We are sunsetting On-Premises API. Refer to our On-Premises API Sunset document for details, and to learn how to migrate to our next-generation Cloud API.

Error and Status Messages

This document provides more information about the following types of error and status messages:

For Embedded Signup troubleshooting, see Embedded Signup Flow Errors.

WhatsApp Business API Client Error Codes

Error CodeDescription

400 - Media download error

Failed to download the media from the sender.

402 - Business eligibility — Payment issue

Message failed to send because there were one or more errors related to your payment method.

  • Payment account is not attached to a WhatsApp Account
  • Credit line is over the limit
  • Credit line (Payment account) not set or active
  • WhatsApp Business Account is deleted
  • Account has been suspended by us
  • Timezone not set
  • Currency not set
  • MessagingFor request (On Behalf Of (OBO)) is pending or declined
  • Exceeded conversation free tier threshold without a valid payment method. (This error type goes live on February 1, 2022).

Check your payment setup in WhatsApp Manager and try again.

408 - Message is not valid

Message failed to send because it was pending for too long (i.e., > 1 day). This is expected if the WhatsApp Business API client is down for more than a day, then restarted.


Resend the message.

410 - Message expired

Message failed to send during its Time To Live (TTL) duration.

429 - Rate limit hit

  • For outgoing messages: Message failed to send because there were too many messages sent from this phone number in a short period of time.
    Resend the failed messages.

  • For incoming messages: Failed to download media successfully due to rate-limiting. Ask the sender to resend the message.

430 - Unsigned certificate

Message failed to send because there was an error related to your certificate.


Download a new certificate from the WhatsApp Manager and re-register.

432 - Certificate ID mismatch

Message failed to send because there was an error related to your certificate.


Download a new certificate from the WhatsApp Manager and re-register.

433 - Certificate signature invalid

Occurs when a message is sent but the business client's certificate is not properly signed using the client's identity keys. This likely indicates that the client re-registered with new identity keys but did not go through the full certificate creation flow.

470 - Re-engagement message

Message failed to send because more than 24 hours have passed since the customer last replied to this number.


Use a message template to respond.

471 - Spam rate limit hit

Message failed to send because there are restrictions on how many messages can be sent from this phone number. This may be because too many previous messages were blocked or flagged as spam.


Check your quality status in the WhatsApp Manager. See the Quality-Based Rate Limits documentation for more information.

472 - User's number is part of an experiment

Failed to send a message because this user's phone number is part of an experiment.


Skip sending messages to this user.

480 - User potentially changed

Message failed to send since the user with this phone number has potentially changed.

500 - Generic error

Message failed to send because of an unknown error.


Try again later.

501 - Message type is not currently supported.

Document messages with captions are currently not supported.

1000 - Generic error

1001 - Message too long

Message length exceeds 4096 characters.

1002 - Invalid recipient type

Valid recipient types:

  • individual

1004 - Resource already exists

Possible UUID conflict for media upload request or media with that UUID already exists.

1005 - Access denied

  • Media directory is not writable (upload request), or
  • Invalid credentials, or
  • Certificate Error, or
  • App Expired: a version upgrade is required, or
  • button messages are disabled for this account, or
  • Number is already registered on WhatsApp (see Migrating a Phone Number for information on moving a phone number from WhatsApp to the WhatsApp Business API), or
  • If your business sends commerce messages in India, make sure that you have completed all mandatory business profile and product item fields. For more information, see https://www.facebook.com/business/help/1104628230079278.

1006 - Resource not found

File or resource not found

1007 - Recipient blocked to receive message (Deprecated)

Recipient is not on the allow list

1008 - Required parameter is missing

Missing a required parameter.


If you’re trying to send a List Message, it’s possible that you missed the title part of the section object or IDs for your rows.


If you’re trying to send a Single Product Message or a Multi-Product Message, it’s possible that you missed the catalog_id or the product_retailer_id. Both of those fields are required for this type of message.

1009 - Parameter value is not valid

Value entered for a parameter is of the wrong type or other problem.


If you’re trying to send a List Message, check if each row’s ID is unique.


If you’re trying to send a Single Product Message, it’s possible that you have sent the wrong catalog_id. Please go back to the Commerce Manager and check it again.


If you’re trying to send a Multi-Product Message, check that your product_retailer_id is unique per section. Also make sure the header and body objects are present and have an assigned value.


1010 - Parameter is not required

Contains a parameter that is not required.

1011 - Service not ready

1013 - User is not valid

1014 - Internal error

  • Upload failed on bad image (image not uploaded correctly) or endpoint not found
  • Hash you provided does not match user’s latest hash

1015 - Too many requests

Client-side rate limit has been hit

1016 - System overloaded

If the system is under heavy load, this error is returned to allow the system to recover from the load.

1017 - Not Primary Master

This error occurs when a master-only request, such as set settings, get settings, import, export, code request, register, etc. is sent to a node that is not a primary master. This could happen when the WhatsApp Business API Client is not setup properly or internal errors.


