Text Messages

You can only send a text message up until 24 hours after receiving a message from the user. If you have not received a message from the user within this time, you will need to start a new conversation by sending a Template Message.

Specify text in the type field. A text message can be a maximum of 4096 characters long.

Sending a text message

Send a text message

POST https://api.qikchat.in/v1/messages

To send a message, use the request URL and the following body parameters.

Request Example

{

"to_contact": "[phone]",

"type": "text",

"text": {

"body": "Hey There!"

}

}

Headers

Name	Type	Description
QIKCHAT-API-KEY*	string	place API key

Request Body

Name	Type	Description
to_contact*	string	customer whatsapp number you want to send message
type*	string	text
text*	object	contains body field

200: OK

A successful response includes a data object with an ID for the message sent.

{
    "status": true,
    "message": "Messages queued successfully",
    "data": [
        {
            "id": "52JH6WmuSruAVyXvBBYemd0Ia",
            "channel": "whatsapp",
            "from": "918080808081",
            "recipient": "[phone]",
            "credits": 0.80,
            "created_at": "2023-02-19T12:52:25.222Z",
            "status": "queued"
        }
    ]
}

Formatting in Text Messages

WhatsApp allows some formatting in messages. To format all or part of a message, use these formatting symbols:

Formatting	Symbol	Example
Bold	Asterisk (*)	Dear *Siva*,
Italics	Underscore (_)	Welcome to _Pet Shop_!
Strike-through	Tilde (~)	This is ~better~ best!
Code	Three backticks (```)	```print('Hello World')```

Sending URLs in Text Messages

By default, the mobile WhatsApp application recognizes URLs and makes them clickable. To include a URL preview, include "preview_url": true in the message body and make sure the URL begins with http:// or https://. A hostname is required, IP addresses are not matched.

Example:

{
    "to_contact": "[phone]",
    "type": "text",
    "preview_url": true,
    "text": {
        "body": "You have to check out this amazing messaging service https://www.whatsapp.com/"
    }
}

The majority of the time when you send a URL, whether with a preview or not, the receiver of the message will see a URL that they can click on.

URL previews are only rendered after one of the following has happened:

1. The business has sent a message template to the user.

2. The user initiates a conversation with a "click to chat" link.

3. The user adds the business phone number to their address book and initiates a conversation.

If the end user did not initiate the conversation with you - you must use a Template message instead.