Sending Messages

This document describes how to use the API to send messages to WhatsApp users.

Message Types

You can use the API to send the following types of messages. All of these types, except for reaction messages, can be sent as a reply to a previous message.

Address messages allow you to easily request a delivery address from WhatsApp users.
Audio messages display an audio icon and a link to an audio file. When the WhatsApp user taps the icon, the WhatsApp client loads and plays the audio file.
Contacts messages allow you to send rich contact information directly to WhatsApp users, such as names, phone numbers, physical addresses, and email addresses.
Document messages display a document icon, linked to a document that a WhatsApp user can tap to download.
Image messages display a single image and an optional caption.
Interactive CTA URL button messages allow you to map any URL to a button, so you don't have to include lengthy or obscure raw URLs in the message body.
Interactive Flow messages allow you to send structured messages that are more natural or comfortable for your customers. For example, you can use WhatsApp Flows to book appointments, browse products, collect customer feedback, get new sales leads, or anything else.
Interactive list messages allow you to present WhatsApp users with a list of options to choose from.
Interactive location request messages display body text and a send location button. When a WhatsApp user taps the button, a location sharing screen appears which the user can use to share their location.
Interactive reply buttons messages allow you to send up to three predefined replies for users to choose from.
Location messages allow you to send a location's latitude and longitude coordinates to a WhatsApp user.
Sticker messages display animated or static sticker images in a WhatsApp message.
Text messages are messages containing only a text body and an optional link preview.
Template messages allow you to send marketing, utility, and authentication templates to WhatsApp users. Unlike all other message types, template messages do not require a 24-hour customer service window to be open between you and the message recipient before the message can be sent.
Video messages display a thumbnail preview of a video image with an optional caption. When the WhatsApp user taps the preview, it loads the video and displays it to the user.
Reaction messages are emoji-reactions that you can apply to a previous WhatsApp user message that you have received.

Customer Service Windows

All message types, except for template messages, can only be sent to a WhatsApp user when a 24-hour customer service window is open between you and the user. Template messages can be sent to a WhatsApp user at any time, as long as the user has opted-in to receiving messages from you.

Requests

All send message requests use the POST /<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID/messages endpoint:

POST /<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>messages

The post body varies depending on the type of message you want to send, but the payload uses the following common syntax:

{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>",
  "type": "<MESSAGE_TYPE>",
  "<MESSAGE_TYPE>": {<MESSAGE_CONTENTS>}
}

The type property value in the post body payload indicates the type of message to send, and a property matching that type must be included that describes the message's contents.

For example, this is a request to send a text message to a WhatsApp user. Note that type is set to text, and a text object follows, which describes the message's contents:

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v20.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "+16505551234",
  "type": "text",
  "text": {
    "preview_url": true,
    "body": "As requested, here'\''s the link to our latest product: https://www.meta.com/quest/quest-3/"
  }
}'

Here's what the message would look like in the WhatsApp client if the text message was successfully delivered to the WhatsApp user:

Responses

The API will send the following response if it successfully accepts your send message request without encountering any errors in the request itself:

{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "contacts": [
    {
      "input": "<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>",
      "wa_id": "<WHATSAPP_USER_ID>"
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "<WHATSAPP_MESSAGE_ID>"
      "message_status": "<PACING_STATUS>"
    }
  ]
}

Note that this response only indicates that the API successfully accepted your request, it does not indicate successful delivery of your message. Message delivery status is communicated via messages webhooks.

The message_status property is only included when sending template messages that use a template that is being paced.

Webhooks

Messages sent to WhatsApp users trigger messages webhooks, so be sure to subscribe to this topic to receive message status notifications.

Commerce Messages

Commerce messages are interactive messages used in conjunction with a product catalog. See Share Products With Customers to see how to use these types of messages.

Replies

You can send any type of message as a reply to a previous message. The previous message will appear at the top of the new message, quoted within a contextual bubble.

