NOT SENT means the template never reached Meta. It is not waiting in a review queue, and no decision is coming. Meta's system blocked the submission before the review started, because something in the template breaks its content rules.
This matters because it is the one status that will never change on its own. A template left on NOT SENT stays there forever, and the campaign behind it never sends.
Getting it unstuck
Select the NOT SENT status first. If it changes to PENDING, the submission went through and there is nothing more to do. If it does not change, the content is the problem.
Open the campaign containing the template.
Read the template against the rules below and find what is breaking one of them.
Edit the content to fix it.
Submit it again with WhatsApp Approval, or through Publish in Review or Publish.
Check the status. A successful submission moves off NOT SENT to a pending or approved state.
Clicking the approval button again without changing anything does nothing. The same content is blocked by the same rule every time. If you have resubmitted twice with no edit in between, you have not tried anything yet.
What usually causes it
Meta does not say which rule was broken, so this is the list to work through:
Prohibited content under Meta's policies.
Promotional language without opt-in context, which reads as marketing sent to someone who did not ask for it.
Missing or malformed variables. A token that does not resolve, or a placeholder left in the text.
Restricted words or phrases.
The guidance in Get a WhatsApp template approved applies here too, and it is worth working through those six rules before guessing.
NOT SENT is not the same as Rejected
NOT SENT. Blocked before review. Meta never saw it, and no notification is sent because nothing was rejected.
Rejected. Reviewed and refused. You can resubmit under a different category, and operators who have opted in are notified. See Get notified when a WhatsApp template is rejected.
Missing. Submitted, and Meta has not answered yet.
The practical difference: a rejection tells you someone looked. NOT SENT means nobody did, so nothing will arrive to tell you about it.
What this does not do
It does not tell you the reason. Meta blocks the submission without explaining which rule was broken.
It does not resolve itself. Unlike Missing, NOT SENT is a final state until you change the content.
It does not notify anyone. No rejection happened, so the rejection notification does not fire. You find this by looking.
Bookboost cannot submit it for you. The block is applied at Meta's end before we have anything to pass on.
What to do next
Check your other templates while you are in the WhatsApp Templates window, because a rule that blocked one is likely to have blocked others. See WhatsApp message templates.
Getting help
Open Help at the bottom of the left menu and choose Talk to Us, or email support@bookboost.io.