WhatsApp error 131016: service unavailable
Error 131016 means a service on Meta's side is temporarily unavailable. It is one of the small number of platform errors that really is transient, so an exponential backoff retry is the correct response rather than an investigation.
Meta's code for a temporarily unavailable service.
The related code for an unknown error, also retryable.
The code for a registration or deregistration attempt during maintenance.
Why this one is different
Most errors on this platform are deterministic: the request is malformed, the template does not exist, the window has closed. Retrying those wastes a request and earns rate limiting.\n\nThis error is the exception. It says nothing about your request or your number, only that a service Meta runs could not answer right now. The same request sent a minute later usually succeeds, which is exactly what a backoff is for.
How to retry properly
With restraint, because a thundering retry makes an outage worse.
- Exponential backoff: wait one second, then two, then four, then eight.
- A ceiling on attempts, usually five, after which the message goes to a queue for later.
- Jitter, so a fleet of workers does not retry in lockstep.
- Idempotency, so a message that actually sent before the error reached you is not sent twice.
Common mistakes
- Retrying immediately in a tight loop. It adds load to something already struggling.
- Treating it as a connection problem. Your number is fine.
- Retrying without a ceiling. Some outages last longer than any retry policy should.
EasyCoexistence monitors the connection continuously, so a transient service error is visibly different from a number that has actually gone down.
Frequently asked questions
Should I retry?
Yes, with exponential backoff. This is one of the errors where retrying works.
Is my number affected?
No. This is a platform side failure.
How long do these last?
Usually seconds to minutes. A backoff of five attempts covers most.
How do I tell it apart from a real outage?
By whether it persists. Continuous monitoring answers that without guessing.
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