Meta introduced new WhatsApp message template categories to improve how businesses classify and send template messages. Starting June 1, 2023, all business-initiated conversations on WhatsApp are charged based on these updated categories.

This article explains the new template categories, how category validation works, and what changes you may notice in Wati when creating, editing, or managing message templates.

WhatsApp template messages are pre-approved message formats that businesses use to send notifications or updates to customers.

Templates help businesses:

Before a template can be used, it must be reviewed and approved by Meta.

Instead of sending the full message content every time, businesses can send a template identifier along with the required parameters. This makes message delivery faster and more efficient.

Before April 1, 2023, businesses selected from older template categories when submitting templates for approval.

Some common categories included:

These categories were used by Meta to classify templates during the approval process.

Effective April 1, 2023, Meta introduced 3 new template categories for all WhatsApp message templates.

Utility conversations are used for customer-related requests and transactional notifications.

Examples include:

Authentication conversations are used to verify or authenticate users.

Examples include:

Marketing conversations include promotional or engagement-focused content.

Examples include:

Any template that does not qualify as a Utility or Authentication template is classified as a Marketing conversation.

Meta now validates the category selected during template creation or editing.

If the selected category does not match Meta’s review results, you may see a category mismatch warning or error.

For example:

You may also see the same warning in Wati when submitting templates with mismatched categories.

Meta has automatically migrated templates created before April 1, 2023, to the new category system.

These updated categories are also reflected in your Wati account. In some cases, migrated templates with updated categories may appear at the top of your template list.

WhatsApp template messages are pre-approved message formats that businesses use to send notifications or updates to customers.

Businesses can use WhatsApp template messages to send structured messages, personalize content using variables or parameters, include media such as images or videos, and send notifications outside the 24-hour customer service window.

Yes. WhatsApp template messages must be reviewed and approved by Meta before they can be used.

Businesses send a template identifier along with the required parameters instead of sending the full message content every time.

Before April 1, 2023, businesses used categories such as Account Update, Alert Update, Appointment Update, and Auto Reply when submitting templates for approval.

The new WhatsApp template categories introduced by Meta are Utility, Authentication, and Marketing.

Utility conversations are used for customer-related requests and transactional notifications such as order confirmations, shipping updates, appointment reminders, recurring billing statements, and post-purchase notifications.

Authentication conversations are used to verify or authenticate users through messages such as one-time passwords (OTPs), account verification codes, password recovery messages, and security challenge messages.

Marketing conversations are used for promotional or engagement-focused content such as promotional offers, discounts, product recommendations, informational broadcasts, and customer engagement messages.

If Meta determines that the selected template category is incorrect, WhatsApp Manager and Wati may display a category mismatch warning or error.

Meta automatically migrated templates created before April 1, 2023, to the new template category system, and the updated categories are reflected in Wati accounts.