--- title: "Broadcasts" description: "Send one approved WhatsApp template to a whole audience from the dashboard. Pick languages, check the cost, then schedule and track every recipient." canonical: "https://bird.com/docs/guides/whatsapp/broadcasts" --- # Broadcasts A broadcast sends one approved [WhatsApp template](/docs/guides/whatsapp/templates) to a whole [audience](/docs/guides/email/audiences) from one of your WhatsApp numbers. Use it for an offer, an announcement or a reminder that goes to many customers at once. Each recipient gets their own conversation with your number. Nobody sees the other recipients. Create broadcasts in **WhatsApp** > **Broadcasts** in the dashboard. Audiences are shared with email, so an audience you built for an email broadcast works here too. To send from your own application, make one [WhatsApp API request](/docs/guides/whatsapp/sending-whatsapp) per recipient instead. ## Prerequisites - A [connected WhatsApp number](/docs/guides/whatsapp/numbers/overview). - An approved template on that number's WhatsApp Business Account. Authentication templates cannot be broadcast. - An audience whose contacts have a phone number. - A WhatsApp plan that includes broadcasts. You can draft, preview and estimate without one. - [Permissions](/docs/guides/users-teams-roles) to edit WhatsApp, to view WhatsApp templates and numbers, and to view email audiences. Creating an audience from the editor also takes permission to edit email marketing. ## Build a draft Select **New broadcast** on the Broadcasts list. The editor is a single page. Every change saves on its own after a moment. The header shows **Saving…**, **Saved** or **Couldn't save** with a retry. 1. Name the broadcast in the page header. 2. In **To**, pick an audience, or create one without leaving the editor. The picker shows how many contacts the audience has. 3. In **Template**, pick an approved template. Its category badge shows whether it is marketing or utility. 4. In **From**, pick the number to send from. The list shows numbers on the template's WhatsApp Business Account. 5. Pick a language. The next section explains the choice. 6. Fill in the template's **Parameters**. Required fields are always visible. **Optional parameters** collapse below them. A media header takes a file from the media library through **Choose from library**, or a URL. The preview on the right renders the message. Pick a contact in **Preview as** to see their version of it, including their language. ## Choose a language The language menu lists the template's approved languages. Its first option is **Auto · phone country**, which is the default. With **Auto**, each recipient gets the language of the country their phone number belongs to. A contact with a Brazilian number gets Portuguese. A contact with a Dutch number gets Dutch. When the template has no approved language for that country, the template's own setting decides: - **Fall back to the default language**: the recipient gets the template's default language. A template's default language carries a **Default** badge in the menu. - **Fail the send**, or a template without a default language: that recipient is skipped. Pick a specific language to send that copy to the whole audience. A chosen language is never swapped for the default. If it is not approved, review blocks the send. Set the fallback in the template builder, under **If the language asked for isn't available**. See [authoring templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/authoring-templates). ## Send a test Below the preview, enter a phone number in **Send test to** and select **Send test**. The test sends the message as it is previewed, personalized with the contact in **Preview as**. It is charged like a [single message](/docs/guides/whatsapp/sending-whatsapp). It does not appear in the broadcast's counts. ## Check the cost Once you pick a template, the editor shows a **Pricing estimate**. It needs an audience and a template. It covers the recipients we can price by their destination country, which can be fewer than the whole audience. The estimate is a guide. The final cost can differ. A template language with a [maximum price](/docs/guides/whatsapp/authoring-templates/marketing) shows a **Delivery optimization** estimate instead. It shows a range, because deliveries depend on the maximum price. Use **Maximum price multiplier** to scale that maximum price for this broadcast. The estimate follows the new value. ## Who a broadcast reaches Some contacts in an audience cannot receive a broadcast. The review dialog's recipient count leaves them out. Its info tooltip lists why. - **No WhatsApp address**: contacts without a phone number. - **Opt-outs**: contacts who [opted out](/docs/guides/whatsapp/opt-outs) or are suppressed. - **No language for their country**: see [Choose a language](#choose-a-language). - **Marketing templates and the United States**: WhatsApp does not deliver marketing templates to US phone numbers. A marketing broadcast skips them. A utility template still reaches them. **Maximum price and the European Economic Area**: a template language with a maximum price does not deliver in countries where WhatsApp offers no maximum price. These include the countries of the European Economic Area. Recipients there still count toward the broadcast. They do not receive the message. To reach them, send a marketing template language without a maximum price. The messaging limit also applies. WhatsApp caps how many people your business can message each day. Review blocks a broadcast whose sendable recipients exceed that limit. It names both numbers. The [number details](/docs/guides/whatsapp/numbers/overview#check-number-details) show the current **Messaging limit**. ## Send or schedule Select **Review and send** to open **Ready to send?