WhatsApp user agent
Operated by Meta
WhatsApp is the user agent WhatsApp uses to build link previews in chats.
The WhatsApp bot at a glance
- WhatsApp is operated by Meta and reads page titles, descriptions and images to build link previews.
- The robots.txt token for WhatsApp is WhatsApp.
- Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings.
- WhatsApp robots.txt support: Not documented.
- Recommendation for Generative Engine Optimization (GEO): Allow.
What is WhatsApp?
WhatsApp fetches a shared page’s title, description and Open Graph image to show a preview before the message is sent.
Many sites see WhatsApp previews come from the sender’s phone, so the request IP is not a Meta server.
Should you block WhatsApp?
Allow WhatsApp unless it causes a measurable load problem.
| Effect on search rankings | Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings. |
|---|---|
| Effect on AI visibility | No direct effect on AI answers, but shared links lose their title, image and description, which usually lowers clicks from social and chat apps. |
| Follows robots.txt | Not documented |
| Recommendation | Allow |
How to block or allow WhatsApp
Put the robots.txt rule in the file at the root of every domain and subdomain, for example https://example.com/robots.txt. The token WhatsApp is matched case-insensitively. robots.txt alone may not stop WhatsApp, so add the Nginx, Apache or Cloudflare rule as well.
robots.txt: block
# Block WhatsApp
User-agent: WhatsApp
Disallow: /robots.txt: allow
# Allow WhatsApp
User-agent: WhatsApp
Allow: /robots.txt: partial
# Keep WhatsApp out of private areas only
User-agent: WhatsApp
Disallow: /wp-admin/
Disallow: /cart/
Disallow: /checkout/
Disallow: /my-account/
Allow: /Nginx
# Nginx: return 403 to WhatsApp
if ($http_user_agent ~* "(WhatsApp)") {
return 403;
}Apache
# Apache .htaccess: return 403 to WhatsApp
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} (WhatsApp) [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]Cloudflare WAF
# Cloudflare > Security > WAF > Custom rule, action: Block
(http.user_agent contains "WhatsApp")How to verify real WhatsApp traffic
Meta publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for WhatsApp, so the user agent cannot be verified. Anyone can send the same string. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
How to find WhatsApp in your server logs
Search the web server access log for the token. The command below counts WhatsApp requests per URL on Nginx or Apache.
grep -i "WhatsApp" access.log | awk '{print $7}' | sort | uniq -c | sort -rn | head -20For a full report per AI bot, upload the log to the AI Log File Analyzer, a free tool by Justin Hà.
WhatsApp user agent string
The full user agent Meta publishes for WhatsApp. Version numbers such as Chrome/W.X.Y.Z change over time, so match the token, not the whole string.
WhatsApp/2.12.15/iWhatsApp FAQ
WhatsApp identifies itself with the robots.txt token "WhatsApp". A typical request header reads: WhatsApp/2.12.15/i
Meta has not documented how WhatsApp treats robots.txt. Add a robots.txt rule and back it with a server rule if the traffic matters to you.
Blocking a social preview bot has no effect on search rankings. No direct effect on AI answers, but shared links lose their title, image and description, which usually lowers clicks from social and chat apps.
Add two lines to the robots.txt file at the root of each domain and subdomain: "User-agent: WhatsApp" followed by "Disallow: /". The token is case-insensitive. Changes can take up to 24 hours to be picked up.
Not reliably. Meta publishes no IP list or reverse DNS pattern for WhatsApp, so anyone can send the same user agent. Rate-limit unusual volume instead of trusting the name.
Search your server access log for "WhatsApp", for example with: grep -i "WhatsApp" access.log. The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits per AI bot from an uploaded log file.
Sources: Public bot registry. Last reviewed by Justin Hà.
See which of these bots actually reach your website
The AI Log File Analyzer by Justin Hà counts visits from GPTBot, ClaudeBot, PerplexityBot and other AI crawlers in your server log, for free. The GEO Technical Package sets up robots.txt, llms.txt and crawler access for AI search.
