WhatsApp Template Category

The following are important reminders and updates to help you understand the new template categorization.

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Note:

• Starting from March 27th, 2023 template categories Marketing, Authentication, and Utility are supported by Kaleyra.
• Utility and Authentication replace Transactional and OTP Templates respectively, but Marketing Template remains the same.
• According to the announcement, Meta will launch the new categories on April 1st, 2023, and Kaleyra will support the new and legacy categories until April 24th, 2023 in line with Meta's schedule. These categories are currently not mandatory.

Meta requests that each newly created template is associated with one of the following categories:

• Marketing
• Authentication
• Utility

To pass this information you must use the attribute category in the body of the API call.

According to Meta, the category should be applied to a template as follows:

Marketing

They do not relate to any specifically agreed transaction, but may instead relate to the business and/or its products/services. These templates may include promotions or offers, welcoming/closing messages, updates, invitations or recommendations, or requests to respond to or complete new transactions.

Authentication

They enable businesses to authenticate users with one-time passcodes (usually 4-8 digit alphanumeric codes), potentially at multiple steps in the login process.

Use case: account verification, account recovery, integrity challenges.

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Note:

• URLs, media, and emojis are not allowed for authentication template content or parameters.
• Parameters are also subject to an additional length limit of 15 characters.
• New authentication template features will be available after May 1st, 2023.

Utility

They relate to a specific, agreed-upon transaction such as confirming, suspending, or changing a transaction or subscription. Any template that has a mix of utility and marketing content will be classified as a marketing template.

Launch Timeline

Migration of existing templates:

Meta began the category migration on March 27th, 2023 and expects to complete it on April 1st, 2023. All new templates created afterward will go through category validation during the approval process by Meta.

Grace period for API users:

From April 1st, 2023 to April 24th, 2023, you can submit new templates for the old or new categories. We encourage you to use the new category immediately, but templates submitted using the old category will be mapped to the new category by Kaleyra before submission. Meta will complete the migration of existing templates to the new category between May 1st, 2023 and May 5th, 2023.