Symptom

When sending messages with a restricted WhatsApp business number, the messages are rejected with a 1210 error.

Applies To

• WhatsApp
• Outbound SMS
• Restricted Numbers

Resolution

1. Review the content of the messages to see if they may be considered spam.
2. Check to see if any new templates were added within the last seven days. This may help determine a problematic template.
3. It would also help if the end-users opt-in for any recent template topics. For example, if the users had opt-in only for purchase receipts but not for the account updates, customers may respond negatively because they didn't opt into that specific communication.
4. Do not initiate any new messages through the restricted number for the next 24 hours. Customers with multiple Business Numbers can choose to send the traffic using the other numbers.

Cause

WhatsApp will automatically place restrictions on numbers if they are blocked or flagged too frequently by end-users.

WhatsApp will then reject messages sent with a WhatsApp Business number that is in Restricted status. They are rejected because there are restrictions on how many messages can be sent from this phone number. During a Restricted phase, customers can not send any notification messages until the 24-hour window has been reset. However, customers can still respond to the messages that were initiated before.

Additional Information

For more information, see About WhatsApp Business Account Message Quality Rating.