WhatsApp Business Phone Number Quality Rating Explained

By Sparkforge Support Team ·Last reviewed May 3, 2026

WhatsApp rates your business phone number Green, Yellow, or Red based on the last seven days of customer feedback and block reasons. Low quality can flip the number to Flagged and, if it doesn’t improve in seven days, drop your daily messaging limit one tier.

WhatsApp Business assigns every phone number a quality rating based on the last seven days of customer feedback. The rating drives whether your number stays at its current messaging limit, gets downgraded, or unlocks more features.

Quality states

Green — high quality.
Yellow — medium quality.
Red — low quality.

Find the rating in Meta WhatsApp Manager → Phone numbers under the Quality rating column. Hover the rating to see block reason insights when available: No longer needed, Didn’t sign up, Spam, Offensive messages, No reason.

Click the icon in the Settings column to see the lowest quality score per day across the last 30 days — useful for tracing what changed.

Status changes

Connected — normal state. You can send within your messaging limit.
Flagged — quality dropped to Low and the number is on track for downgrade. You can’t upgrade tiers while Flagged. If quality improves to Medium or High within 7 days, status returns to Connected with no limit change. If not, status returns to Connected but the messaging limit drops one tier.
Restricted — you hit your messaging limit, regardless of quality. No outgoing messages for 24 hours; you can still respond to user-initiated chats.

Meta emails you and notifies in Business Manager when status flips to Flagged or Restricted, when the Flagged state clears, and when messaging limits change.

Messaging limits

Limits cap the number of business-initiated conversations a number can start in a rolling 24-hour window. A business-initiated conversation runs 24 hours from the first delivered message. User-initiated conversations don’t count toward the limit.

Tiers (after business verification):

1,000 conversations / 24 hours — starting tier.
10,000 conversations / 24 hours.
100,000 conversations / 24 hours.
Unlimited conversations / 24 hours.

Hit the limit and the number flips Restricted until conversations age out and free up capacity.

How to keep your rating green

Only message customers who opted in. “Didn’t sign up” is one of the top block reasons.
Match the template to the user’s expectation — transactional templates for transactional moments.
Watch the 30-day trend, not just today’s score. Catch declines before they hit Flagged.
Pause low-performing templates as soon as block reasons spike.

If you’re a business solution provider (BSP), pass these warnings on so your clients can act before the number gets downgraded.

Frequently Asked Questions

How is quality rating calculated?

From the last seven days of customer feedback — block reasons, reports, and other signals. It’s a rolling window, so a few bad days can drop you and a few good ones can recover you.

What happens when my number gets Flagged?

You stay at your current messaging limit but can’t upgrade tiers. If quality recovers within 7 days, you’re back to Connected with no penalty. If not, you’re back to Connected with your daily limit dropped one tier.

Can I still receive messages while Restricted?

Yes. Restricted only blocks outgoing business-initiated messages. You can respond to any conversation a customer starts.

Do user-initiated conversations count toward my limit?

No. Only business-initiated conversations count against the messaging limit cap.

How fast can a number move between tiers?

Upgrades happen automatically as you scale volume with high quality. Downgrades happen if Flagged status persists 7 days. Each tier change is one step at a time — 1k → 10k → 100k → unlimited, or in reverse.