ERROR: Message not sent. Recipient phone number not in allowed list: Add recipient phone number to recipient list and try again

Are you seeing this error when trying to send a message? 

Message not sent. Recipient phone number not in allowed list: Add recipient phone number to recipient list and try again

Let’s understand why this happens and how you can resolve it.

Why do you get this error?

This error usually comes when you’ve set up your phone number with WhatsApp API using our Direct setup method, and instead of using live phone number credentials, you are using the credentials of the test phone number provided by WhatsApp.

When you set up WhatsApp Business API on the Meta For Developers portal, WhatsApp provides you with a test phone number that you can use to try out the API.

ou can also use this test number and its API credentials with WANotifier to send test messages.

However, when you use a test phone number, WhatsApp only allows you to send messages to numbers that you manually add to the test recipient list in the Meta portal. 

If you try to send a message to any number that is not on this list, the message will fail, and you’ll get this error. 

This is expected behavior when working with test credentials.

How to fix this error

There are two ways to fix this, depending on what your end goal is: testing the API’s messaging capabilities or sending real messages to customers.

Option 1: Add recipient numbers to the test recipient list (for testing)

If you are using the test number to try out the API’s messaging features, make sure that all recipient phone numbers are added to the test recipient phone numbers list on the Meta for Developers portal.

Once you’ve added a few recipients, try sending a Notification to them from WANotifier.

Option 2: Switch to your own phone number and use its API credentials

If you want to send and receive messages without any restrictions, you should connect WANotifier to your own phone number and its API credentials. You can then send messages to anyone and also receive incoming messages.

We recommend this option if you plan to send messages to real customers.

You can learn more about the limitations of test phone numbers here.

Updated on: 26/06/2025