# WhatsApp Quality Rating and Limits

> How Meta rates a WhatsApp number's quality, how messaging limits, tiers and throughput work, and what Avox shows on the Health page so you can spot and fix a drop early.

Source: https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/quality-and-limits

Meta watches how customers react to every business number and uses that to decide two things: the
number's **quality rating**, and its **messaging limit** - how many people it can start
conversations with in a day. Both are Meta's, and Avox shows you what Meta reports on the
[Health](https://docs.theavoxai.com/health) page.

- **Quality rating**: How customers receive your messages: High, Medium or Low.

- **Messaging limit**: How many people you can start conversations with in 24 hours.

- **Throughput**: How fast a number can send, and how often to one person.

## Quality rating

The quality rating reflects how customers have received your recent messages. Meta weighs signals
such as people blocking or reporting your number, and the reasons they give.

| Rating | Meaning |
| --- | --- |
| High (green) | Customers are receiving your messages well. |
| Medium (yellow) | Some negative feedback. Worth reviewing what you send and to whom. |
| Low (red) | A lot of negative feedback. Meta may lower your messaging limit if it continues. |

You can see the current rating in Meta's WhatsApp Manager - click **Open in Meta** on the
connection's page in Avox. Changes Meta reports also land in **Quality history** on
[Health](https://docs.theavoxai.com/health) (see [below](#quality-history)).

### What keeps quality high

- Message people who opted in to hear from you, about what they expect to hear about.
- Keep marketing relevant and not too frequent.
- Make it easy to stop - for example, a quick reply button to opt out.
- Use the right [template category](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/template-categories) for each message.
- Answer replies. A conversation that goes both ways reads very differently from one-way blasts.

### What hurts it

| Habit | Why it hurts | Do this instead |
| --- | --- | --- |
| Messaging bought or old lists | People who don't know you block and report. | Message only people who opted in, recently. |
| Sending the same promotion to everyone | Irrelevant messages get reported as spam. | Use [tags and categories](https://docs.theavoxai.com/contacts#tags-and-categories) to send to the people it suits. |
| Marketing dressed up as Utility | Meta reviews categories, and customers notice. | Pick the honest [category](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/template-categories). |
| No way to opt out | Blocking becomes the only way to stop you. | Offer a "Stop" quick reply, and respect it. |
| Unanswered replies | Customers who get no answer stop engaging. | Reply in the [Inbox](https://docs.theavoxai.com/inbox), or with a [No-reply follow-up](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation/triggers#no-reply-follow-up) automation. |

### Template quality

Templates have their own quality too. A template that collects negative feedback can be paused or
disabled by Meta, and sends with it then fail with
[`template_unavailable`](https://docs.theavoxai.com/api/errors#template_unavailable). With **WhatsApp account alerts** on in
[Compliance](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance), every Admin hears by email about templates Meta rejects, pauses, disables
or flags. See [Template approval](https://docs.theavoxai.com/templates/approval) and
[Insights](https://docs.theavoxai.com/templates/insights).

## Messaging limits and tiers

The messaging limit caps how many **different people** you can start conversations with (using
templates) in a rolling 24 hours. Replying to people who wrote to you first, inside the
[24-hour window](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/messaging-window), doesn't count against it.

| Message | Counts toward the limit? |
| --- | --- |
| A template to someone who hasn't written to you in the last 24 hours | Yes - once per person in the rolling 24 hours |
| A free-form reply inside the 24-hour window | No |
| A second template to the same person in the same 24 hours | No - each person counts once |

Meta names each step of the limit as a **tier**, such as `TIER_1K` or `TIER_10K` - the number in the
name is how many people. New numbers start on a lower tier. Meta raises the tier on its own when you
keep good quality and send close to your current limit, and can lower it if quality drops. Depending
on how Meta applies limits to your account, one limit can be shared by every number in your Business
Portfolio.

Business verification and a good track record are what let you grow. See
[Meta concepts](https://docs.theavoxai.com/meta-platform) and [Accounts and numbers](https://docs.theavoxai.com/whatsapp/accounts-and-numbers).

> **Note**
>
> Meta sets and changes these values, and the details can change over time. Treat the tier Meta
> reports for your number as the source of truth.

### Throughput

Separately from the daily limit, Meta caps how many messages per second a number can send, and how
often you can message the same person in a short time. Going over these returns
[`meta_rate_limited`](https://docs.theavoxai.com/api/errors#meta_rate_limited) from the [Avox API](https://docs.theavoxai.com/avox-api). See
[Rate limits](https://docs.theavoxai.com/avox-api/rate-limits).

