Number Quality Rating in the API

The number quality rating in the WhatsApp API is a metric that indicates, on a scale from low to high, how reliable a phone number is for sending messages to your contacts. Meta calculates it based on how users react: whether they open, respond to, or block your messages. If the rating is low, the API may limit your sending speed or even suspend the number. For an SMB, understanding this rating is key to not losing the ability to reply on WhatsApp.

Why does it matter to an SMB?

If you use the official WhatsApp API (for example, through Wando), the number quality rating is like your business's reputation on the platform. If it is low, your messages may arrive more slowly or not arrive at all. For an SMB that uses WhatsApp to sell, handle inquiries, or send reminders, a drop in quality means fewer sales and angry customers. Also, if the quality stays low for a long time, Meta may block the number and you would lose access to your chat history.

How is it used in practice?

In the WhatsApp API dashboard, within the 'Phone numbers' section, you will see the quality status of each number. It updates every 24 hours and is based on the last 7 days of activity. To keep it high, you need to make users interact positively with your messages: have them open them, respond to them, and not mark them as spam.

1. 1Log into the WhatsApp Business Platform dashboard and look for the 'Phone numbers' tab.
2. 2Check the quality indicator: green (high), yellow (medium), or red (low).
3. 3If it is medium or low, review the messages you sent in recent days and look for patterns: are many people blocking? Are they responding little?
4. 4Adjust your strategy: send more relevant messages, ask for read confirmation, and avoid sending at annoying times.
5. 5Wait 24-48 hours for the rating to update and check again.

Concrete example

Imagine a clothing store that uses WhatsApp to send offers to its entire list. One day, the owner sends a generic message to 500 contacts who didn't ask for anything. Result: 100 block it, 50 report it as spam. The next day, the number's quality rating drops to 'low'. The API now limits sends to 10 messages per second and many don't arrive. The owner loses sales and has to wait days to regain trust. If instead they had sent a message with a personalized discount and a 'Stop receiving offers' button, the quality would have remained high and sales would have gone up.

What is it confused with and how does it differ?

It is often confused with the number's 'verification status' (whether it is verified with a checkmark) or with the 'message limit' (how many messages you can send per second). But they are different things: the quality rating is a reputation metric, not a fixed status. You can have a verified number and still have low quality if users block you. The message limit, on the other hand, depends on your quality level and the age of the number: if quality is high, the limit goes up; if it drops, it goes down.

Common mistakes

• Ignoring the report and continuing to send mass messages without segmentation.
• Sending messages to numbers that did not give explicit consent.
• Using message templates that sound like spam (e.g., 'You won a prize!').
• Not measuring the response rate: if no one responds, quality drops.
• Thinking the report is permanent: it updates automatically, so it can be recovered.

What happens if you don't take it into account?

If you don't monitor the quality rating, your number can be limited or suspended without notice. That means you can't send messages to your customers, and if you have a business that depends on WhatsApp, it's a serious problem. Additionally, recovering a suspended number is a long process and not always successful. The good news is that the report is transparent: you can see it in the panel and act before it's too late.

How does it relate to Meta's official API?

The number quality rating is a native feature of Meta's WhatsApp Business API. Any provider that uses that API, like Wando, inherits this metric. It's not a third-party invention: it's part of Meta's reputation system. To improve your quality, the best practices are the same as for any messaging channel: send relevant content, respect schedules, and always offer an opt-out.

When does it NOT apply?

If you use regular WhatsApp (the personal app) or WhatsApp Business without API, you don't have a quality report. It also doesn't apply if you only reply to incoming messages and never send proactive messages: in that case, quality usually stays high because users write to you first. The report only matters when you do bulk sends or use message templates (HSM). If your business is 100% reactive, you don't need to worry about this.

In short: the number quality report is a health signal for your WhatsApp Business API account. If you take care of it, your messages get delivered faster and to more people. If you neglect it, you could lose your sales channel. Tools like Wando show you this metric in the dashboard and help you keep quality high with response suggestions and Meta-approved templates.

How it is set up in practice

There's no button to activate the quality report: it's generated automatically once you register your number with the WhatsApp Business API. What you can configure is the webhook to receive notifications when the quality status changes.

In the Meta dashboard, go to WhatsApp > Configuration > Webhook. There you need to subscribe to the 'quality' field within 'messages'. Every time the report goes from green to yellow or to red, Meta sends you an event. If you use a platform like Wando, this is already configured and it notifies you in the dashboard without you having to touch anything.

You can also check the current status via API with the phone numbers endpoint. The response includes the 'quality_rating' field with the values 'GREEN', 'YELLOW' or 'RED'.

• Check that the webhook is active for the 'quality' field.
• Set up an internal alert for when the status drops to yellow.
• Document which messages were sent in the last 7 days to correlate.

How to tell that it worked, and what to look at first when it doesn't

The first thing you notice when the configuration is correct is that the panel shows the quality indicator without errors. If you set up the webhook, you'll receive a test event when you subscribe. That's the moment to confirm it arrives.

If nothing comes through, check three things: that the webhook is pointing to a valid URL, that the verification token matches, and that you've marked the 'quality' field in the subscription. A typical mistake is subscribing to 'messages' but not to the quality subfield.

When quality is already red, the problem isn't configuration but content. Look first at delivered message metrics and response rate. If people don't open or respond, the problem is the message, not the code.

What changes based on business size

In a one-person business, the quality report is maintained almost without you noticing: you respond quickly, personalize each message, and don't do mass sends. The risk is when that person decides to try a campaign to their whole list on a Sunday night.

In a fifteen-person business, the problem is different: quality depends on everyone who touches the WhatsApp. If a salesperson sends a generic message without consent, it can bring down the number's reputation. That's where you need roles and permissions: who can send templates, who can only respond.

Multi-agent tools, like Wando, help with exactly that: you centralize messages and control what goes out from each number. In a small business, common sense is enough; in a medium one, internal policy is needed.

What Meta's official documentation says and what is left to each platform's discretion

Meta defines the quality report as an indicator of the reliability of your number, based on signals such as blocks, spam reports, and lack of response. That is documented and the same for everyone.

What Meta leaves open is how each platform shows you that data. Some hide it in a technical panel; others, like Wando, integrate it into the daily flow. The API gives you the raw data; the platform decides whether to present it as an alert or just another number.

The criteria for exact thresholds also vary: Meta does not publish the numeric score or the formulas. What is certain: if your block rate is high, quality goes down. No one disputes that.

Second-order questions that remain after understanding the concept

Once you know what the report is, finer questions arise: is quality per number or per account? It is per number. If you have multiple numbers, each one has its own report.

Can I change numbers if the quality is very low? Yes, but the message history is not transferred and the new number starts from scratch. It is not a magic solution.

Does the report affect the delivery of replies to incoming messages? Not directly: if a customer writes to you, you can always reply. The limit applies to proactive messages (those that use templates).

How long does it take for a number in red to recover? There is no fixed period, but with good practices it usually improves within one or two weeks. Meanwhile, limit sends to the minimum.