01 · Operator
Who operates WhatsApp
- Company
- Meta (WhatsApp)
- Type
- Social preview bot
- Official docs
- developers.facebook.com
02 · Behavior
What WhatsApp does
When a user sends a link, WhatsApp crawls the URL on the sender's behalf. It reads og:title, og:description, og:url and og:image from the HTML head. Meta's docs ask for the head within the first 300 KB and images under 600 KB.
03 · Impact
Why WhatsApp matters for your site
If you allow it
- Links sent in WhatsApp show a title and image
- Requests follow user shares, not bulk crawling
If you block it
- You do not want previews of your pages in WhatsApp
- You want to limit requests from messaging apps
04 · Allow
How to allow WhatsApp
robots.txt
User-agent: WhatsApp
Allow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "WhatsApp")
Action: Skip › All Super Bot Fight Mode rules
# Also check Security › Bots: "Block AI bots" can block it regardless of robots.txt.WordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: WhatsApp
Allow: /nginx
# nginx serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure no rule like this blocks it:
# if ($http_user_agent ~* "WhatsApp") { return 403; }Apache
# Apache serves every user agent by default.
# Make sure .htaccess has no rule like this:
# RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} WhatsApp [NC]
# RewriteRule .* - [F,L]05 · Block
How to block WhatsApp
Start with robots.txt. If WhatsApp keeps showing up in your logs, block it at your CDN or web server.
robots.txt
User-agent: WhatsApp
Disallow: /Cloudflare
# Security › WAF › Custom rules › Create rule
Expression: (http.user_agent contains "WhatsApp")
Action: BlockWordPress
# WordPress serves a virtual robots.txt. Edit it with your SEO plugin:
# Yoast: SEO › Tools › File editor · Rank Math: General Settings › Edit robots.txt
User-agent: WhatsApp
Disallow: /nginx
# In your server { } block:
if ($http_user_agent ~* "WhatsApp") {
return 403;
}Apache
# .htaccess
<IfModule mod_rewrite.c>
RewriteEngine On
RewriteCond %{HTTP_USER_AGENT} WhatsApp [NC]
RewriteRule .* - [F,L]
</IfModule>06 · User agents
User agents we see for WhatsApp
The user agent published by the operator:
WhatsApp/2.23.20.007 · Verification
Is it really WhatsApp?
WhatsApp’s operator publishes no IP ranges or hostnames, so requests cannot be verified. Treat the user agent as a claim, and watch your logs for unusual request rates.
FAQ
Questions about WhatsApp
What does the WhatsApp user agent look like?
Meta documents it as WhatsApp/2.x.x.x followed by A, I or N. The letter stands for Android, iOS or web.
Why is my WhatsApp link preview not showing an image?
Meta requires an og:image under 600 KB and at least 300 px wide. The aspect ratio must be 4:1 or less.
Which tags does WhatsApp read for link previews?
It reads og:title, og:description, og:url and og:image. They must be in the HTML head within the first 300 KB.
Last reviewed Oct 7, 2026