Ads in WhatsApp Status

Updated: Jul 28, 2026

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Ads in WhatsApp Status are available via the Marketing API. Learn more about ads in WhatsApp Status.

Businesses use WhatsApp Status to engage with their audiences through photos, videos, and text. Ads in WhatsApp Status help your business get discovered by new customers and make it easy for them to connect with you about your products or services.

Where ads in WhatsApp Status will appear

These ads only appear in WhatsApp Statuses, which are separate from chats and calls. Statuses in WhatsApp are single vertical images or videos up to 60 minutes with a 9:16 aspect ratio that disappear after 24 hours.

If you use WhatsApp for messaging and calling with your friends and family, nothing changes. Like everything we do at WhatsApp, we’ve built these features in the most private way possible. We don’t use the content of your personal messages, calls, and status, location shared in chats, your device contacts, or your membership in groups with friends and family to show you ads. We do not sell or share your phone number with advertisers. We don’t keep logs of who everyone is messaging, and your personal messages, calls, and status remain end-to-end encrypted. We do not track the personal messages people are sending one another for ads.

Limitations

WhatsApp Status is available when Instagram Stories is also selected (instagram_positions: ["story"]). Standalone Status campaigns are not supported at this time.

Single image, single video, and carousel (up to 10 cards) formats are supported. Collection and flexible format ads are not supported.

Special ad categories (Finance, Employment, Housing, and Social Issues/Elections/Politics) are not eligible for WhatsApp Status.

Sensitive verticals (Pharma, Healthcare, and GSI) are excluded from WhatsApp Status delivery.

A/B testing, Dynamic Creative Optimization (DCO), and Reach and Frequency buying are not compatible with WhatsApp Status.

Advantage+ Creative tools are not available for the WhatsApp Status placement.

Updating wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec on an existing creative is not supported. To change the identity, create a new creative.

At this time, ads in Status are available globally, except in the EU, UK, Iran, Cuba, Syria, Russia, and North Korea.

Supported objectives and optimization goals

Ads in WhatsApp Status support the following campaign objectives and their corresponding optimization goals:

Objective	Optimization goals
`OUTCOME_AWARENESS`	`REACH`, `IMPRESSIONS`, `THRUPLAY`
`OUTCOME_TRAFFIC`	`LINK_CLICKS`, `REACH`, `IMPRESSIONS`, `CONVERSATIONS`, `LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS`
`OUTCOME_ENGAGEMENT`	`LINK_CLICKS`, `REACH`, `IMPRESSIONS`, `CONVERSATIONS`, `THRUPLAY`, `LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS`, `OFFSITE_CONVERSIONS`
`OUTCOME_LEADS`	`LINK_CLICKS`, `REACH`, `IMPRESSIONS`, `CONVERSATIONS`, `LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS`
`OUTCOME_SALES`	`LINK_CLICKS`, `REACH`, `IMPRESSIONS`, `CONVERSATIONS`, `LANDING_PAGE_VIEWS`

Supported destinations are WhatsApp chat and website. A WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) is not required for the website destination.

Placement setup

Permissions

All endpoints require one of the following permissions on your access token:

ads_management

business_management (if access is granted through Business Manager)

Targeting configuration

To deliver ads on WhatsApp Status, your ad set targeting must include both the whatsapp publisher platform with the status position and the instagram publisher platform with the story position:

{
  "targeting": {
    "publisher_platforms": ["instagram", "whatsapp"],
    "instagram_positions": ["story"],
    "whatsapp_positions": ["status"]
  }
}

Reaching people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown

WhatsApp’s Terms of Service⁠ requires users to be at least 13 years old to register for and use WhatsApp (or greater in some countries or territories). Because we don’t have age information for all users, you have an option to reach user_age_unknown users in your ad set’s audience. Ads delivered to people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown must be suitable for people of all ages. As always, you are required to follow our Advertising Standards⁠.

