WABA Auto-Recharge

Description

When your account runs out of balance to send WhatsApp Business messages, you don’t have to wait for your billing cycle to renew: you can recharge your own bundle at any time from Reach. You can also check how much balance you have left at any time and set up email alerts so your team never gets stuck without being able to reply.

Any account with the WhatsApp Business channel active and permissions to access the Add-ons tab under My Account can use this feature.

Plan types

What happens with your recharge depends on the type of plan you have:

The main difference: Recurring guarantees you a fixed, automatic monthly balance, while Recharge gives you full flexibility with no expiration date.

Prerequisites

• Your account must have the WhatsApp Business channel active.
• You need permissions to access the Add-ons tab under My Account.
• Have a valid payment card ready to complete checkout.

Procedure: recharge your balance

Buy additional units for your WhatsApp Business bundle and keep sending templates without waiting for the next billing cycle. Payment is processed by card through OrbiPay, our recurring-payments solution that automates and simplifies payment management.

1. Go to My Account and open the Add-ons tab. Find the Message recharge card there.

2. Click Recharge to open the recharge window.
3. In WABA balance recharge, choose the amount in Units to recharge using the + / − buttons.

4. Review the total under Due today and click Recharge to confirm.
5. A new tab opens with OrbiPay. Complete the card payment there — don’t close the Reach tab.
6. Reach automatically waits for your payment to be confirmed.

Fields and options

Expected result

If the payment is confirmed, your balance updates instantly and you can make another recharge from the same message. If it isn’t completed, nothing is deducted from your bundle — you can try again whenever you want.

Checking your payments

All your recharges are recorded under Account statement, inside My Account: date, amount, card used, and whether the payment was approved, is pending, or was rejected by OrbiPay.

Procedure: check your balance and usage

Check at any time how much balance you have left and how much you’ve used from your current cycle’s WhatsApp Business bundle.

1. Go to Reports.
2. Open the WhatsApp Business Report.
3. Find the WABA Message Usage card.

Fields and options

What happens when the balance runs out

When your bundle’s balance reaches zero, Reach blocks sending new WhatsApp Business messages until you make a recharge.

While the balance is at zero, this notice completely replaces the composer: there’s no text box or send button, just this message. The first time this happens in a conversation, a separate notification with the same text also appears.

To restore sending immediately, make a recharge following the procedure in the previous section.

Procedure: set up consumption alerts

Besides checking the report manually, you can get an automatic email when your WhatsApp Business package’s usage reaches certain percentages — so you find out before running out of balance, without having to check the report every day.

1. Go to Settings and open Notifications.
2. Find the WABA (WhatsApp Business API) package usage card.

3. Select the percentages at which you want to get an alert (you can choose several: 50%, 75%, 90%, and/or 100%).
4. Add the emails of the people who should receive the notification under Email recipients.
5. Click Save.

What you get by email

Important considerations

• The 1,000 free service messages Meta grants per number each month do expire at the end of the month and don’t roll over. This is separate from your bundles: if you don’t use them that month, they’re lost and reset with the next cycle.
• On the Recurring plan, the bundle balance doesn’t roll over: at the end of each month it resets to the contracted amount, regardless of the previous period’s usage.
• On the Recharge plan, the balance doesn’t expire — it’s consumed as it’s used.
• The price of each recharge unit is shown in US dollars (USD), even if your account is billed in another currency.
• If a payment isn’t completed, nothing is deducted from your bundle — you can try again whenever you want.
• While the balance is at zero, sending messages is completely blocked until a recharge is made.

Best practices

• Recharge ahead of large campaigns or expected spikes in conversations, so you don’t run out of balance partway through.
• Use the consumption report to calculate how many units you need before recharging.
• If a payment shows as “Rejected” or “Pending,” check the Account statement before trying again — you can confirm there whether the charge actually went through.
• Check the consumption report regularly, especially before launching a campaign, to anticipate whether you’ll need a recharge.
• Schedule a recharge before the balance hits zero, using the consumption report, so your team never gets stuck without being able to reply.
• Add more than one team member’s email to the alerts, so they don’t depend on a single inbox.
• Turn on at least the 75% and 90% thresholds — that gives you time to recharge before hitting 0%.

Frequently asked questions

What happens if my payment doesn’t go through?

Nothing is deducted from your bundle. You can try the recharge again whenever you want.

Do Meta’s 1,000 free monthly messages roll over from one month to the next?

No. They expire at the end of each month and don’t accumulate, regardless of your recharge bundles.

What currency is the recharge charged in?

The per-unit price is shown in US dollars (USD), even if your account is billed in another currency.

Can I choose how many units to recharge?

Yes, in steps of one, using the + and − buttons in the recharge window.