Reaction messages

Updated: May 21, 2026

Reaction messages are emoji-reactions that you can apply to a WhatsApp user message you received.

Limitations

When you send a reaction message, WhatsApp triggers only a sent message webhook (status set to sent); it does not trigger delivered or read message webhooks.

Request syntax

Use the Messages API to apply an emoji reaction on a message you have received from a WhatsApp user.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages' \  
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \  
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>' \  
-d '  
{  
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",  
  "recipient_type": "individual",  
  "to": "<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>",  
  "type": "reaction",  
  "reaction": {  
    "message_id": "<WHATSAPP_MESSAGE_ID>",  
    "emoji": "<EMOJI>"  
  }  
}'

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
<EMOJI> String	Required. Unicode escape sequence of the emoji, or the emoji itself, to apply to the user message.	Unicode escape sequence example: \uD83D\uDE00 Emoji example: 😀
<WHATSAPP_MESSAGE_ID> String	Required. WhatsApp message ID of message you want to apply the emoji to. If the message you are reacting to is more than 30 days old, doesn't correspond to any message in the chat thread, has been deleted, or is itself a reaction message, the reaction message will not be delivered and you will receive a messages webhook with error code 131009.	wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgASGBQzQUZCMTY0MDc2MUYwNzBDNTY5MAA=
<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID> String	Required. WhatsApp business phone number ID.	106540352242922
<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER> String	Required. WhatsApp user phone number.	+16505551234

Example request

Example request to apply the grinning face emoji (😀) to a previously received user message.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v25.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "+16505551234",
  "type": "reaction",
  "reaction": {
    "message_id": "wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgASGBQzQUZCMTY0MDc2MUYwNzBDNTY5MAA=",
    "emoji": "\uD83D\uDE00"
  }
}'

Example response

{  
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",  
  "contacts": [  
    {  
      "input": "+16505551234",  
      "wa_id": "16505551234"  
    }  
  ],  
  "messages": [  
    {  
      "id": "wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgARGBI1RjQyNUE3NEYxMzAzMzQ5MkEA"  
    }  
  ]  
}