Using this feature is optional and only applies to people using WhatsApp. You can opt out at any time by setting user_age_unknown: false in your ad set targeting spec. Excluding people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown may substantially reduce delivery to people on WhatsApp.

If the WhatsApp Status placement is included and this field is not set, it defaults to true, meaning people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown are included in your audience.

Value	Behavior
`true` (or omitted)	People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown are included in the ad set audience. This is the default.
`false`	People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown are excluded from the ad set audience.

See People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown⁠ for more information.

Example: include people on WhatsApp whose age is unknown

{
  "targeting": {
    "geo_locations": {"countries": ["US"]},
    "publisher_platforms": ["instagram", "whatsapp"],
    "instagram_positions": ["story"],
    "whatsapp_positions": ["status"],
    "user_age_unknown": true
  }
}

WhatsApp identity

Ad creatives for WhatsApp Status use the wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec field to associate a WhatsApp business profile with the ad. This identity controls the profile name and image that appear on the Status ad.

Identity types

The wamo_whatsapp_identity_id field accepts an ID from one of three entity types:

Identity type	Description
Page ID	Facebook Page identity (`PAGE_BACKED`).
Page WhatsApp Number ID	A Phone Link or Business Link identity.
WhatsApp Business Account to Number ID	A Business Connected identity.

When you create a creative for a campaign with the WhatsApp Status placement, you should provide a wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec. If an identity is not specified, the Facebook Page identity is shown by default.

Create an ad creative for WhatsApp Status

Use the POST /act_<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives endpoint to create an ad creative. WhatsApp Status creatives support single image, single video, and carousel (up to 10 cards) formats with link_data in the object_story_spec.

Parameters

Name	Description	Example
`wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec`	Optional. Contains `wamo_whatsapp_identity_id` to associate a WhatsApp identity with the ad, and `whatsapp_phone_number` to specify the WhatsApp phone number. If not provided, some ads may not deliver to WhatsApp Status.	`{"wamo_whatsapp_identity_id": "987654321098765", "whatsapp_phone_number": "+1234567890"}`

Examples

Create an ad creative with identity

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/act_123456789/adcreatives' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '{
  "object_story_spec": {
    "page_id": "109876543210",
    "link_data": {
      "link": "https://www.example.com/summer-sale",
      "call_to_action": {
        "type": "WHATSAPP_MESSAGE",
        "value": {
          "app_destination": "whatsapp"
        }
      }
    }
  },
  "wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec": {
    "wamo_whatsapp_identity_id": "987654321098765",
    "whatsapp_phone_number": "+1234567890"
  }
}'

Read ad creatives with WhatsApp identity

To retrieve the wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec field from existing ad creatives, include it in the fields parameter of any GET creative endpoint:

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/<AD_CREATIVE_ID>?fields=wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec{wamo_whatsapp_identity_id,whatsapp_phone_number}' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...'

The following GET endpoints support the wamo_whatsapp_identity_spec field:

Endpoint	Description
`GET /<AD_CREATIVE_ID>`	Read a single ad creative.
`GET /<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/adcreatives`	List all ad creatives for an ad account.
`GET /<CAMPAIGN_ID>/adcreatives`	List ad creatives for a campaign.
`GET /<AD_ID>/adcreatives`	List ad creatives for an ad.

Preview ads on WhatsApp Status

To generate a preview of an ad rendered on WhatsApp Status, use ad_format=WHATSAPP_STATUS_MEDIA with any preview endpoint. Previews render with the correct WhatsApp identity.

Endpoint	Description
`GET /<AD_CREATIVE_ID>/previews`	Preview an ad creative.
`GET /<AD_ID>/previews`	Preview an ad.
`GET /<AD_ACCOUNT_ID>/generatepreviews`	Generate a preview from a creative spec.

Example request

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/120210123456780123/previews?ad_format=WHATSAPP_STATUS_MEDIA' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...'

Next steps

Placement targeting

People on WhatsApp whose age is unknown⁠

Ads that Click to WhatsApp