What templates are

WhatsApp lets ABMTC send free-form messages only within 24 hours of a person's last message. After that, only a template that Meta has approved can be sent.

Where templates are used

Broadcasts, reminders, alerts and follow-ups often reach people who have not written recently, so they use templates. See Send a broadcast and Reply window.

The Templates page

Open Templates under Messaging in the menu. It says: "WhatsApp messages Meta has approved for broadcasts and reminders. Write them here and submit them to Meta."

• The status tabs are All, Approved, Waiting for Meta, Rejected, Drafts and Used by the app.
• New template starts a new one.
• Admins also see the WhatsApp and SMS tabs, and Check Meta for updates to refresh the statuses. SMS templates need no approval. See SMS templates.

Each row also shows a Category and a Quality of Good, Medium or Low. When you can see more than one line, each row also shows its Line.

Whose templates you see

• Pastors see and edit only the templates of their own line. Delegates share them with the pastor.
• Admins see the templates of every line and the church's own templates.

The templates of a line appear in that line's broadcasts. See Send a broadcast.

What a template looks like

It is a message with fill-ins such as {{1}} for a name or date, and an optional header, footer and buttons. When you send, each fill-in is replaced with real details.

What to do next

1. Read Rules that keep templates from being rejected.
2. Prepare a template. Before it goes to Meta, the portal shows how likely Meta is to approve it. See The approval score.
3. Choose which templates the app uses in Templates used by the app.

Tip: Some templates are written by Meta. The page says "Meta writes this template, so it can't be changed." (on the template) or "Meta writes this template, so it can't be switched." (on the Used by the app tab)