On this page
Channel health is what a channel card on Settings, then Channels, tells you about a connection right now: whether its access token is healthy, expiring or expired, what Meta's quality rating and phone number status currently are, and whether the underlying WhatsApp Business Account is still reachable at all, so a problem shows up as a plain banner before it becomes a support ticket.
Channel health: first 5 of 7 steps
- 1Open Settings, then Channels
- 2Read the token banner, if one is
- 3Check the quality rating badge on a
- 4Check the phone number status badge
- 5Look for the WABA access banner
Before you start
- Anyone with the org settings permission can view channel health; reconnecting a channel needs the same permission (Owner or Admin, or a custom role granted
settings:org). - Health signals are checked automatically once a day per channel by a background job, and refreshed live whenever you click Refresh on a card or open the Analytics page.
- Every connected channel, WhatsApp, Messenger or Instagram, tracks its own token and status independently; a problem on one number does not affect another.
Steps
- Open Settings, then Channels. Every connected channel appears as its own card, WhatsApp numbers first, then any connected Messenger and Instagram pages.
Read the token banner, if one is showing. A yellow banner reading "Connection expiring soon" names the exact expiry date; a red banner reading "Connection expired" means the channel has already stopped sending and receiving.
Check the quality rating badge on a WhatsApp number. Green reads "High quality," yellow reads "Medium quality," red reads "Low quality." This comes directly from Meta and updates as your sending behaviour and recipient feedback change.
Check the phone number status badge. Connected is healthy; Flagged, Rate Limited and Restricted are cautionary states Meta applies for a specific reason; Disconnected or Banned mean the number cannot send at all through this connection.
Look for the WABA access banner. "Disconnected from WhatsApp" means Meta removed the underlying WhatsApp Business Account or revoked this app's access to it, a more serious state than a simple token expiry.
Click Refresh for a live check. Instead of waiting for the next scheduled check, Refresh calls Meta directly and updates every badge on the card immediately.
Reconnect when a banner tells you to. Use the Connect or Reconnect button on the card, which restarts Embedded Signup and issues a fresh token; message history and settings are unaffected.
What you will see
A healthy channel shows no banners at all, just its status badges: Connected, a quality rating, and a username badge if one is claimed. A channel with a problem shows a coloured banner naming the exact issue in plain language, not a Meta error code, plus what to do about it. Anything account-wide and serious, an expiring or expired token, a disconnected WhatsApp Business Account, also reaches the org owner as an alert outside the settings page itself, in-app, by mobile push, and by email where configured.
Settings and options
| Indicator | What it means | Where it comes from |
|---|---|---|
| Token status badge (healthy / expiring soon / expired / invalid) | Whether the Meta access token behind this connection still works | A daily background check, plus a live check on Refresh |
| Quality rating (High / Medium / Low) | Meta's own assessment of this WhatsApp number's recent recipient feedback | Meta's Graph API, cached and refreshed on the Analytics page and Refresh |
| Phone number status (Connected, Flagged, Rate Limited, Restricted, Disconnected, Banned) | Meta's current standing for the number itself, separate from your access token | Meta's Graph API |
| WABA access banner ("Disconnected from WhatsApp") | Whether the WhatsApp Business Account behind the number is still reachable at all | Detected when Meta reports the account as inaccessible |
| Refresh button | Forces an immediate live check instead of waiting for the daily automatic one | Manual, click any time |
Troubleshooting
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| "Connection expiring soon" banner | Embedded Signup token nearing its roughly 60-day expiry | Reconnect via Embedded Signup on the channel card before the stated date |
| "Connection expired" banner, sending and receiving stopped | The token expired without being renewed | Reconnect via Embedded Signup; history and settings are preserved, only new activity was interrupted |
| "Disconnected from WhatsApp" | The WhatsApp Business Account was removed on Meta's side, or app access was revoked | Reconnect via Embedded Signup; if it fails, check the WhatsApp Business Account's status directly in Meta Business Manager |
| Quality rating shows red (Low quality) | Meta's rating dropped from recent recipient blocks or negative feedback on this number | See understanding and recovering your quality rating; VGraple CRM's pacing already slows this number automatically |
| Messages stopped arriving but the channel card shows no banner at all | A Meta webhook subscription gap rather than a token problem; the background process that keeps subscriptions healthy runs on its own schedule | Disconnect and reconnect the channel to force a fresh webhook subscription, which resolves most cases immediately |
| Instagram or Messenger card shows "Reconnect required" | That page's access token expired or was revoked, tracked the same way as WhatsApp tokens | Click Reconnect on the card and complete the Facebook Login popup again |
Related reading
If a health issue is specifically the quality rating, see understanding and recovering your quality rating for what actually moves it. If you run multiple WhatsApp numbers, remember every card tracks its own health independently, so check each one rather than assuming a healthy default channel means every number is fine.