🚨 WhatsApp Template Policy Updates from Meta: What Every Business Needs to Know in 2025
- Nishant Das
- Apr 17
- 3 min read
Meta has announced major changes to its WhatsApp Business template categorization and enforcement policies, effective April 9 and April 16, 2025. These updates are crucial for businesses using WhatsApp to send customer communications like order confirmations, payment alerts, and appointment reminders.
If you use WhatsApp templates, read this carefully to avoid message disruptions, policy violations, and rejections.
🔄 What Changed?
Meta’s updates are focused on reducing misuse of the “Utility” category (which is meant for transactional messages) and ensuring clear separation from “Marketing” content.
✅ 1. Template Categorization Update (Effective April 9, 2025)
Before:If you selected the Utility category for a message that Meta identified as Marketing, the template was rejected.
Now:Meta will approve the template but automatically recategorize it as Marketing.
Status: Approved
Category: Marketing
Implication:You can still use the template, but it will count toward your marketing message limits and rates, and be subject to marketing guardrails (e.g., rate limits, content checks).
🚨 2. Template Misuse Enforcement – Strike System (Effective April 16, 2025)
Meta is implementing a 3-strike system for businesses misusing categories:
Strike | Action |
Strike 1 – Warning | No more 24-hour notice before category correction. |
Strike 2 & 3 – Restriction | Utility templates that contain marketing content will be recategorized (not rejected) as Marketing, and subject to related policies. |
These changes ensure stricter enforcement of category usage and aim to protect the integrity of transactional communications.
🛑 Identity Verification Templates – Monthly Rejections
Since October 2024, Meta has enforced a policy that only Authentication templates can be used for identity verification (e.g., login links, OTPs).
On the 1st of each month, WABA admins are notified which templates will be rejected on the 1st of the following month.
Businesses must create new templates using the Authentication category from Meta’s approved template library.
📦 WhatsApp Template Library – Use Pre-Approved Utility Templates
To make things easier, Meta now offers 85+ ready-to-use utility templates in the WhatsApp Template Library.
You can submit these templates as-is, or tweak them slightly to fit your tone and use case.
💡 Pro Tip: Slightly customize these templates (e.g., personalize text or placeholder fields) to better reflect your brand and avoid looking generic.
🧾 Example Templates (English)
These include:
Account setup confirmations
Payment reminders
Auto-pay alerts
Order updates
Policy notifications
🌍 Multilingual Templates for Global Reach
Meta doesn’t stop at English—there are localized templates in dozens of languages available directly in the library.
🈳 Supported Languages Include:
Hindi, Bengali, Arabic, Tamil, Chinese (multiple variants)
Afrikaans, Albanian, Catalan, Czech, and more
🇮🇳 Example Templates in Hindi
🛠️ Tools to Stay Compliant
Here’s what you need to monitor and maintain template compliance:
Meta's updated docs include template behavior rules and examples.
Explore pre-approved templates across Utility and Authentication use cases.
Submit a request if your template is wrongly categorized or rejected.
📋 Action Checklist for Businesses
Here’s how to adapt to the changes:
✅ Audit your existing templates: Especially those submitted under Utility that might contain marketing copy.
✅ Switch to Authentication templates: For login and verification use cases.
✅ Use Meta’s pre-approved templates: They are optimized for approval.
✅ Localize your messages: Choose templates in your customers’ languages.
✅ Monitor warnings and strikes: Stay within guidelines to avoid restrictions.
🚀 Final Thoughts
Meta’s new WhatsApp template rules are a significant shift toward platform hygiene and user experience. By enforcing clear use case boundaries and providing ready-to-use, multilingual templates, Meta is both tightening the system and making it easier for compliant businesses to operate smoothly.
If your team needs help auditing, optimizing, or submitting your WhatsApp templates, reach out to us at support@cheerio.in
