Reply to a Message and Send Reactions With the WhatsApp API

To reply to a specific message with the WhatsApp Cloud API, add a context object with the customer’s message_id to a normal send request; to react, send a message of type: "reaction" with that message_id and an emoji. The reply shows the customer’s message quoted in a bubble above yours, and the reaction appears on their message.

Both go to the same endpoint you already use for sending, and both are free-form messages, so they need an open 24-hour window. This guide gives each request, Meta’s limits, how customers’ own replies and reactions reach your webhook, when to use which, and what Automate AI does with them.

Two ways to answer one message

In a busy chat, a customer might ask three things in a row. A plain reply lands at the bottom and leaves them guessing which question you answered. WhatsApp gives you two tools to point at a single message:

Both use POST https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages with a system or business access token. The message_id you need is the customer message’s wamid, which you get from the incoming message webhook in messages[].id.

How to send a contextual reply

A contextual reply isn’t a separate message type. You take the message you were going to send and add one object:

{ "messaging_product": "whatsapp", "recipient_type": "individual", "to": "<CUSTOMER_NUMBER>", "context": { "message_id": "<WAMID_TO_REPLY_TO>" }, "type": "text", "text": { "body": "Yes, the blue one is in stock in size M." } }

The response is the same as any send: a new wamid for your reply, which your status webhooks will refer to. Meta’s documentation shows a text reply, but context goes alongside any message type.

When the quote bubble doesn’t appear

Meta lists the cases where your message is delivered but without the quote at the top:

• The original was deleted, or moved to long-term storage. Meta says messages are typically moved after 30 days, unless you’ve enabled local storage.
• You reply with a template. Templates never show the quote bubble.
• You send audio, an image or a video and the customer is on KaiOS.

And one hard rule: you can’t send a reaction as a contextual reply. A reaction already points at a message through its own message_id.

How to send a reaction

A reaction is its own message type. Put the customer’s message ID and the emoji in a reaction object:

{ "messaging_product": "whatsapp", "recipient_type": "individual", "to": "<CUSTOMER_NUMBER>", "type": "reaction", "reaction": { "message_id": "<WAMID_OF_CUSTOMER_MESSAGE>", "emoji": "👍" } }

The emoji can be the character itself or its Unicode escape sequence, such as \uD83D\uDE00 for 😀. The response returns a wamid like any other send.

Meta’s limits on reactions

The reaction isn’t delivered if the message you’re reacting to:

• is more than 30 days old,
• doesn’t match any message in the chat thread,
• has been deleted, or
• is itself a reaction.

Meta’s reference describes reactions as applying to a message you received from a WhatsApp user, so use the customer’s message ID, not one of yours. A failed reaction doesn’t fail the API call: you get a messages webhook with error code 131009 instead. More on that code in WhatsApp API error codes.

When customers reply or react to your messages

The same two features work in the other direction, and both arrive on your messages webhook.

Customer reactions

When a customer reacts to a message you sent in the last 30 days, you get a message with type: "reaction". Its reaction object holds message_id, the wamid of your message, and emoji, the emoji they chose. If they remove the reaction, another webhook arrives with the same message_id and no emoji property. Treat a missing emoji as “remove this person’s reaction”, not as an error.

Store reactions against the original message rather than as new chat messages, or a thumbs-up on last week’s offer will look like a fresh conversation.

Customer replies and button taps

When a customer’s message refers to an earlier one, it carries a messages[].context object, and context.id is the wamid of that earlier message. That’s how you know which offer a “Shop now” button tap belongs to. The full payload and the other fields are in our guide to WhatsApp Cloud API webhooks.

1. Save every wamid you send and receive, with the chat it belongs to.
2. On each incoming message, check for context.id (a reply or tap) or type: "reaction".
3. Look up the original by its wamid, and attach the reply or reaction to it.
4. If you can’t find it, keep the message anyway and show it without the quote.

When to quote, react or just reply

Each tool sends a different signal. Here’s a simple rule of thumb, with sample chats:

A reaction says “seen and fine” without starting a new message, which keeps chats short. But it isn’t an answer. If the customer asked something, they still need words. While you write those words, a typing indicator tells them a reply is on its way.

The 24-hour window and cost

Contextual replies and reactions are free-form messages, so they follow the customer service window: you can send them within 24 hours of the customer’s last message. Outside it, only an approved template goes through, and Meta says the quote bubble doesn’t appear on templates anyway.

A contextual reply is billed like any other reply in the window. Service messages are free for the first 1,000 per number each month and charged after that, since 1 October 2026; the details are in is the WhatsApp API free?

Common mistakes

1. Using your own message ID for a reaction. Meta’s rules are about messages you received from the customer. Use the wamid from the incoming webhook.
2. Reacting to old messages. Anything over 30 days fails with error 131009.
3. Putting context on a reaction. Meta doesn’t allow a reaction as a contextual reply.
4. Expecting the quote on a template. It won’t appear. Write the template so it makes sense on its own.
5. Treating a removed reaction as a new message. A reaction webhook without emoji means the customer took it back.
6. Waiting for delivered or read on a reaction. Only sent ever arrives.

Replies and reactions in Automate AI

In Automate AI’s shared team inbox you don’t need to build any of this:

• Reply to a specific message. Hover over a message and click Reply. Your text goes out as a WhatsApp contextual reply, so the customer sees their message quoted above yours, and the inbox shows the quote too.
• See customer reactions. When a customer reacts to one of your messages, the emoji appears on that message, with their number on hover, and the inbox plays a sound. If they remove it, it disappears.
• See what a tap answered. When a customer taps a button or picks from a list, the inbox shows which message they were answering.

The inbox doesn’t send emoji reactions, so answer a message with a short reply instead. All of this sits within the normal window rules: once the 24 hours are up, the inbox asks you to send a template.

Building your own system on top? The WhatsApp Business API page covers the REST API and developer webhooks.