Retrying the request should resolve this error. If this does not resolve the error, contact support.

1018 - Not Primary Coreapp

This error occurs when requests are sent to a Coreapp node that is not the shard owner or in the process to become the shard owner. You might see this error when we are doing shard failover in the multiconnect setup.


Retrying the request should resolve this error most of the time. If not, contact Support.

1021 - Bad User

This error occurs when you send a message to yourself.
To resolve, send the message to a number that is not your own.

1022 - Webhooks URL is not configured

This error occurs if you have not configured the REST API Webhooks format.

1023 - Database error occurred

1024 - Password Change Required

You are required to change your password.

1025 - Invalid Request

The request is not valid.

1026 - Receiver Incapable

Message Undeliverable. See the "Why is my delivery rate not 100%?" FAQ.

1028 - A user_identity_changed system notification requires acknowledgement

You sent a message to a WhatsApp user who has potentially changed, and a user_identity_changed system notification was sent to you and is pending acknowledgement.

1031 - Sender account has been locked

Your account has been locked to send any messages due to an integrity policy violation. See WhatsApp Business Platform Policy Enforcement for information.

2000 - Template Param Count Mismatch

Number of parameters provided does not match the expected number of parameters.

2001 - Template Missing

Template status is not active, or template does not exist for a language and locale.

2002 - Template Fetch Failed

The receiver failed to download the template.

2003 - Template Pack Missing

No templates exist for a specific language and locale.

2004 - Template Param Length Too Long

Parameter length too long

2005 - Template Hydrated Text Too Long

Translated text too long

2006 - Template White Space Policy Violated

Whitespace policy violated

2007 - Template Format Character Policy Violated

Format character policy violated

2008 - Template Media Format Unsupported

Media format used is unsupported

2009 - Template Required Component Missing

Required component in the Template is missing

2010 - Template Invalid Hydrated URL

URL in button component is invalid

2011 - Template Invalid Phone Number

Phone Number in button component is invalid

2012 - Template Parameter Format Mismatch

Parameter format does not match format in the created Template

2013 - Template Buttons Unsupported

Buttons are unsupported by the receiver

2014 - Expected Namespace is Empty

This error happens when a template message language pack has not been downloaded yet.

2015 - Invalid number of sections

Message request contains below minimum or above the maximum number of sections. See section object for more information.


You need to have at least 1 section object and you can have up to 10.

2016 - Invalid number of rows

There is an invalid number of rows. For List Messages, there must be at least one rows object per section.

2017 - Character Policy Violated

Format character policy has been violated.

2023 - Invalid number of product

The section object has no products or the total product count has exceeded the maximum allowed number.

2024 - Catalog ID not found

The catalog ID you provided either does not exist or does not belong to your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA).

2025 - Catalog ID not linked to API number

The catalog ID you provided is not connected to the phone number you are using to send a message.

2026 - Missing products

Some products provided in your request were not found in the catalog.

2027 - No products found

No products were found in the catalog you provided.

2028 - List all products failed compliance

Only available for businesses in India.

This error is returned when a business sends a Single Product Message with missing and incomplete e-commerce compliance information.

2029 - List some products failed compliance

Only available for businesses in India.

This error is returned when a business sends a Multi-product message with missing and incomplete e-commerce compliance information.

2030 - List mixed products invalid and failed compliance

Only available for businesses in India.

This error is returned when a business sends a Multi-product message where there is a mix of invalid products and products with missing compliance information.

2036 - Invalid Header Structure

Returned when the header object structure is invalid.

2050 - Missing Compliance Info

Only available for businesses in India.

This error is returned when a business has not provided any compliance information. See the Business Compliance endpoint.

2060 - Template Rejected

Template status is REJECTED so cannot be sent.

2061 - Template Paused

Template status is PAUSED so cannot be sent.

2062 - Template Disabled

Template status is DISABLED so cannot be sent.

2064 - Invalid Flow ID

Flow with specified ID does not exist or does not belong to your WhatsApp Business Account (WABA), or it is in invalid state.

2068 - Flow is blocked

Flow is in blocked state.

This error may also be returned if flow uses an endpoint and required setup is incomplete, e.g. public key is not uploaded or became invalid. See Implementing Endpoint for Flows.

2069 - Flow is throttled

Flow is in throttled state and 10 messages using this flow were already sent in the last hour.

For Commerce Manager error codes specific to Indian businesses see the Business Help Center.

HTTP Status Codes

These are HTTP Status Codes that could be used by the WhatsApp Business API Client.

HTTP CodeDescription

2xx

Success

200

Success (OK)

201

Successfully created (For POST requests)

302

Found

4xx

Client Errors

400

Request was invalid

401

Unauthorized

403

Forbidden

404

Not found

405

Method not allowed.

412

Precondition failed

420

Message is rate limited

429

Too many requests

5xx

Server Errors

500

Internal server error

504

Timeout