Read the exact message WhatsApp shows, work out whether it is a temporary ban, a ban, or a restriction, remove anything unofficial from the phone, and then request a review once from inside the official app. Do not register a different number to carry on. That is ban evasion, and it puts the review of your real number at risk.
At a glance
- Temporarily banned
- A countdown and a message saying the account is temporarily banned. First move: remove any unofficial app or scraping tool and switch to the official app.
- Banned
- A message that the phone number cannot use WhatsApp. First move: tap Request review once, if the option appears.
- Restricted
- You can message existing contacts but cannot start new chats or add people to groups. First move: stop the bulk or automated messaging and let the restriction run out.
- Taken over
- You were logged out and someone else is using your number. First move: register the number again with the code sent to your SIM.
- Business Platform violation
- A WhatsApp Business account shows a policy issue in Meta's business tools. First move: open Business Support Home and review the violation.
Which message are you seeing?
The wording tells you which situation you are in, and the situations share very few steps. Match yours against the table before you do anything else.
| Message | What it means | Common cause | First step |
|---|---|---|---|
| Temporarily banned | A ban with a countdown that lifts once it runs out. | An unofficial app such as GB WhatsApp or WhatsApp Plus, or scraping. | Switch to the official app and stop the cause before the countdown ends. |
| Banned, with Request review | The number cannot use WhatsApp, but the ban can be appealed. | Spam, bulk or automated messaging, reports from recipients, or another Terms of Service issue. | Remove the cause, then request a review once from the app. |
| Banned, no review option | WhatsApp treats the ban as final. | Usually a serious or repeated violation. | Check whether a business account has a separate route before accepting it. |
| Restricted | Existing chats work, but new chats, new groups, and linked devices do not. | Activity that looked like spam, automated, or bulk messaging. | Stop the activity and wait for the restriction to end. |
| Business Platform violation | A WhatsApp Business account has a policy issue in Meta Business Support Home. | Messaging or content that breaks WhatsApp's business policies, or low quality signals. | Review the violation and request a review in Business Support Home. |
| Someone else registered your number | You were logged out and a code you did not request arrived. | A shared registration code, usually through a message pretending to be a friend. | Register the number again with the code sent to your SIM. |
What should you do first?
Record the message, remove whatever caused the ban, and request a review once from inside the official app. Each step below either preserves evidence or removes a signal that makes the reviewer trust the number less.
- Screenshot the message and note when it appeared. The exact wording tells you whether the account is temporarily banned, banned, or restricted, and whether a review option exists. It is the first thing anyone helping you will ask for.
- Remove any unofficial app and install the official one. If the number ran on GB WhatsApp, WhatsApp Plus, or any other modified client, uninstall it and install WhatsApp or WhatsApp Business from an official app store or WhatsApp's website. WhatsApp's article on account bans for unofficial apps is clear that this comes before anything else.
- Stop bulk, automated, or unsolicited messaging. Broadcast tools, auto replies run through unofficial software, and messages to people who never asked to hear from you are the usual cause of spam bans. Switch them off before you appeal, not after.
- Request a review once, from inside the app. Tap Request review under the ban message and give a short, accurate account of how the number is used. WhatsApp reviews one phone number per request. If no review option appears, WhatsApp treats the ban as final, as its article About account bans explains.
- Check the status in the app, not elsewhere. WhatsApp states that contacting it outside the review process, or through someone else's account, does not speed up the review or change the decision. The app is where the outcome appears.
- If someone took your number, register it again. Sign back in on your own phone with the code WhatsApp sends to your SIM. That logs the other person out. If they set a two step verification PIN, WhatsApp makes you wait before you can sign in without it. The steps are in How to recover a compromised account.
- Secure the number once it is back. Set a two step verification PIN, add an email address to the account, and review every linked device. Never share the registration code WhatsApp sends you, with anyone.
What if the banned number is a business number?
Then the first question is which WhatsApp it runs on, because the WhatsApp Business app and the WhatsApp Business Platform are reviewed in completely different places. Getting that wrong sends the appeal to a desk that cannot act on it.
