# Configure message time-to-live | Developer Documentation

<div id="bkmrk-configure-message-ti">## Configure message time-to-live

<div><span>Updated: Feb 27, 2026</span></div><div>If a message cannot be delivered to a WhatsApp user, delivery is retried for a period of time known as *time-to-live* (“TTL”), or the message validity period.</div><div>You can customize the default TTL for authentication and utility templates sent via Cloud API, and for marketing templates sent via Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp.</div><div>Set a TTL for all authentication templates, preferably equal to or less than your code expiration time, to ensure your customers only get a message when a code is still usable.</div><div id="bkmrk-defaults%2C-min%2Fmax-va"><div id="bkmrk-defaults%2C-min%2Fmax-va-1"><div>### Defaults, min/max values, and compatibility table

</div></div></div><div><table><thead><tr><th></th><th><span>Authentication </span></th><th><span>Utility </span></th><th><span>Marketing </span></th></tr></thead><tbody><tr><td><div><div>**Default TTL**</div></div></td><td><div><div>10 minutes</div><div>30 days for authentication templates created before October 23, 2024</div></div></td><td><div><div>30 days</div></div></td><td><div><div>30 days</div></div></td></tr><tr><td><div><div>**Compatibility**</div></div></td><td><div><div>Cloud API</div></div></td><td><div><div>Cloud API only</div></div></td><td><div><div>Marketing Messages API for WhatsApp</div></div></td></tr><tr><td><div><div>**Customizable range**</div></div></td><td><div><div>30 seconds to 15 minutes</div></div></td><td><div><div>30 seconds to 12 hours</div></div></td><td><div><div>12 hours to 30 days</div></div></td></tr></tbody></table>

</div></div>