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WhatsApp Messaging Requirements

These requirements apply to all messages sent or received via a WhatsApp Business account linked to Nomity and form part of the Acceptable Use Policy and Terms of Use.

Effective date: 15 September 2026

Last updated: 15 September 2026

1. Scope

These WhatsApp Messaging Requirements govern every message sent from a WhatsApp Business account connected to Nomity, and every message received into it. They are the WhatsApp counterpart of the Email Sending Requirements.

They form part of the Acceptable Use Policy and, through it, of the Terms of Use. Breaching them is breaching your agreement with us. The permission principles in the Anti-Spam Policy apply here in full: this document sets out what those principles mean on a channel where the rules are set by Meta and enforced automatically.

They apply to you, to every user in your account, to anyone who sends through your account, and to any automated message your account sends.

WhatsApp is a permission channel, and permission does not travel. Consent to email you is not consent to message you on WhatsApp. A phone number in your CRM is not permission to use it on WhatsApp. This is the single most common misunderstanding, and it is the one that gets numbers blocked.

2. Meta's rules come first

WhatsApp is operated by Meta. Nomity is a technology provider connecting your own WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) to the WhatsApp Business Platform. You are the business the recipient is talking to, and Meta's rules bind you directly:

- the WhatsApp Business Messaging Policy;

- the WhatsApp Business Terms of Service, which you accept when you connect your account;

- the WhatsApp Commerce Policy, published alongside the messaging policy, where you sell through the channel;

- Meta's template, category and quality rules as they apply from time to time.

Where anything in this document conflicts with Meta's rules, Meta's rules prevail, and we will apply them. Meta changes these rules without consulting us, and we pass the change on rather than absorbing it.

3. Opt-in

You may only send a business-initiated message to someone who gave you their mobile number and opted in to receive WhatsApp messages from you.

A valid opt-in states two things explicitly:

  1. that the person is opting in to receive messages on WhatsApp; and

  2. the name of the business they will receive them from, as it appears on your WhatsApp profile.

Where the message categories you send differ (order and appointment updates, property alerts, promotions) the opt-in should cover the category you intend to send, and the person must be able to opt out of one category without losing the rest.

How you collect it is up to you, as long as the two statements above are present and the record is kept. A tick box on your website, a checkout option, a form signed in your office, a reply to an SMS or an IVR confirmation are all acceptable. Pre-ticked boxes, consent bundled into terms acceptance, and consent as a condition of an unrelated transaction are not.

These are not opt-in, and we will not treat them as such:

  • a website enquiry form that asks for a phone number without naming WhatsApp and naming you;

  • consent given for email, SMS or telephone contact;

  • a number obtained from a portal lead, a directory, a sign board, a business card or a social media profile;

  • a number bought, rented, scraped, appended, or passed to you by another business;

  • a number belonging to someone who blocked you, reported you, or asked you to stop.

Keep the evidence. You must be able to produce, for any number on request, the wording the person agreed to, the date, and where it was collected. We may ask before enabling the channel, after a report, or at any time we have a concern. If you cannot produce it, we treat the number as having no permission.

Someone who messages you first has not opted in to marketing. Their message opens the service window in section 5 and permits you to answer them. It is not consent to send them promotions later.

4. Templates and message categories

Outside the service window in section 5, every business-initiated message must use a template Meta has approved on your account, in the category Meta assigns to it.

  • Utility messages follow up on something the person did or agreed to: an appointment, an order, a viewing, a document they asked for.

  • Marketing messages promote, offer, invite or re-engage. Anything that is not clearly utility or authentication is marketing, and the opt-in and opt-out rules apply to it in full.

  • Authentication templates are for one-time codes only.

Meta decides the category, not you and not us. Meta routinely approves a template in a different category from the one requested, and a template submitted as utility may be delivered and billed as marketing. Meta may also reject a template, pause it where recipients react badly to it, or disable it later. None of that is a failure of the Nomity platform, and we cannot appeal it on your behalf.

Templates are approved per WhatsApp account. Every business starts with none, and approval takes as long as it takes. Plan your launch around that.

You may not use a utility or authentication template to carry a marketing message. Meta treats that as a policy breach, and so do we.

5. The 24 hour service window

When a person messages you, a 24 hour window opens in which you may reply freely, without a template. Outside that window, only an approved template may be sent.

The window is for serving that person. You may not use an inbound message as a pretext to send unrelated promotions, and you may not prompt a person to message you in order to open a window you then use for marketing.

6. Opt-out

Honour every request to stop, however it arrives. On WhatsApp, off WhatsApp, in a reply, by email, by phone, or in person. A person who blocks you or reports your message has opted out.

  • Stop sending to that person in the category they opted out of, and stop sending entirely where the request was general.

  • Marketing templates must carry an opt-out instruction or button.

  • Honour a stop request promptly, and do not require the person to log in, reply more than once, or give any information beyond the request itself.