### Other limits you might meet

| Meta code | What happened | What to do |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `130429` | The number is sending faster than Meta allows. | Spread messages out over time. |
| `131048` | Too many recipients blocked or reported the number. | Pause bulk sends and review who you message. |
| `131056` | Too many messages to the same person in a short time. | Wait before messaging them again. |
| `131049` | Meta limits how many marketing messages one person receives. | Don't retry right away. |
| `131050` | The person stopped marketing messages. | Send them only non-marketing messages. |

The full list is on [Meta error codes](https://docs.theavoxai.com/meta-error-codes).

## What Avox shows on Health

### Quality history

When Meta sends a quality update for a number, Avox records it under **Quality history** on
[Health](https://docs.theavoxai.com/health), with the date and time and:

- **Messaging tier** - the number's current limit as Meta reports it, such as `TIER_10K`.
- **Quality event** - what changed, such as `FLAGGED` (quality has dropped and the limit is at risk),
  `UNFLAGGED` (quality recovered), `UPGRADE` or `DOWNGRADE` (the tier moved).

When a number was recently flagged, the Health page's insights show "Meta flagged this number's
quality recently - see Quality history below." Until Meta sends an update, the card says "No quality
updates from Meta yet." Every update also appears on [Logs](https://docs.theavoxai.com/logs) as a
`phone_number_quality_update` event.

### Check health now

**Check health now** on each connection asks Meta directly whether the number can send:

```json
{
  "can_send_message": "AVAILABLE",
  "entities": [
    { "entity_type": "PHONE_NUMBER", "id": "106540352242922", "can_send_message": "AVAILABLE" },
    { "entity_type": "WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_ACCOUNT", "id": "102290129340398", "can_send_message": "AVAILABLE" },
    { "entity_type": "BUSINESS", "id": "1234567890", "can_send_message": "AVAILABLE" }
  ]
}
```

Avox turns this into plain lines - **Can send messages** ("This connection can send messages right
now." when all is well), then one line each for **Phone number**, **WhatsApp Business Account**,
**Business verification** and **App configuration** as Meta reports them ("No issues reported."
when there's nothing to fix). Any issue shows Meta's description and suggested fix. **View raw
response** opens Meta's answer unchanged, as above. A repeat click within a minute shows the same
result again.

| Meta's answer | What it means |
| --- | --- |
| `AVAILABLE` | The number can send messages. |
| `LIMITED` | The number can send, with restrictions Meta describes in the issue lines. |
| `BLOCKED` | The number can't send until the issue Meta describes is fixed. |

For anything other than `AVAILABLE`, Avox shows "Meta reports this connection's ability to send as:"
followed by Meta's answer.

### Delivery rate

The **Delivery health right now** gauge shows the most recent day's delivery rate, and the chart next
to it shows the trend over the period you pick (**7d**, **30d** or **90d**). A sudden drop is often
the first sign of a quality problem - the insights panel points out a drop of 10 points or more
over the window.

## When quality drops

**1. Look at what changed**

Check **Quality history** and the delivery rate on [Health](https://docs.theavoxai.com/health), and the template statuses on [Templates](https://docs.theavoxai.com/templates).

**2. Pause the noisiest sends**

Hold back bulk marketing until you know the cause. You can turn an automation off from [Automation](https://docs.theavoxai.com/automation) at any time.

**3. Review the audience**

Make sure every recipient opted in and expects your messages.

**4. Review the content**

Clear, relevant, with an easy way to stop.

**5. Ramp back up slowly**

Increase volume step by step while quality recovers.

With **WhatsApp account alerts** on in [Compliance](https://docs.theavoxai.com/compliance), account-level alerts from Meta are
emailed to the Switchboard's Owner, and every Admin hears about templates Meta rejects, pauses,
disables or flags.

## Common questions

**Where do I see my number's current tier?**

**Quality history** on [Health](https://docs.theavoxai.com/health) shows the **Messaging tier** from Meta's latest quality
update. Meta's WhatsApp Manager (**Open in Meta** on the connection's page) always shows the current
values.

**Does replying to customers use up my limit?**

No. The limit counts people you start conversations with using templates. Replies inside the
24-hour window don't count.

**Quality history is empty. Is something wrong?**

No. Meta only sends an update when something changes, so a number with steady quality can show "No
quality updates from Meta yet." for a long time.

**Can Avox raise my limit?**

Meta sets the limit. Good quality, steady volume close to your current limit, and business
verification are what lead Meta to raise it.

## Related