**. On a broadcast's detail page, the same button reads **Send or reschedule**. The dialog checks the broadcast first. It shows the template, language, category, audience and sender. The audience row includes the recipient count. It lists anything that blocks the send, such as a missing template, an empty audience or the messaging limit. Then choose **Send now**, or **Schedule for later** and pick a time between one minute and one year ahead. A scheduled broadcast stays editable. Changes saved before sending starts are included. Select **Change send time** in the editor to move it. The template, number and audience checks run again when sending starts, because any of them may have changed since you scheduled it. If your plan does not include broadcasts, review shows **Your plan doesn't include WhatsApp broadcasts**. The draft stays saved. When a published plan includes broadcasts, billing admins can select **Upgrade plan** and return to the same review afterwards. Other members are directed to a billing admin. ## Find a broadcast Search the list by broadcast name, tag or template name. Filter it by status, audience, tag or creation date. The date filter uses when each broadcast was created, not when it sent. Export the current view as a CSV from the button above the table. Above 50,000 rows the export is refused instead of cut short. Narrow the filters and try again. ## Broadcast status | Status | What it means | | ------------- | ----------------------------------------------------------- | | **Draft** | Saved without a send | | **Scheduled** | Waiting for its send time, still editable | | **Accepted** | Committed to send, about to start | | **Sending** | Messages are going out | | **Sent** | Every recipient has been handled | | **Canceling** | Stopping after a cancel | | **Canceled** | Stopped before every recipient was reached | | **Failed** | Stopped by a problem. The detail page shows what went wrong | ## Cancel, duplicate or delete Cancel a scheduled, accepted or sending broadcast from its detail page or the list. Recipients it has not reached yet are skipped. Messages already sent cannot be recalled. **Duplicate** creates an editable copy of any broadcast. A copy can reach people who already received the original. Delete works on a draft only. It is permanent. ## When a broadcast fails A failed broadcast shows **Broadcast stopped** on its detail page, with the cause. | Cause | What to do | | -------------------------------------------------- | --------------------------------------------------------------------- | | The audience has nobody to reach | Add contacts, or check the [opt-outs](/docs/guides/whatsapp/opt-outs) | | The audience no longer exists | Pick another audience and send again | | The template, number or content is no longer valid | Fix what the message names, such as a template that lost approval | | The number's messaging limit is too low | Narrow the audience, or wait for a higher limit | | Not enough balance | Top up the wallet, then send again | | Something went wrong on our side | Send again. Contact support if it repeats | ## Track delivery After sending starts, the **Overview** tab shows **Recipients**, **Sent**, **Delivered**, **Read** and **Failed**. Before then, it shows how many contacts the audience has and how many the broadcast can reach. The **Recipients** tab lists each recipient with their **Status**, **When** and **Latency**. A message the recipient read shows **Read**. Expand a row to see that message's full timeline. Search takes a complete phone number or WhatsApp user ID. Export the tab as a CSV of up to 500,000 rows. Select **View message log** to open the [message log](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-log) filtered to this broadcast. Combine it with a status filter to find the messages that failed. ## Next steps - [WhatsApp templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/templates): the approved content a broadcast sends - [Authoring templates](/docs/guides/whatsapp/authoring-templates): languages, the default language and the fallback setting - [Marketing campaigns](/docs/guides/whatsapp/marketing-campaigns): plan the audience, content and replies - [Opt-outs](/docs/guides/whatsapp/opt-outs): how customers stop your messages - [Message log](/docs/guides/whatsapp/message-log): every message a broadcast sends ## Related resources - [Connecting WhatsApp to Bird: from buying a number to a live channel](/learn/whatsapp/connecting-whatsapp-to-bird) (video) - [What is the 24-hour customer service window on WhatsApp?](/explained/whatsapp/what-is-the-24-hour-customer-service-window) (answer) - [WhatsApp message builder](/tools/whatsapp-message-builder) (tool) - [WhatsApp](/whatsapp-api) (product) [Get an implementation brief](/learn/workspace?topic=whatsapp)