Typing indicators

Updated: Jun 17, 2026

When you get a messages webhook indicating a received message, you can use the message.id value to mark the message as read and display a typing indicator so the WhatsApp user knows you are preparing a response. This is good practice if it will take you a few seconds to respond.

WhatsApp chat showing a typing indicator while the business prepares a response

The typing indicator will be dismissed once you respond, or after 25 seconds, whichever comes first. To prevent a poor user experience, only display a typing indicator if you are going to respond.

Request syntax

curl -X POST \
'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages'
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "status": "read",
  "message_id": "<WHATSAPP_MESSAGE_ID>",
  "typing_indicator": {
    "type": "text"
  }
}'

Request parameters

Placeholder	Description	Example value
`<ACCESS_TOKEN>` String	Required. System token or business token.	`EAAA...`
`<API_VERSION>` String	Optional. Graph API version.	v25.0
`<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>` String	Required. WhatsApp business phone number ID.	`106540352242922`
`<WHATSAPP_MESSAGE_ID>` String	Required. WhatsApp message ID. This ID is assigned to the `messages.id` property in received message messages webhooks.	`wamid.HBgLMTY1MDM4Nzk0MzkVAgARGBJDQjZCMzlEQUE4OTJBMTE4RTUA`

Response

Upon success:

{
  "success": true
}

Example request

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "status": "read",
  "message_id": "wamid.HBgLMTY1MDM4Nzk0MzkVAgARGBJDQjZCMzlEQUE4OTJBMTE4RTUA",
  "typing_indicator": {
    "type": "text"
  }
}'

Example response

Upon success:

{
  "success": true
}