Limitations

The contextual bubble will not appear at the top of the delivered message sent as a reply if:

• The previous message has been deleted or moved to long term storage (messages are typically moved to long term storage after 30 days, unless you have enabled local storage).
• You reply with an audio, image, or video message and the WhatsApp user is running KaiOS.
• You use the WhatsApp client to reply with a push-to-talk message and the WhatsApp user is running KaiOS.
• You reply with a template message.

Request Syntax

POST /<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages

Post Body

{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>",
  "context": {
    "message_id": "WAMID_TO_REPLY_TO"
  },

  /* Message type and type contents goes here */

}

Post Body Parameters

Example Request

Example of a text message sent as a reply to a previous message.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v19.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "+16505551234",
  "context": {
    "message_id": "wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgASGBQzQTdCNTg5RjY1MEMyRjlGMjRGNgA="
  },
  "type": "text",
  "text": {
    "body": "You'\''re welcome, Pablo!"
  }
}'

Media Assets

Media assets sent in messages must be uploaded to the business phone number that will be sending the message, or you must host the asset on a public server and include its URL in the message send request.

To reduce the likelihood of errors and avoid unnecessary requests to your public server, we recommend that you upload your media assets and use their IDs when sending messages.

Media HTTP Caching

WhatsApp Cloud API supports media HTTP caching. If you are using a link (link) to a media asset on your server (as opposed to the ID (id) of an asset you have uploaded to our servers), you can instruct us to cache your asset for reuse with future messages by including the headers below in your server response when we request the asset. If none of these headers are included, we will not cache your asset.

Cache-Control: <CACHE_CONTROL>
Last-Modified: <LAST_MODIFIED>
ETag: <ETAG>

Cache-Control

The Cache-Control header tells us how to handle asset caching. We support the following directives:

• max-age=n: Indicates how many seconds (n) to cache the asset. We will reuse the cached asset in subsequent messages until this time is exceeded, after which we will request the asset again, if needed. Example: Cache-Control: max-age=604800.
• no-cache: Indicates the asset can be cached but should be updated if the Last-Modified header value is different from a previous response. Requires the Last-Modified header. Example: Cache-Control: no-cache.
• no-store: Indicates that the asset should not be cached. Example: Cache-Control: no-store.
• private: Indicates that the asset is personalized for the recipient and should not be cached.

Last-Modified

Indicates when the asset was last modified. Used with Cache-Control: no-cache. If the Last-Modified value is different from a previous response and Cache-Control: no-cache is included in the response, we will update our cached version of the asset with the asset in the response. Example: Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:22:22 GMT.

ETag

The ETag header is a unique string that identifies a specific version of an asset. Example: ETag: "33a64df5". This header is ignored unless both Cache-Control and Last-Modified headers are not included in the response. In this case, we will cache the asset according to our own, internal logic (which we do not disclose).

Sample Response with Headers

HTTP/1.1 200 OK
Content-Type: image/png
Content-Length: 1024
Date: Tue, 22 Feb 2022 22:22:22 GMT
ETag: "33a64df5"
Cache-Control: max-age=604800

<IMAGE_PAYLOAD>

Delivery Sequence of Multiple Messages

When sending a series of messages, the order in which messages are delivered is not guaranteed to match the order of your API requests. If you need to ensure the sequence of message delivery, confirm receipt of a delivered status in a messages webhook before sending the next message in your message sequence.

Time-To-Live

If we are unable to deliver a message to a WhatsApp user, we will continue attempting to deliver the message for a period of time known as a time-to-live (TTL), or message validity period. If we are unable to deliver a message for an amount of time that exceeds the TTL, we will stop trying and drop the message.

• The TTL for all messages, except for template messages that use an authentication template, is 30 days.
• Template messages that use an authentication template have a default TTL of 10 minutes.

You can customize these defaults by setting a custom TTL on authentication templates and utility templates. See Customizing Time-To-Live.

If you send a message but do not receive a corresponding messages webhook indicating that the message was delivered before the TTL is exceeded, assume the message was dropped.

Note that if a message fails for some unrelated reason and it triggers a delivery failure messages webhook, there could be a minor delay before you receive the webhook, so you may wish to build in a small buffer before assuming a drop.

Troubleshooting

If you are experiencing problems with message delivery, see Message Not Delivered.