My message says “Sending…” and never arrives
What each message tick means, and why accepted is not the same as delivered.
A message goes through five states, and the difference between the first two is where most confusion lives.
| Status | What it means |
|---|---|
| Sending… | Accepted by the provider. Not yet delivered — this can still fail. |
| Sent | Left our provider, on its way to WhatsApp. |
| Delivered | Reached the contact’s device. |
| Read | The contact opened it. |
| Failed | This message was not delivered, with the reason next to it. |
Accepting a message is not delivering it. A message can sit at “Sending…” and then fail — that is the provider telling us it took the request, not that WhatsApp took the message.
If messages stay at “Sending…”
- 1Check the public status page. If WhatsApp sending shows degraded or down, the problem is ours and there is an incident note on it.
- 2Check Settings → WhatsApp for the emergency stop. If sending is paused, nothing leaves the workspace.
- 3Check that the callback URL is still configured in Gupshup. Delivery updates come back over that webhook — if it is missing or wrong, messages really do go out but their status never updates.
- 4Message your own number from a phone and see whether it arrives in the Inbox. That tests the inbound half in one step.
- 5Check the recipient’s opt-in status and whether the 24-hour window is open. Outside it, only an approved template can be sent.
If messages say Failed
The failure reason shown next to the message is WhatsApp’s own. Common ones are a number that is not on WhatsApp, a template that was paused between launch and send, and a recipient who has blocked your number.
More in Troubleshooting
- My template is paused — An approved template stopped working — what Meta is telling you and what to do.
- A lead didn’t reach my CRM — Work out whether the lead was never sent, was sent and refused, or arrived and was missed.