Before you start
The WhatsApp phone number you’re creating the template under must already be activated as a channel in an Octopods workspace.
You need the final message text ready, including the exact variable placeholders you’ll fill in at send time.
The template name you plan to use must not already exist on the same WhatsApp Business Account (WABA) in the same language.
Opening the template editor
Sign in to Octopods.
Open the workspace.
Go to Channels and open the WhatsApp channel for the phone number you’re creating the template under.
In the Channel Actions card, press Manage Templates. This opens the Message Templates page for the channel.
Press New Template.
You’ll land on the New WhatsApp Template page with a form grouped under a Template Details heading.
Filling in the form
Template name. Use lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores only (for example, order_confirmation). The name must be at least two characters long. Meta treats it as the unique identifier for the template in your WABA, so it cannot be changed later — pick something descriptive.
Template body. Enter the main message text. The maximum length is 4,096 characters. Use #{{1}}, #{{2}}, #{{3}}, and so on to mark places where dynamic values will be inserted when the template is sent — variable numbers must be sequential starting at 1. Meta requires a placeholder example for every variable; you’ll provide those below.
Template language. Pick the language the template is written in from the dropdown. Octopods supports the full Meta language list, including major locales (English, Spanish, French) and regional variants (English (UK), Spanish (Mexico), Portuguese (Brazil)). The language you pick affects matching — you can have the same template name in multiple languages, and WhatsApp picks the correct language for each recipient when you send.
Template category. Pick one of Marketing (promotions, product recommendations, re-engagement), Utility (transactional updates tied to a real user action), or Authentication (one-time passwords and verification codes). See Understanding WhatsApp Templates for what goes in each category.
Allow category change. A checkbox labeled Allow category change sits below the category field and is checked by default. When checked, Meta is permitted to reclassify the template during review if its content better fits a different category — this is recommended because it avoids an outright rejection when the category is a close miss. When unchecked, Meta will reject the template outright rather than moving it to a different category.
Tip: Leave Allow category change enabled unless you have a specific reason to lock the template to one category.
Providing placeholder examples
Once your body text is entered, the form adds a Template Placeholders section — one input per #{{N}} variable in the body.
For each placeholder, enter a realistic example value (for example, Alex for a name placeholder, ORD-12345 for an order number). Meta uses these examples to review the template content, so make sure they actually look like what you’ll send in production.
Note: WhatsApp requires each body variable to have a default placeholder for the template to be accepted. Skipping a placeholder causes the template to be rejected.
Submitting for review
When every field is filled in:
Double-check the name, language, category, body, and placeholder values.
Press Create Template.
The template is submitted to Meta and moves into the Pending state. See Template Approval and Status for what happens next and how long it takes.
Common mistakes to avoid
Mismatched placeholder counts. Every
#{{N}}in the body needs exactly one example value.Gaps in variable numbering. Use
#{{1}},#{{2}},#{{3}}— not#{{1}},#{{3}}.Wrong category. Picking Utility for promotional content is the most common reason for rejection.
Invalid characters in the name. Only lowercase letters, numbers, and underscores are allowed. Spaces, hyphens, and capital letters are rejected before submission.
What’s next