Every WhatsApp Business change that reached Indian businesses in 2026, month by month

This page lists the WhatsApp Business API updates of 2026 that affect businesses in India, in date order, from 1 January to 13 October. It covers WhatsApp API changes on the Business Platform (pricing, billing, templates, accounts, calling) and the new rules and products Meta announced for the WhatsApp Business app.

How to read it: each entry gives the date, the change, who it affects and where we cover it. Dates are the ones Meta’s changelog, pricing page or newsroom post carries. Where a change was documented on one day and took effect on another, both are given. Rate changes for other countries and developer-only reference edits are left out. The changelog was read in full on 13 October 2026, when its latest entry was dated 12 October.

January 2026

1 January: India’s marketing rate goes up, and rupee billing opens

Meta’s pricing page lists India’s marketing rate as “Higher” from 1 January 2026. On the same day, billing in INR launched for providers and directly billed businesses whose Sold-To country in Billing Hub is India.

• Affects: every business sending marketing templates to Indian numbers; every Indian business billed by Meta.
• Our coverage: WhatsApp pricing in India, the INR billing deadline.

28 January: charges for “AI Providers” (not India)

Meta announced that from 16 February 2026 it would charge AI Providers for non-template messages “in countries where Meta is legally required to support AI Providers”. Effective 13 May it dropped the charge for EU and EEA users and kept it for Brazil. It is listed here because it’s often misread as a general price change. It doesn’t apply to messages to Indian users.

February 2026

3 February: groups on the API for businesses with an Official Business Account

Cloud API Groups became available to all businesses with an Official Business Account.

• Affects: businesses with the blue tick on a Platform number.
• Our coverage: the Groups API for business, badges and the Official Business Account.

March 2026

27 March: the welcome message feature is removed

Meta removed the request_welcome webhook and the welcome message from conversational components, and said the feature is no longer supported.

• Affects: bots that greeted a user when they first opened the chat, before any message was sent.

April 2026

1 April: India’s authentication-international rate goes up

The 1 April rate card raised India’s authentication-international rate. India’s marketing, utility and ordinary authentication rates did not change on this card.

• Affects: eligible businesses based outside India that send OTPs to Indian numbers.
• Our coverage: WhatsApp OTP and authentication templates.

Early April: business-scoped user IDs start arriving

Meta began including a business-scoped user ID (BSUID) alongside the phone number in the data it sends businesses. Meta says supporting BSUIDs is required for all partners, directly integrated businesses and Click-to-WhatsApp advertisers, because users will later be able to adopt a username.

• Affects: every provider, and any business that stores customers by phone number.
• Our coverage: usernames and your contact list.

3 and 20 April: Meta tells providers why a coexistence number disconnected

For numbers running on both the Business app and the Platform, Meta started reporting the reason for a disconnection: the main phone inactive for about 14 days, a companion inactive for about 30 days, a move to the consumer app, a number change, re-registration on a new device, or account deletion or enforcement. Meta described both as gradual rollouts.

• Affects: businesses using the app and the API on one number.
• Our coverage: WhatsApp coexistence in India.

6 April: marketing sends can be blocked on the Cloud API

Businesses onboarded to the Marketing Messages API can switch off marketing on the Cloud API. Marketing templates sent that way are then rejected with error 131063.

• Affects: businesses using the Marketing Messages API.
• Our coverage: the Marketing Messages API.

17 April: error 131064 for template classification violations

A new error is returned when an account “has exceeded its messaging limit due to template classification violations”. It applies to template and Direct Send messages, and Meta says the restriction lifts automatically after the enforcement period.

• Affects: businesses sending promotional content in utility templates.
• Our coverage: marketing, utility and service categories.

21 April: automatic creative optimisations off by default

On the Marketing Messages API, Meta’s automatic changes to message creative became opt-in at the messaging account level.

30 April: retry limits for capped marketing messages

Meta added a retry-limits section to its per-user marketing limits page, describing account-level enforcement for excessive retries.

• Affects: anyone who resends campaigns to people who didn’t receive them.
• Our coverage: error 131049.

May 2026

13 May: OTP autofill on iPhone, effective 15 June

Meta announced that from 15 June 2026 keyboard suggestions are on by default for all authentication templates. On iOS 26 and later, users see a one-tap autofill prompt for the code. No integration change is needed, and a toggle in WhatsApp Manager turns it off.

