"Your account is restricted": what it means and what to do

If WhatsApp shows “Your account is restricted right now” with a countdown, it’s a temporary restriction on your number. It comes from WhatsApp, not Wapes: your Wapes plan is still active.

What it means

WhatsApp detected activity that, according to its system, “may be a sign of spam, automated messages or bulk messaging”. What triggers it most:

• Lots of new chats in a row with people who haven’t saved your number.
• Few replies: people get your message and don’t answer.
• People blocking or reporting you.
• A new number, or one with no history, suddenly sending a lot.

What you can do while it lasts

• Answer calls and messages you receive.
• Keep writing in your existing chats and groups.
• You can’t start new chats or use some features.
• The restriction lifts by itself when the countdown ends, and WhatsApp lets you know.

What not to do

• Don’t keep sending to new contacts, with Wapes or any other tool: it can make the restriction longer.
• Don’t switch to a new number to continue the same send. WhatsApp is even stricter with new numbers, and if it sees you hopping from one to another it may block both permanently.
• Don’t let it happen again. Repeated restrictions can end in a permanent ban of the number.

If you think it was a mistake, tap Learn more on the notice to see the options WhatsApp gives you.

How to resume without it happening again

When it lifts, come back slower than before:

1. First days: 20 to 50 messages a day. If no warning shows up, ramp up gradually. If one does, stop for the day.
2. People who know you first: customers and people who have messaged you before.
3. Ask for a reply (“Reply YES to confirm”): every reply builds trust for your number.
4. Personalize with {{name}} and keep the pauses between messages that Wapes has on by default.
5. Get them to message you first with a wa.me/your-number link on your social media or in your email: those chats no longer count as new.

A real example: reminding 900 registrants

An organizer needed to remind 900 registrants about a race, and their number got restricted after trying to message them all on day one. What works in a case like this:

• Right away, post a wa.me link with the text “I want info about the race” on the race’s social media and in the registration email. Every registrant who writes in can be reminded safely.
• Everyone else, spread over several days, from fewer to more, asking them to reply to confirm attendance.
• If there are other established lines (the organization’s or the team’s), split the list between them without repeating people, each line at its own pace.
• If the date doesn’t allow spreading it out, the route for hundreds of notices in a single day is Meta’s official WhatsApp Business API, which is paid and requires approved templates.

More on the new-chat cap: WhatsApp’s limits.