Understanding WhatsApp per-user marketing limits

Understanding WhatsApp per-user marketing limits

Estimated 4 minute read

Updated Mar 9, 2026, 12:00 AM EST

Table of contents

What are WhatsApp per-user limits?
Which WhatsApp messages are affected?
How enforcement works
Error code 131049: Maintain healthy ecosystem engagement
Marketing messages to US phone numbers
How to identify impacted profiles
Best practices

Understand how Meta applies marketing limits at the individual user level and why some WhatsApp marketing templates may fail.

Meta enforces per-user marketing limits on WhatsApp to protect the user experience. These limits apply to each recipient individually, not to your account as a whole. As a result, a marketing template may fail even if you have not recently messaged that user.

This article explains how per-user limits work, which messages are affected, and how to identify impacted profiles in Klaviyo.

What are WhatsApp per-user limits?

Meta evaluates marketing message eligibility at the user level, not the business level.

If a user:

Has recently received marketing template messages, and
Has not replied or meaningfully engaged,

Meta may block additional marketing templates to that user.

These limits apply across all businesses on WhatsApp, not just your brand. If multiple businesses send marketing messages to the same person, Meta considers that total exposure when deciding whether to allow another marketing template.

Meta uses engagement signals, including recent marketing message read rates and the number of messages in a user’s inbox from friends, family, and businesses, to determine whether another marketing template can be delivered. The limit adapts over time as engagement changes.

Which WhatsApp messages are affected?

Not all WhatsApp message types are subject to per-user marketing limits.

Message type	Subject to per-user limits?
Marketing templates	Yes, outside a 24-hour customer service window. Marketing messages sent within a window opened by the user’s reply do not count toward the limit.
Utility templates	No. Includes order updates, shipping confirmations, appointment reminders, and other service notifications.
Free-form messages (within 24-hour session)	No. You can send free-form messages within 24 hours after a user’s most recent WhatsApp message to your business.

In Klaviyo, marketing templates are the only WhatsApp message type affected by these engagement-based limits.

How enforcement works

Meta evaluates marketing template eligibility at send time.

A marketing template may fail if:

The user has recently received marketing templates
The user did not reply or interact
Engagement signals are low

Because enforcement happens at the user level across all businesses, your message may be blocked even if you have not messaged that user earlier in the day.

When this occurs, the message fails delivery.

Error code 131049: Maintain healthy ecosystem engagement

If a marketing template is blocked due to Meta’s engagement protections, you may see this error:

Error code 131049 – Maintain healthy ecosystem engagement

If you see error code 131049, wait at least 24 hours before retrying the marketing template. Repeated retries within a 24-hour period can make further delivery attempts to that user unavailable for up to 24 hours and return the same error code. This does not affect your ability to send marketing messages to other users.

Marketing messages to US phone numbers

As of April 1, 2025, Meta blocks delivery of all WhatsApp marketing template messages to recipients with a United States phone number.

This applies to any WhatsApp user whose phone number:

Uses the +1 country dialing code, and
Has a United States area code.

Starting on this date, attempting to send a marketing template to a US phone number results in a delivery failure.

Meta has stated that this pause is temporary and is intended to improve the consumer experience in the United States. During this period, marketing templates cannot be delivered to US WhatsApp users.

This restriction is enforced by Meta and cannot be overridden within Klaviyo. Learn more.

How to identify impacted profiles

You can create a segment of profiles whose WhatsApp messages failed with error code 131049. The segment shows which profiles were affected during the time period you select, rather than the total number of failed messages.

Go to Lists & segments, click Create, and select Segment.
If a Create segment panel opens, enter a name and click Create segment to open the builder. Otherwise, enter a name in the builder.
Select What someone has done (or not done) > Failed to Deliver WhatsApp. Set the condition to at least once and choose the time period you want to review.
Click Add filter and set Vendor Error Code equals 131049.
Click Create segment to save the segment.

Segmenting by this error allows you to:

Monitor how many profiles are affected
Exclude affected profiles from immediate follow-up campaigns
Refine targeting toward more recently engaged users

When choosing recipients for a WhatsApp campaign, add the segment under Don't send to, then click Next to save your recipient settings. You must add the exclusion to each campaign; creating the segment does not apply it automatically. For an exclusion segment that also covers other delivery errors, see the WhatsApp error segment.

Best practices

While you cannot override Meta’s per-user limits, you can reduce the likelihood of blocked marketing sends by focusing on engagement.

Target users who have recently engaged on WhatsApp
Encourage replies to open a 24-hour session window
Avoid sending multiple promotional campaigns to the same audience in a short timeframe

Strong engagement improves deliverability over time. Repeated unengaged marketing messages increase the likelihood of future blocks.

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