Opt-outs and WhatsApp consent (STOP / START)
How Vatli honours STOP automatically, how to mark someone as opted out or back in, and who will and won't receive messages.
Meta requires businesses to stop messaging people who ask them to. Vatli does this for you, across every way of sending.
Automatic opt-out and opt-in by keyword
When a customer sends only one of these words (any case), Vatli updates their consent:
| Customer sends | Result |
|---|---|
STOP, UNSUBSCRIBE, CANCEL, END, QUIT | Opted out |
START, UNSTOP, SUBSCRIBE | Opted back in |
The keyword must be the whole message — “please don’t stop” doesn’t count.
The three consent states
| State | What happens |
|---|---|
| Can be messaged on WhatsApp | “Broadcasts and automations may reach this contact.” |
| Opted out of WhatsApp | “Broadcasts skip them, and every other send is refused.” This includes automations, flows, the AI assistant and the API. |
| Blocked from WhatsApp | “Every send is refused while this is set.” A block isn’t cleared from the contact page. |
The consent box also shows how the state was set — the contact replied on WhatsApp, set by a teammate, came in on an import or set through the API — and when.
Mark someone as opted out (or back in) by hand
- Open the contact → Details tab → WhatsApp consent.
- Click Mark as opted out (or Mark as opted in).
- Optionally click Add a reason — e.g. “asked us to stop during a call”. The reason is saved with the record.
- Click Save Changes.
Find opted-out contacts
On the Contacts page, click the Opted out filter. Opted-out contacts also show a banner in the inbox’s contact panel.
Importing a list that already tracks consent? Add a whatsapp_consent column to your CSV — see Import contacts.