WhatsApp Presence Signals & Read Receipts
Sending presence signals mimics natural WhatsApp usage patterns and can help reduce the risk of WhatsApp flagging your account for unusual behavior. It helps prevent account restrictions.
TimelinesAI now supports real-time presence signals and read receipts for WhatsApp conversations. Your contacts will see when you're online and typing, you'll see when they're active, and read receipts (blue ticks) are synced both ways — just like using WhatsApp natively.
Availability: Regular Web UI only. Not available in Embedded Chat View.
What's included
Outgoing Presence Signals (your contacts see your activity)
These are controlled by the "Send Presence Signals" toggle in Settings → General.
Online/Offline status — When you open a chat in TimelinesAI, your contact sees you as "online" on WhatsApp.
Typing indicator — When you start typing a message, your contact sees "typing…" in the chat.
Paused typing — When you stop typing, the indicator is automatically cleared.
Incoming Presence Signals (you see your contacts' activity)
These are always received and displayed in TimelinesAI, regardless of the toggle state. No configuration is needed.
Contact online status — See when your WhatsApp contact is currently online.
Last seen — See when a contact was last active (e.g., "last seen 5 min ago").
Typing indicator — See "typing…" when your contact is composing a message.
Read Receipts
Outbound (blue ticks to contacts) — When you open a chat in TimelinesAI that has unread messages, a read confirmation is sent to WhatsApp. Your contact sees the familiar blue double-check marks. This is controlled by the "Send Read Confirmation" toggle.
Inbound (blue ticks from contacts) — When your contact reads your message on WhatsApp, the read status is reflected in TimelinesAI.
How to enable or disable
The toggles in Settings → General control outgoing signals only:
Send Presence Signals — controls whether your online/offline and typing indicators are sent to your contacts on WhatsApp.
Send Read Confirmation — controls whether blue tick read receipts are sent to your contacts.
Incoming presence signals and read receipts from your contacts are always received and displayed, regardless of these toggle settings.
Each toggle has a tooltip with a brief explanation visible on hover.
Important things to know
Workspace-wide setting. The toggles apply to all workspace members using the regular Web UI.
Outgoing only. The toggles control outgoing signals only — whether your contacts see your Online/Typing status. Incoming signals from your contacts are always visible in TimelinesAI.
Works across multiple WhatsApp accounts. If your workspace has several connected WhatsApp numbers, presence and read receipts work independently for each account.
FAQ
Q: I enabled presence signals but I don't see my contacts' online status or typing indicators. Why?
Incoming presence signals from your contacts are always received and displayed regardless of the toggle state — no configuration is needed. If you're not seeing them, try opening or refreshing the chat. If the issue persists, ensure your WhatsApp account is properly connected to TimelinesAI.
Q: Will enabling read receipts send blue ticks for old messages?
No. Read receipts are only sent when you actively open a chat that has unread messages. Historical messages are not affected.
Q: Can I enable presence signals but disable read receipts (or vice versa)?
Yes. The two toggles are independent. You can use any combination that fits your workflow. Both toggles control outgoing signals only.
Q: Does this work in the Embedded Chat View?
No. Presence signals and read receipts are only available in the regular TimelinesAI Web UI.
Q: Who can change these settings?
Workspace administrators can toggle both settings in Settings → General.
Q: If I disable the "Send Presence Signals" toggle, will I still see when my contacts are online or typing?
Yes. The toggle controls outgoing signals only — whether your contacts see your status. Incoming presence signals from your contacts are always received and displayed in TimelinesAI, regardless of the toggle state.