A number on the WhatsApp Business app is reviewed like any other account. You tap Request review inside the Business app, and the decision appears there. A banned business account also loses any Meta Verified subscription. WhatsApp's article on account bans on the WhatsApp Business app covers this route.
A number on the WhatsApp Business Platform, the version businesses reach directly or through a solution provider, is different. WhatsApp's help center states that WhatsApp Support does not handle Business Platform bans. The violation sits in Meta Business Support Home, under the business portfolio that owns the WhatsApp Business account, and the appeal is filed there by selecting the policy issue and requesting a review. Meta walks through it in View policy violation details for your WhatsApp Business account.
For Business Platform numbers, the phone number quality rating is the early warning. A falling rating means recipients are blocking or reporting your messages, and acting on that before a restriction lands is far easier than appealing one afterwards. Opt in records, message templates people actually want, and a clear way to stop messages all count in your favour when a review happens.
What should you not do?
Do not register a new number to carry on, do not go back to a modified app, do not pay anyone who says they can unban you, and do not report your own hijacked account. Each of these is common, and each one makes recovery harder.
The new number is the tempting one, especially for a business that needs to keep taking orders. Using a different number to keep doing what the banned number was doing is ban evasion, and it puts the review of the number you actually want back at risk. Let customers know through your other channels while the review runs.
The unban service is the expensive one. WhatsApp states that third party services cannot ban an account or remove a ban, and that only WhatsApp can. People selling an unban are usually after your registration code, which is exactly what someone needs to take the number from you.
The report is the counterintuitive one. If someone else is using your number, it feels natural to report the account. WhatsApp warns that reporting a compromised account you are trying to recover can get that account banned, so recover it first.
When should you get help?
Get help when a review request has been rejected and you are not sure whether another route exists, when the number carries a business's customer conversations, when several WhatsApp Business Platform accounts sit under one restricted business portfolio, or when you cannot tell what caused the ban in the first place. Those are the cases where one accurate submission matters and guesswork costs the most.
Is a banned number cutting your business off from its customers?
Send us the number, the message, and a timeline. We respond within one business day and tell you on the call whether there is a realistic path back.
Start a Recovery CaseHow Nexus Multimedia handles these cases
Recovery runs through WhatsApp's in-app review request, WhatsApp support, and Meta's business account review flow, with proper documentation. There is no other route. What separates a strong case from a weak one is usually the diagnosis: the right channel for the kind of account, the cause removed before the appeal goes in, and a review request that describes the number accurately.
We accept a case only when there is a realistic path to recovery. On the intake call we tell you which ban or restriction applies, what most likely caused it, and whether a review is worth building, and you get a fixed quote before any work starts. If it is not worth building, we say so and there is nothing to pay. Nexus Multimedia is not affiliated with YouTube, Google, WhatsApp, or Meta.
The full scope of what we handle, from temporary bans to Business Platform restrictions, is on our WhatsApp account recovery page, and the other platforms we cover are on our social media account recovery service. If the same business has also lost a YouTube channel, the companion piece is what to do when a YouTube channel is terminated.
Frequently asked questions
It means the number is banned. If a Request review option appears under the message, the ban can be appealed from inside the app. If it does not, WhatsApp treats the ban as final.
It can be. Phone numbers are reissued, and WhatsApp notes that a number you recently received may carry a ban caused by its previous owner. The route is the same in-app review request, and WhatsApp covers it in its article on account bans for previously owned phone numbers.
Not necessarily, but it is a warning. A restricted account can still message existing contacts, and the restriction ends on its own when its time runs out. Carrying on with the bulk or automated messaging that caused it is how a restriction becomes a ban.
No. A solution provider can help you find the violation and file the appeal, but only WhatsApp and Meta decide it. For Business Platform accounts the review happens in Meta Business Support Home.
Because WhatsApp may ban the account you report, and that account is yours. WhatsApp's own guidance is to recover the account first by registering your number again, and only then deal with reporting.
A two step verification PIN, an email address on the account, and a review of every linked device. Never share the registration code WhatsApp sends you, with anyone, for any reason.