WhatsApp Business API for support acknowledgement — reaction and read receipt
This scenario combines sendReaction and readMessage during the 24-hour customer service window.
Use case overview
This scenario combines sendReaction and readMessage during the 24-hour customer service window. A thumbs-up reaction on the inbound message id signals acknowledgement without another text bubble.
Template example
Your message was noted — we are preparing a detailed reply.

When to use it
Reach for this scenario when a client message lands in an open WhatsApp support session and you need them to know it was seen before the full answer is ready. It fits developers wiring support bots, small teams handling chat queues, and agencies polishing client-facing support UX where every extra text bubble adds noise.
Workflow
- Status tracked
A client message arrives via webhook with its message id.
status:"read" - Build & send
Your backend sends a thumbs-up reaction quoted to that id.
POST/send_reaction - Capture event
readMessage marks the inbound message as read.
phone:"+…" - Delivered
The client sees acknowledgement while the detailed reply is prepared.
delivered

Technical implementation
Prerequisites
- 1MSG API Key · How to get API Key
- WhatsApp Business account · How to Connect WABA
- Open 24-hour session window · How the 24-hour window works
- Customer opt-in · How to Manage Customers Consent
- Webhook endpoint · How to Set Up Webhooks
Code examples
#!/usr/bin/env bash
set -euo pipefail
# === Configuration (replace "___" placeholders) ===
API_BASE_URL="https://api.1msg.io" # production 1MSG API base URL
CHANNEL_ID="___" # channel ID from 1MSG dashboard
API_TOKEN="___" # channel JWT token (Bearer)
# === Test data ===
TEST_PHONE="___" # client phone in international format
INBOUND_MESSAGE_ID="___" # inbound message ID for reaction/read
PHONE_NORM="$(printf '%s' "$TEST_PHONE" | tr -cd '0-9')"
REACTION_URL="${API_BASE_URL%/}/${CHANNEL_ID}/sendReaction"
read -r -d '' PAYLOAD <<JSON || true
{
"phone": "${PHONE_NORM}",
"body": "👍",
"quotedMsgId": "${INBOUND_MESSAGE_ID}"
}
JSON
RESPONSE="$(curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}' -X POST "$REACTION_URL" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ${API_TOKEN}" \
-d "$PAYLOAD")"
HTTP_CODE="$(printf '%s' "$RESPONSE" | tail -n1)"
BODY="$(printf '%s' "$RESPONSE" | sed '$d')"
case "$BODY" in
*'"sent":true'*) ok=1 ;;
*) ok=0 ;;
esac
if [ "$HTTP_CODE" -lt 200 ] || [ "$HTTP_CODE" -ge 300 ] || [ "$ok" -ne 1 ]; then
echo "$BODY" >&2
exit 1
fi
READ_URL="${API_BASE_URL%/}/${CHANNEL_ID}/readMessage"
read -r -d '' SECONDARY_PAYLOAD <<JSON || true
{ "messageId": "${INBOUND_MESSAGE_ID}" }
JSON
READ_RESPONSE="$(curl -s -w '\n%{http_code}' -X POST "$READ_URL" \
-H "Content-Type: application/json" \
-H "Authorization: Bearer ${API_TOKEN}" \
-d "$SECONDARY_PAYLOAD")"
READ_CODE="$(printf '%s' "$READ_RESPONSE" | tail -n1)"
READ_BODY="$(printf '%s' "$READ_RESPONSE" | sed '$d')"
case "$READ_BODY" in
*'"result":"success"'*) read_ok=1 ;;
*) read_ok=0 ;;
esac
if [ "$READ_CODE" -lt 200 ] || [ "$READ_CODE" -ge 300 ] || [ "$read_ok" -ne 1 ]; then
echo "$READ_BODY" >&2
exit 1
fi
echo "Message sent to client."
Response and delivery status
HTTP 2xx and JSON "sent": true mean 1MSG accepted the message for sending — not that it already reached the customer's phone. Save the id field (looks like wamid.…) to correlate delivery callbacks.
{
"sent": true,
"id": "wamid.HBgLMzgwNjM5...",
"message": "Message accepted for delivery"
}sentAccepted for sending — not yet on the customer's phone
idStore it; delivery callbacks and
hookInfoare keyed on this
Delivery itself arrives later, as a separate callback. Register a webhook (POST …/webhook) and 1MSG POSTs status updates to your HTTPS endpoint in a top-level hooks[] payload.
{
"hooks": [
{
"id": "gBGGeSaGViBfAgnlzOSHEwK9O6F",
"type": "message",
"status": "sent",
"timestamp": "1654864094",
"recipient_id": "556123122026"
}
]
}statussent,delivered,read— or a failure status when applicableidCorrelates the callback with the
idreturned by the send calltimestampUnix seconds, as a string
If you would rather not receive callbacks, poll GET {base}/{channel}/hookInfo?messageId=<id> instead. In practice delivery often completes within seconds — but the API contract does not guarantee it, so never block a flow waiting on it.
Common errors
| Status | Response | Cause |
|---|---|---|
| 200 | Message was not sent: empty body | No body in the request. |
| 200 | Message was not sent: provide chatId, phone, bsuid, or username | No recipient the channel could resolve. |
| 200 | wrong file | The media could not be fetched or uploaded — not a reachable URL, not valid base64. |
| 403 | access denied | The token is wrong, or belongs to a different channel than the URL. |
| 200 | Message was not sent: filename | sendFile called without a filename, so the media has no extension to send. |

