WhatsApp API
Delivery, templates, pricing, error codes and access tokens. Written from running the Cloud API in production for real businesses in India, not from the documentation.
131049 is Meta's per-recipient marketing cap. The send succeeds, Meta returns a message id, and the failure arrives minutes later by webhook. We logged 44,345 of them in one month of our own production, and here is what they teach.
Read the postCopy-paste greeting and away messages for real estate, education, clinics and services, plus the one thing most of them get wrong: they close the conversation instead of opening it.
Read the postThe whole path in order: Meta app, WhatsApp Business Account, phone number, payment method, permanent token, business verification, first template. With the step each one usually fails at.
Read the postThe token in the Meta app dashboard is temporary and dies overnight, which is why every first WhatsApp integration breaks the next morning. The fix is a System User token, and it needs exactly three permissions.
Read the postBusiness verification is the gate between 250 messages a day and a real WhatsApp channel. Here is what Meta checks, which Indian documents work, and the one mismatch that causes most rejections.
Read the postMeta's rejection email tells you almost nothing. Here is what the template review actually validates, the parameter rules that fail silently, and the 60-day appeal window most people never use.
Read the postBroadcast lists cap at 256 contacts and only reach people who saved your number. Here is what the limit actually is on each WhatsApp product, what replaced it, and why the API's messaging tiers are not the free-for-all people expect.
Read the postMeta bills per delivered message, not per conversation. Here is the India rate card, what is genuinely free, and the three costs that never appear on it: BSP markup, GST, and the category you did not choose.
Read the postA working reference for the WhatsApp Cloud API errors that actually reach production: what each code means, whether it is temporary or permanent, and what retrying the permanent ones costs you.
Read the postThe Cloud API returns a message ID and a sent status, and your message can still never arrive. Here is why delivery is webhook-only, and what breaks when you trust the API response instead.
Read the postYou picked UTILITY, Meta approved it, and the invoice still says MARKETING. Meta categorises templates by what the message says, not by what you selected. What that means for cost in India.
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