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All three Meta channels have pre-approved templates: WhatsApp Official, Instagram and Messenger. What changes is the scope, the endpoint and the category.Today the endpoints in this section cover WhatsApp Official only (WABA scope). Instagram and Messenger support is being implemented.

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Three things are called “template”

Meta uses the same word for three different features. Mixing them up is the most common source of integration errors:

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1 and 2 — pre-approved templates

They serve the same purpose: talking to the customer outside the conversation window. Both require prior registration and Meta approval. The practical difference is scope. A WhatsApp template belongs to a WABA; a Utility Template belongs to a Facebook page.
Instagram is not part of this. The Graph API message_templates edge exists only on the Page node. No Instagram node exposes it — neither IGUser (Facebook login) nor IGUserForIGOnlyAPI (Instagram login, which is the Omni Z-API flow).On Instagram you have the 24-hour window, extended to 7 days with the human agent tag. Details in Connect Instagram.
The Utility Template has a much richer lifecycle than the WhatsApp one — 10 statuses against 3: PENDING · APPROVED · REJECTED · IN_APPEAL · PAUSED · DISABLED · LIMIT_EXCEEDED · ARCHIVED · PENDING_DELETION · DELETED It also accepts parameter_format (NAMED or POSITIONAL) and lets you clone from Meta’s pre-approved library via library_template_name.
On Messenger, Utility Templates replaced Message Tags. The tags CONFIRMED_EVENT_UPDATE, ACCOUNT_UPDATE and POST_PURCHASE_UPDATE were discontinued on April 27, 2026 and now return error 100. If your integration still uses tags, it is already broken.
For marketing outside the window on Instagram and Messenger there is also the Marketing Messages API, which is opt-in based: you ask the customer for permission to send recurring promotional messages.

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3 — structured message (no approval)

This is what Meta also calls the generic template and button template. It is not a pre-approved template: it is a payload format sent inline, to put buttons and cards on a message you are already allowed to send. In Omni Z-API these are the interactive endpoints, available on all five channels with no registration:

Send text with buttons

Quick reply buttons — Meta’s button template.

Send action buttons

URL and call buttons — Meta’s generic template.
See the capability matrix for what each channel accepts.

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What are WhatsApp templates?

In the official WhatsApp API, you can only send messages freely while the 24-hour conversation window is open (i.e., when the customer has recently sent you a message). Outside this window, the only way to start a conversation is through templates — pre-defined messages that must be approved by Meta before they can be sent.

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Categories

Each template needs a category that defines the type of communication. Choosing the wrong category can get your template rejected by Meta.

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Template structure

Every template is composed of components. Each component has a role:

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Placeholders

You can use dynamic variables in text with {{1}}, {{2}}, etc. When creating the template, you must send real examples for each placeholder — Meta uses these examples during review.

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Template flow

The API organizes templates by business (WABA — WhatsApp Business Account). Each business has its own templates, approval history, and limits.
1

Identify your WABA

Use the list WABAs endpoint to get the correct businessId for your token.
2

Create the template

Choose the category, build the components with placeholders and examples, and submit for approval.
3

Wait for approval

Meta reviews the template and returns a status: PENDING, APPROVED, or REJECTED.
4

Send messages

With an approved template, you can use it to start conversations with customers outside the 24h window.

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Template status