WhatsApp account restricted: what a Yellow or Red quality rating means
Your WhatsApp Business account is not banned, but messages are not reaching customers. Meta rates every business number on the last seven days of messaging, and a low rating changes what you can send.
Updated
Your account still exists and customers can still message you. What changes is what Meta lets you send, and how many people you can reach in a day.
Every WhatsApp business phone number carries a quality rating. Meta calculates it from the messages your customers received over the past seven days, using their feedback: the reason they gave when they blocked your number, and the reports they filed.
The rating appears in the Quality rating column of WhatsApp Manager > Phone numbers as one of three values:
- Green. High quality.
- Yellow. Medium quality.
- Red. Low quality.
A number that has not sent enough messages yet shows no rating.
Meta discontinued the Flagged and Restricted phone-number statuses on 7 October 2025. There is no longer a status that says your number is serving a penalty. A number is either connected, which is what it must be to send and receive through the API, or it is not.
Two things move together, and they are not the same thing.
The quality rating decides which features your number is eligible for. Meta grants more features to a business that holds a Green rating.
The messaging limit decides how many unique customers you can start a conversation with. The limit sits on your business portfolio, not on one number, and every number in the portfolio shares it. The levels are 2,000, 10,000, 100,000 and Unlimited unique customers in a moving 24-hour period.
A portfolio moves up one level within six hours of meeting two conditions: it is sending high-quality messages across all of its numbers and templates, and it used at least half its current limit in the previous seven days. Sending low-quality messages is what stops that from happening.
Meta publishes no duration for a low rating and no fixed recovery period. The rating reads the last seven days, so it improves as the messages inside that window improve.
| Account banned | Low quality rating | |
|---|---|---|
| What it is | The number can no longer use WhatsApp | A score on the last seven days of messages |
| Can you receive messages? | No | Yes |
| Can you send messages? | No | Yes, within your portfolio's messaging limit |
| How it clears | Appeal to Meta, which may not succeed | The rating follows the messages in the seven-day window |
| What you see | "This account can no longer use WhatsApp" | Yellow or Red in the Quality rating column |
Meta builds the rating from customer feedback, so everything on this list is a way of producing that feedback:
- Customers blocking your number. Meta records the reason they picked: no longer needed, did not sign up, spam, offensive messages, or no reason.
- Customers reporting your messages. A report weighs heavily.
- Messages nobody reads or replies to. A broadcast that is ignored is a signal in itself.
- Promotional messages without opt-in. Messaging people who never agreed to hear from you.
- Messaging contacts who went quiet months ago. They are the most likely to block you.
- Repeating the same template to the same contacts.
Hover the rating in WhatsApp Manager to read the block reasons Meta has for your number. That list is the shortest route to what to change.
Error 131049 reads "This message was not delivered to maintain healthy ecosystem engagement." It is easy to read that as a penalty on your account. It is not.
131049 is the per-user marketing template limit. Meta caps how many marketing templates any one WhatsApp user receives from any business in a period when that person is less likely to engage. It works out that period from the individual's recent marketing read rate and how many messages they already have waiting from friends, family and businesses. The cap adapts per recipient over time.
So 131049 tells you about one recipient, not about your number. Meta's instruction is to wait at least 24 hours before resending a marketing template to a contact who has hit their limit.
Retrying inside that window makes it worse. A business that resends repeatedly within 24 hours to contacts who have already hit their limit can find delivery to them unavailable for a further 24 hours.
There is no shortcut. The rating reads the messages your customers received, so it moves when those messages change.
Do today
Do this week
Once the rating recovers
| Mistake | Why it hurts |
|---|---|
| Sending the same template repeatedly to the same contacts | Repetition is what customers block and report |
| Broadcasting to your full list on the first day | A sudden volume spike reaches contacts who never opted in |
| No unsubscribe option in a promotional template | Meta's policy requires one, and its absence drives blocks |
| Linking numbers to an unverified business portfolio | An unverified portfolio triggers Meta's fraud checks |
| Resending inside 24 hours after error 131049 | Meta asks for a 24-hour wait, and repeated attempts can extend the block |
| Practice | Why it matters |
|---|---|
| Message only opted-in contacts | Removes the main source of blocks and reports |
| Include an unsubscribe option in promotional templates | Required by Meta policy |
| Check the quality rating weekly | A Yellow rating is easier to reverse than a Red one |
| Do not retry a failed message immediately | A retry to a blocked contact is another negative signal |
| Review your contact list each quarter | Contacts who stopped engaging are the ones who block |
| Link numbers to an active, verified business portfolio | An inactive portfolio trips Meta's fraud detection |
If you are not sure what moved your rating, our team can review your recent sends and templates against the block reasons Meta shows for your number.
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