  • You may not re-add a number that opted out, move it to another account or another number to reach it, or ask a colleague to message it instead.

  • Where you receive an opt-out outside Nomity, record it in Nomity so that the platform and your team see it.

We record opt-out requests we detect, and we act on a request a recipient sends to us directly. A recipient may also contact privacy@nomity.com if they cannot reach you, and we will identify the business concerned and pass the request on.

7. Quality, limits and what we monitor

Meta scores every business number. Recipients blocking you or reporting you lowers your quality rating, which reduces your messaging limit, pauses your templates, and ultimately restricts the number. A restricted number cannot be repaired by sending more.

We monitor, per connected account, the quality rating and messaging limit Meta reports, and changes to the status of your templates. Where those signals point at a permission problem we may ask for your opt-in evidence, restrict or throttle sending, or suspend the channel. We may act before Meta does, and we may act before we have finished investigating, where other customers or our provider standing are at risk.

You must not attempt to manage a rating or a limit by spreading sending across numbers, accounts or providers.

8. Prohibited and restricted content

The prohibited categories in [Anti-Spam Policy §6.1](/legal/anti-spam-policy) apply to WhatsApp unchanged, and the sectors listed in §6.2 need our written approval here too.

Meta's Commerce Policy additionally restricts what may be sold or promoted over the channel, including alcohol, tobacco and vaping products, firearms, drugs and supplements, gambling, adult products and services, real money gaming, and medical or healthcare products. Where Meta restricts a category, that restriction applies whatever we or you have agreed.

You may not impersonate another business, misrepresent who you are, or send messages designed to confuse, deceive or surprise the recipient.

9. Automation and AI

You may use automation, including Nomity's AI features, to answer people on WhatsApp.

  • Nomity's WhatsApp assistant is a scoped business tool, not a general-purpose assistant, because Meta prohibits general-purpose assistants on the platform. It performs a defined set of tasks for your business and refuses anything else.

  • A person must always be reachable. Every automated conversation must have a clear, prompt route to a human being, and you must staff it.

  • You are responsible for what your automation sends. AI output is generated, not verified. Review what you configure it to say, as set out in [Terms of Use §11](/legal/terms-of-use).

  • You may not use automation to send bulk unsolicited messages, to work around the opt-in and opt-out rules, or to keep a conversation open in order to avoid using a template.

10. Your account, your number

The WhatsApp Business Account and the phone number are yours. You connect them to Nomity, and you may disconnect them at any time, which stops sending immediately and leaves your conversation history in your Nomity account.

You are responsible for:

  • keeping your WhatsApp profile accurate, including your display name, description and a support contact;

  • maintaining your own published privacy policy, as Meta requires of every business on the platform;

  • your Meta billing and payment method, where Meta charges you directly for conversations;

  • the acts of anyone you give access to the channel.

A number already in use on the WhatsApp Business app must be migrated before it can be used here, and a number cannot be connected to two providers at once.

11. What we do on your behalf

  • Deliver your messages to Meta and record delivery and read receipts.

  • Keep your conversation history in your account and attach it to the right CRM contact.

  • Record opt-out requests we detect and make them visible to your team.

  • Surface the quality rating, messaging limit and template status Meta reports on your account.

  • Act on Meta's requests about your account, promptly, including by stopping sending.

12. Enforcement

Where we find a breach we may warn you, restrict or throttle your sending, disable a template, suspend the channel, or suspend or terminate your account, as set out in [Acceptable Use Policy §6](/legal/acceptable-use-policy#6-how-we-enforce-this-policy).

We will normally warn first. We will act immediately and without notice where the breach is serious, including messaging numbers you have no opt-in for, ignoring opt-outs, impersonation, prohibited content, or conduct that puts our standing with Meta at risk.

Where Meta acts, we act. Meta may restrict or disable your number, your templates or your account. That decision is Meta's, we cannot overrule it, and we will not put the channel's availability for every other customer at risk in order to keep one account sending. We will tell you what happened as soon as we reasonably can, and you may respond under the review route in the Acceptable Use Policy.

13. Reporting

If you received an unwanted WhatsApp message sent through Nomity, report it to privacy@nomity.com with the sending number and the message. We acknowledge every report within 24 hours. See the [Abuse Reporting Policy](/legal/abuse-reporting-policy).

You can also block and report the business inside WhatsApp, which we cannot override and which is the fastest route.

14. Changes and contact

We may update these requirements, and we will update them when Meta changes its rules. Material changes are notified to account owners by email and posted here with a revised date.

- Contact: nomity.com/contact

- Support: support@nomity.com

- Privacy, data rights and abuse reports: privacy@nomity.com

- Nomity OÜ: Hobujaama 4, Kesklinna linnaosa, Tallinn 10151, Estonia

- Nomity (Pty) Ltd: 1A Link Road, Howick 3290, South Africa