There are three ways to send bulk WhatsApp messages: a broadcast list in the free app, an unofficial bulk sender, or the official WhatsApp Business API. Only the third one scales past a few hundred contacts, and only the third one is safe. The middle option is how most people get their number banned.
The free app: broadcast lists
The WhatsApp and WhatsApp Business apps both have broadcast lists. You pick contacts, write one message, and everyone receives it as a normal one-to-one chat. Replies come back privately, so it is not a group.
Two limits make this useless past a certain size.
- A broadcast list holds a maximum of 256 contacts.
- Recipients only receive the message if they have saved your number in their phone. Most customers have not. You will send to 256 people and reach a fraction of them, with no way to tell which.
To find an existing list in the app, open the chats tab and look for the Broadcast Lists entry at the top of the list on Android, or tap Broadcast Lists above your chats on iPhone. Existing broadcasts also appear in your normal chat list, so searching the list name in the search bar will surface it.
Bulk sender apps: why the number gets banned
Search for a bulk WhatsApp sender and you will find browser extensions, desktop tools, and APKs that automate WhatsApp Web. They work by driving the interface the way a person would, only faster.
Meta detects this. Automating an unofficial client breaks the WhatsApp Terms of Service, and the enforcement is a ban on the phone number, not a warning. You lose the number, the chat history, and any customer who only knows you by it. If your business runs on that number, this is not a risk worth taking to save a few thousand rupees.
The other tell: these tools cannot send to people who have not saved your number either, because they are still driving the consumer app. You inherit every limit of the free app plus the ban risk.
The API: how bulk sending actually works
The WhatsApp Business API is Meta’s official route. It has no contact ceiling, and it does not care whether the recipient saved your number. There is one rule that shapes everything: to start a conversation you must use an approved message template.
A template is a message format you submit to Meta in advance, with placeholders for the parts that change. Meta reviews it, usually within a few hours. Once approved, you can send it to any number of contacts, with each person’s name, order number, or appointment time filled in.
The practical flow on a platform like Boldally Chat: upload your contacts as a CSV, pick an approved template, map the placeholder columns, choose a segment, and send. Delivery, read, and reply stats come back per campaign. You can draft and preview a template with our template generator before submitting it.
What it costs
Meta charges per conversation, by category. Marketing conversations cost more than utility ones, and replies inside the 24-hour service window are free. A campaign to 5,000 contacts is 5,000 marketing conversations.
The cost most people miss is platform markup. Many providers resell Meta’s rates with 10 to 20 percent added on top, which on a regular campaign schedule is real money. Boldally passes Meta’s rates through at cost. Run your own numbers in the cost calculator or see the rate table on our pricing page.
Sending bulk messages that do not get you reported
Deliverability on WhatsApp is reputation-driven. Meta tracks a quality rating per number, and blocks and reports push it down. Enough of that and your messaging limit drops or your number is restricted. The rules that keep it healthy are not complicated.
- Send only to people who opted in. A purchased list is the fastest way to a low quality rating.
- Segment. A relevant message to 500 people beats the same message to 5,000. Blast everyone and you train them to block you.
- Make leaving easy. An opt-out line costs you a few unsubscribes and saves you the blocks that actually hurt.
- Pick the right category. Sending marketing content under a utility template gets templates rejected and, repeated, damages the account.
- Watch the first campaigns. New numbers start at a lower messaging tier and earn their way up. Ramp gradually rather than sending 10,000 on day one.
Which one should you use?
If you are a solo seller messaging under 256 customers who have all saved your number, the free app’s broadcast list is enough. If you need to reach more than that, reach people who have not saved you, personalise per contact, or see who actually opened, you need the API. There is no third option that is both safe and scalable.
See how teams in different industries run campaigns on our use cases page.
Common questions
How many people can I send a WhatsApp broadcast to?
In the free app, 256 per broadcast list, and only those who saved your number. On the API there is no list limit, though your account has a daily messaging tier that starts at 1,000 unique customers and increases as you send consistently with a good quality rating.
Can I schedule bulk WhatsApp messages?
Not in the free app, which has no scheduling. On the API, campaign scheduling is a platform feature. In Boldally Chat you pick a date and time when creating the campaign.
Will people know it was a bulk message?
It arrives as a normal one-to-one chat, and replies come to you privately. Recipients do not see who else received it. Templates with placeholders make each message read as if it were addressed to that person, because it was.
Is bulk messaging on WhatsApp legal in India?
Sending through the official API to contacts who opted in is fine. What creates a problem is unsolicited messaging and unofficial sender tools, which breach WhatsApp’s terms regardless of local law. Keep a record of how each contact opted in.