If your WhatsApp template was rejected, it means Meta did not approve it during the review process. Templates must be approved before they can be sent. Thankfully, in most cases, you can adjust the template, resubmit it with a small tweak and it will then be approved.
Check the Rejection Reason
To see why your template was rejected:
Open Meta Business Suite, then go to Settings.
Select WhatsApp accounts → Whatsapp Manager.
Open Message templates. There, you will be able to select the rejected template and see the reason the template was rejected by Meta.
Meta usually provides a short explanation to help you understand what needs to be corrected.
Note: At this stage you can also select Request review if you believe the template was mistakenly rejected by Meta, although it is often easiest to just create a new template and try again.
Sync Status of a WhatsApp template
If you want to know whether a template was approved after the rejection has been challenged or if you want to check the status afterwards, follow these steps:
Then navigate to WhatsApp templates on the left.
Select the desired template, click the three little dots on the right and click on Synchronize status.
Reasons for Rejection
Common mistake: The message template is a duplicate of an existing template. If a template is submitted for review that has the same wording in the main text, footer or internal name as an existing template, the duplicate template will be rejected.
Variable parameters contain special characters such as #, $ or %.
The message template contains content that violates the WhatsApp Commerce Policy
The message template contains content that violates WhatsApp's Business Policy
Multiple paragraphs following each other
Potentially abusive or threatening content, such as threatening a customer with legal action or publicly embarrassing them
Too many variables/buttons in relation to the text
No space in front of and after emojis
Duplicate and Resubmit
Rejected templates usually cannot be edited directly. Instead:
Duplicate the rejected template in Superchat.
Make the necessary adjustments (e.g. fix formatting, update variables, correct the category, or remove promotional language).
Submit the new version for approval.
Meta will review the duplicated template as a new submission.