Create an Approval Request for WhatsApp

Approval requests let your team review a WhatsApp External Template internally before it’s sent to Meta. This page covers what’s specific to external templates. For how approvals work in general, see Approval Workflow.

How it works

You create or update a template and submit one or more of its languages for approval.
The request goes to the approvers you select.
Each approver approves or rejects the request.
When the minimum number of approvals is reached, the template is marked Approved and sent to Meta, either automatically or manually.

What’s different for external templates	Details
Approvals are per language	Each language is submitted and approved separately. A request for one language doesn’t apply to the others, so an issue in one language doesn’t block the rest.
Only valid languages can be submitted	Languages with errors or incomplete content stay in Draft.
Sending to Meta	The template can be sent to Meta automatically on approval, by the final approver, or later by the requester. See Sending the template to Meta.

Before you start

Enable approval requests for external templates. When you set it up, you choose the reviewers and the minimum number of approvals a template needs.

Create an approval request

Open the language to submit

Open the template and select the language you want approved, for example English (IND).

Click Send to Provider

The request creation pop-up opens.

Select approvers

In Select Approvers, choose one or more approvers. How many you need depends on the minimum number of approvals set for your workspace.

Add a message (optional)

In Write a Message, add context for the approvers, such as Please review for compliance and messaging tone. Approvers see it while they review.

Choose how to send to Meta

Select Send to provider on approval to send the template to Meta automatically once it’s approved. Leave it cleared to send it yourself later.

Click Request

A confirmation message shows that the request was created. To close the pop-up without creating a request, click Cancel.

Sending the template to Meta

Send to provider on approval selected

Send to provider on approval cleared

The template is sent to Meta automatically as soon as it gets the minimum number of approvals.

Approval messages and rejections

You can add a message when you request, approve or reject a request. A message is required when you reject one. All approval messages are recorded in the audit log.

One rejection rejects the whole request

If any required approver rejects the request, the entire request is marked Rejected, however many approvers there are. Update the template before you submit it again.

Cancel an approval request

The requester can cancel an ongoing request at any time, for example to make more edits before creating a new request.

When to use approval requests

Scenario	How approvals help
Multi-language templates	Submit finished languages for approval while you keep working on the others.
Compliance reviews	Make sure templates meet brand, legal and policy requirements before they reach Meta.
Cross-team approvals	Let content creators, marketing and compliance reviewers work together.
Controlled submission to Meta	Prevent accidental or unauthorized submissions.