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Glossary drawing · Templates

Template Pausing

Also called: Paused template · Template paused · Error 132015

Note 1 —Meta's automatic stop on a template whose quality rating falls to low: paused for 3 hours, then for 6 hours, and disabled the third time.

Term
Template Pausing
Abbreviation
—
Category
Templates
Level
Practitioner
Reviewed
Sheet no.
GLO-TEM-558
Drawn by
InfiQ Glossary

Drawing 1 · Interactive

Drag the clock through a second, 6-hour pause

13 / 13

Time since it opened

7h 12m

ClosedActive again: quality recalculated from recent feedback
Quality hits RED: SECOND_PAUSE
Webhook halts the campaign
A first pause would end here
Audience narrowed to recent buyers
UNPAUSE: back to Active
0h1h 30m3h4h 30m6hWindow closes
A template paused for the second time stays down for 6 hours, twice the first pause. Drag time to see when sends fail, where a first pause would have ended and when the template returns to Active.

7h 12m in: window closed. Active again: quality recalculated from recent feedback.

What is template pausing?

Template pausing is how Meta protects WhatsApp users from a template they keep rejecting. When a template's quality rating reaches the lowest level — shown as Active – Low quality in WhatsApp Manager and quality_score RED in the API — Meta pauses it automatically. A paused template cannot be sent: send attempts are rejected, are not charged and do not count towards your messaging limit.

Pauses escalate. The first time a template is paused it stays paused for 3 hours, the second time for 6 hours, and the third time it is disabled. After a timed pause the template returns to Active on its own and its quality rating is recalculated from the most recent feedback; you can also unpause it early in WhatsApp Manager or with POST /{TEMPLATE_ID}/unpause. Each change fires a message_template_status_update webhook whose other_info.title says what happened, with values such as FIRST_PAUSE, SECOND_PAUSE, UNPAUSE and DISABLED.

Pausing acts on one template, not on the phone number: other high-quality templates keep sending while one is paused. It is the enforcement step after a falling template quality rating, and different from template pacing, which only holds part of a new template's volume while Meta gathers feedback. If a business keeps sending templates that reach low quality, Meta says the phone number itself may eventually be affected.

Key takeaways

  • Meta pauses a template automatically when its quality rating falls to low, shown as RED in the API.
  • The first pause lasts 3 hours, the second 6 hours, and the third time the template is disabled instead.
  • Sends to a paused template are rejected, are not charged and do not count against your messaging limit.
  • Templates paused during template pacing must be unpaused manually, in WhatsApp Manager or with POST /{TEMPLATE_ID}/unpause.

Specifications

Template pausing: key facts and limits

Trigger
Template quality reaches low (RED)
1st pause
3 hours
2nd pause
6 hours
3rd time
Template disabled
Send errors
132015 paused · 132016 disabled
Rejected sends
Not charged, not counted against limits
Manual unpause
POST /{TEMPLATE_ID}/unpause

Operating sequence

How does template pausing work?

  1. Quality falls to low

    Blocks, reports and weak engagement push the template's rating to low (RED). Medium (YELLOW) is the warning sign that comes before it.

  2. Meta pauses the template

    Status becomes PAUSED and a message_template_status_update webhook arrives with event PAUSED. Admins also see a WhatsApp Manager notice and an email.

  3. Sends are rejected

    Every send on the template fails with error 132015 (template paused). The attempts are not charged and use no messaging-limit capacity, but the campaign is stalled.

  4. The pause runs out or is lifted

    After 3 hours (first pause) or 6 hours (second), the template returns to Active and its quality is recalculated. You can unpause earlier by hand; a template paused during pacing must be unpaused by hand.

  5. A third strike disables it

    The third pause disables the template (DISABLED; sends fail with 132016). A disabled template can be edited and resubmitted for review, but it cannot be deleted.

Implementation

Template pausing in code

{
  "object": "whatsapp_business_account",
  "entry": [{
    "id": "{WABA_ID}",
    "time": 1792396800,
    "changes": [{
      "field": "message_template_status_update",
      "value": {
        "event": "PAUSED",
        "message_template_id": 1689556908129832,
        "message_template_name": "weekend_offer",
        "message_template_language": "en",
        "message_template_category": "MARKETING",
        "reason": "NONE",
        "other_info": {
          "title": "FIRST_PAUSE",
          "description": "Your WhatsApp message template has been paused."
        }
      }
    }]
  }]
}

Illustrative values. `other_info.title` tells a first pause from a second, an unpause or a disable.

Design intent

Why does template pausing matter?

A pause usually lands in the middle of a campaign, when not noticing costs the most: queued sends fail with a template-paused error, a scheduled journey silently stops, and a third strike turns a temporary problem into a disabled template. Teams that act on the status webhook can halt the campaign, fix the targeting or copy that drove the blocks, and come back with a cleaner audience — instead of finding out from a delivery report the next morning.

Failure modes

Common mistakes with template pausing

  • Retrying sends during the pause

    A queue that keeps retrying a paused template only produces failures and hides the real problem. Stop the job on the PAUSED webhook and resume on the UNPAUSE notice.

  • Resuming the same send to the same list

    The pause ends, but the audience and copy that caused it have not changed. A second pause doubles the wait and a third disables the template; fix targeting or content first.

  • Treating a pause as a phone-number problem

    Other templates keep working, so there is no need to stop all sending. Do watch the trend: repeated low-quality templates can eventually drag on the number.

  • Editing without realising it restarts review

    Editing a paused template moves it to In Review, and it cannot be sent until re-approved. Use an edit for a real fix, not as a way around the pause.

Example: A weekend promo in Hyderabad

A Hyderabad cloud kitchen sends a weekend-discount template to 30,000 numbers, including contacts who ordered once two years ago. Blocks spike, and by Saturday noon the template is paused for 3 hours. The team's webhook handler halts the job and posts an alert; they narrow the audience to customers who ordered in the last 90 days, wait out the pause and resume. Two weeks later a near-identical send to the old list triggers a second, 6-hour pause — the warning that a third would disable the template — so they retire it and write a new one for the engaged segment.

Recommended practice

Best practices for template pausing

  • Subscribe to message_template_status_update and wire PAUSED to an automatic campaign halt.
  • Treat a YELLOW template rating as the moment to narrow the audience, before it becomes a pause.
  • Keep a pause log per template; a second pause is the signal to retire or rewrite it.
  • Spread critical journeys across more than one approved template so one pause does not stop the flow.

Template Pausing FAQs

How long does a WhatsApp template pause last?+
Three hours the first time and six hours the second. The third time, the template is disabled instead of paused.
Am I charged for sends that fail because a template is paused?+
No. Meta rejects those attempts without charging for them, and they do not count towards your messaging limit.
Does a paused template lower my phone number's quality rating?+
Not at first: the pause applies to the template and other templates keep sending. If you keep sending templates that reach low quality, Meta says the phone number may eventually be affected.
Can I bring back a disabled template?+
You can edit a disabled template and resubmit it for review; sends fail until it is approved again. A disabled template cannot be deleted.

See InfiQ pricing

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