Typing Indicators

Send and receive typing indicators

Typing indicators show the ”…” bubble in the recipient’s iMessage conversation. You can send them to signal that your bot or integration is composing a response, and receive them via webhooks when someone is typing to you.

Send a typing indicator

TypeScript

import { createClient } from "@messages-dev/sdk";

const client = createClient();

await client.startTyping({
  from: "[phone]",
  to: "[phone]",
});

The indicator appears for a few seconds. To stop it before it expires naturally:

TypeScript

await client.stopTyping({
  from: "[phone]",
  to: "[phone]",
});

Common pattern: type while processing

Show a typing indicator while your bot generates a response, then send the message:

const client = createClient();

await client.startTyping({
  from: "[phone]",
  to: "[phone]",
});

const reply = await generateReply(incomingMessage);

await client.sendMessage({
  from: "[phone]",
  to: "[phone]",
  text: reply,
});

Receive typing indicators via webhooks

Subscribe to typing.started and typing.stopped events:

import { verifyWebhook } from "@messages-dev/sdk";

app.post("/webhooks", async (req, res) => {
  const event = await verifyWebhook(
    req.body,
    req.headers["x-webhook-signature"],
    "your_webhook_secret",
  );

  if (event.event === "typing.started") {
    console.log(`${event.data.handle} is typing...`);
  }

  if (event.event === "typing.stopped") {
    console.log(`${event.data.handle} stopped typing`);
  }

  res.sendStatus(200);
});

Get current typing status

Check who is currently typing in a chat:

TypeScript

const indicators = await client.listTypingIndicators({
  from: "[phone]",
  to: "[phone]",
});

for (const ind of indicators.data) {
  if (ind.isTyping) {
    console.log(`${ind.handle} is typing`);
  }
}