• Affects: businesses sending OTPs.
• Our coverage: WhatsApp OTP.

14 May: Business AI in the WhatsApp Business app, for India

Meta’s newsroom announced Business AI for small businesses in India: it answers customer queries around the clock, captures leads and books appointments inside the Business app, in “all native Indian languages”. Meta said UPI payments in chat would follow “starting soon”. The post gives no price.

• Affects: small businesses on the free Business app.
• Our coverage: Meta’s Business AI vs an AI agent.

15 May: a maximum price for marketing messages, limited beta

On the Marketing Messages API, a business can set a maximum price per marketing delivery; Meta charges that amount or lower. It opened as a limited beta that required a signed agreement.

• Our coverage: the Marketing Messages API.

18 May: automatic reconnect after a phone change

Meta published a guide for coexistence numbers. When the business registers the app on a new device, it sees its previously connected Platform products with a pre-ticked opt-in, and the connection is restored in the background within a few minutes.

• Our coverage: WhatsApp coexistence in India.

26 May: the INR deadline is published

Meta updated its pricing page with the July and October rate cards and added migration deadlines for India and Brazil, with a Currency Migration API available from 1 June.

• Affects: Indian businesses and providers billed by Meta in another currency.
• Our coverage: the INR billing deadline.

June 2026

2 and 3 June: the new account model is described, and Meta Business Agent is announced

On 2 June Meta published guides to a new account model that splits the WhatsApp Business account in two. On 3 June its newsroom announced Meta Business Agent, an AI agent a business can run on its WhatsApp number.

• Our coverage: Meta’s Business AI vs an AI agent.

3 June: In-App Signup

A new API creates opt-in links that a WhatsApp user taps to subscribe to a business’s messages. On 3 July Meta added the availability list: all markets except the EEA, the UK, Brazil, Japan, South Korea, Nigeria, South Africa and Turkey. India is therefore included.

• Our coverage: collecting opt-in.

15 June: Direct Send, open beta

Direct Send lets a business send utility and authentication messages without creating templates first; Meta generates and matches them.

• Our coverage: WhatsApp Direct Send.

25 and 30 June: voicemail, call recording and call-to-text

Voicemail for the Calling API became generally available on 25 June. On 30 June Meta added guides for recording calls and converting them to text, for both business-initiated and user-initiated calls, with a required announcement to the customer.

• Our coverage: WhatsApp Calling in India.

29 June: businesses can reserve a username

From 29 June a business can claim the username WhatsApp reserved for it, or adopt a different one. Meta says claimed usernames become active once the username feature is made available.

• Our coverage: usernames and your contact list.

July 2026

1 July: a quarterly rate card with no India change

Six markets moved to standalone rates on 1 July. None of the rate changes on this card was for India. Meta’s pricing page also counts Meta Business Agent as a fifth message category from this date.

July: messages can be sent to a BSUID

Meta’s BSUID page says sending to a BSUID is supported from July 2026, and a template button that asks a user to share their contact details is available from early July.

• Our coverage: usernames and your contact list.

31 July: Direct Send for utility messages is generally available

Authentication messages through Direct Send stayed in beta.

August 2026

1 August: Meta Business Agent is charged

Meta charges one global rate of $2.00 per 1 million tokens for Meta Business Agent messages, and says a message typically uses 20,000 to 25,000 tokens, or about 4 to 5 US cents. A payment method is required. The charge applies inside the free window after an ad as well.

• Affects: businesses that switch on Meta Business Agent on a Platform number.
• Our coverage: Meta’s Business AI vs an AI agent.

18 August: no number migration on the new account model

Meta documented that moving a phone number from one provider to another isn’t supported for accounts on the new model. The business shares the WhatsApp account that owns the number with the new provider instead.

• Affects: anyone planning to change provider.
• Our coverage: choosing a provider.

19 August: coexistence signup with a Business app login, beta

Meta added a beta guide for connecting a Business app number using the WhatsApp Business app account in place of a Facebook account.

September 2026

3 September: signup asks for the phone number first

In Embedded Signup version 4, the business enters and verifies its number before choosing business assets. A number already on the Business app is detected and sent into the coexistence flow automatically where the provider has it enabled. Meta says the rollout is in progress.

