 7 days.

Quality rating

Meta rates quality (green, yellow, red) from how recipients react — blocks and reports drag it down. A drop in quality no longer lowers your messaging limit, but it still costs you: low-quality templates can be paused, a low rating stops your limit from growing, and messages can be refused when too many earlier ones were blocked or reported.

Per-person limits on marketing

On top of your portfolio limit, Meta caps — in most countries — how many marketing templates one person receives from businesses, and any customer can switch off marketing from your business in WhatsApp. Both show up as refused sends — treat them as a signal to stop, not something to retry.

Habits that actually move the needle

  • Segment. Relevance beats reach. A smaller, well-targeted send outperforms a spray.
  • Lead with value. Useful updates and genuinely good offers get engagement; hype gets blocks.
  • Make opting out easy. It protects your quality rating far more than it costs you.
  • Warm up. Ramp volume gradually on a new number rather than a day-one blast.
  • Mind pacing. Stay within your send rate; Meta also allows only about one message every 6 seconds to the same customer.

How walpio keeps broadcasts safe

In walpio, a broadcast sends one approved template to a list from your dashboard, one recipient at a time through a queue. It skips contacts who've opted out (enforced on the server, across all your numbers), holds marketing to customers who switched it off or hit Meta's per-person limit, respects your per-minute rate, and shows exactly who received it and who didn't. You get the reach without the foot-guns.