8 September: prepaid billing by UPI

Meta published a guide for Indian accounts that fund messaging with UPI top-ups in place of invoiced billing, including error 131042 for insufficient funds.

• Our coverage: the INR billing deadline.

15 September: template categories, and Meta One

Meta clarified that a template whose category was confirmed on review can still be re-categorised if the messages it sends don’t meet the category guidelines. The same day its newsroom announced Meta One subscriptions, with business bundles from $14.99 a month. The newsroom calls the plans available globally; WhatsApp’s help page, read on 13 October, says Meta One is in limited testing and isn’t available everywhere.

• Our coverage: message categories, a team on one number.

23 September: the new account model starts rolling out

Each WhatsApp Business account becomes a WhatsApp account, which holds the phone number, and a messaging account, which holds templates and billing. Meta says existing IDs, endpoints and access tokens keep working, and that the rollout reaches all businesses by mid-October. Conversation Routing, which decides which provider receives an incoming message when several share a number, was documented the same day.

• Affects: every Platform business, though most will only notice new labels in WhatsApp Manager.

28 September: the free window after an ad is up to 7 days

For conversations started from a Click-to-WhatsApp ad, the free entry point window “may now remain open for up to 7 days, rather than 72 hours”. The ordinary 24-hour window is unchanged.

• Our coverage: the free window after Click-to-WhatsApp ads.

29 September: reactions stay free; an exemption for governments and non-profits

Meta clarified that a reaction is the only service message type not charged for any business from 1 October, and that reactions don’t count towards the free 1,000. Eligible government and non-profit organisations keep free service messages beyond the free tier until 31 December 2027.

October 2026

1 October: replies and in-window utility templates are charged

This is the largest change of the year for Indian bills. Each business phone number gets 1,000 free service messages a month; Meta charges from the 1,001st, at ₹0.115 for Indian recipients on the 1 October rate card, before GST. Utility templates sent inside an open 24-hour window, free since July 2025, are charged at the utility rate. Accounts with no payment method on file by 30 September stopped having chargeable service messages delivered.

• Affects: every business on the Platform.
• Our coverage: the news brief, how far 1,000 free replies go, the full pricing guide.

1 October: maximum price enters open beta

Providers no longer need to allowlist each client. On 5 October Meta added error 131065 for max-price messages sent to countries where the feature is unavailable.

8 October: wider eligibility for Direct Send

Business portfolios with a messaging limit of 100,000 or unlimited are now generally eligible for Direct Send utility messaging.

• Our coverage: messaging limits.

12 October: a marker for exempt service messages

Service messages that are free under the government and non-profit policy now carry a paid_exempt subtype in delivery status data. This was the latest changelog entry when we read it.

Changes Meta has not dated

• Usernames for users. Meta says they will roll out “gradually in 2026” and gives no date.
• A monthly broadcast limit in the app. WhatsApp’s help centre describes “up to 35 free broadcast messages per month” for “people in some countries”. It names no countries. See the 35-broadcast limit.
• India pricing for Meta One. Meta’s posts give US dollar prices only.

What is scheduled next

Only dates Meta or the Gazette of India have published are listed.

Date	What happens	Source
15 October 2026	Embedded Signup versions 2 and 3 are deprecated. Providers must be on version 4	Meta’s Embedded Signup pages
Mid-October 2026	The new account model reaches all businesses	Account model page
Mid-November 2026	Rule 4 of the DPDP Rules, on consent managers, comes into force one year after publication	Gazette, G.S.R. 846(E)
31 December 2026	Last day for eligible Indian businesses to move all messaging accounts to INR	Pricing page
1 January 2027	Meta stops delivering messages from non-INR accounts of eligible Indian businesses	Pricing page
Around May 2027	Most DPDP Rules, including the consent notice, apply 18 months after publication	Gazette, G.S.R. 846(E)
31 December 2027	The service message exemption for eligible governments and non-profits ends	Pricing page

Meta’s pricing page says it updates rates only on 1 January, 1 April, 1 July and 1 October, with at least one month’s notice for a rate-card change. The DPDP dates are explained in the opt-in guide.

If you act on one line of this page, make it the 31 December row: open Billing Hub and check the currency on every messaging account. Terms used here are defined in the glossary.