Cobalt

Whatsapp4j has been renamed to Cobalt to comply with an official request coming from Whatsapp. The repository's history was cleared to comply with this request, but keep in mind that the project has been actively developed for over two years. To be clear, this library is not affiliated with Whatsapp LLC in any way. This is a personal project that I maintain in my free time

What is Cobalt

Cobalt is a library built to interact with Whatsapp. It can be used with:

1. Whatsapp Web (Companion)
2. Whatsapp Mobile (Personal and Business)

Donations

If you like my work, you can become a sponsor here on GitHub or tip me through:

• Paypal.
• ERC20 address: 0xA7842cDb100fb91718961153149C86e4F4030a76
• TRC20 address: THiutwmP7GFEz28tLB3k5ivoyTnxrteKoH

I can also work on sponsored features and/or projects!

Java version

This library was built for Java 21, the latest LTS.

Breaking changes policy

Until the library doesn't reach release 1.0, there will be major breaking changes between each release. This is needed to finalize the design of the API. After this milestone, breaking changes will be present only in major releases.

Optimizing memory usage

If the machine you are hosting this library on has memory constraints, please look into how to tune a JVM. The easiest thing you can do is use the -Xmx argument to specify the maximum size, in bytes, of the memory allocation pool. I have written this disclaimer because many new devs tend to get confused by Java's opportunistic memory allocation.

Can this library get my device banned?

While there is no risk in using this library with your main account, keep in mind that Whatsapp has anti-spam measures for their web client. If you add a participant from a brand-new number to a group, it will most likely get you banned. If you compile the library yourself, don't run the CI on a brand-new number, or it will get banned for spamming too many requests(the CI has to test that all the library works). In short, if you use this library without a malicious intent, you will never get banned.

How to install

Maven

• Dependency

  <dependency>
      <groupId>com.github.auties00</groupId>
      <artifactId>cobalt</artifactId>
      <version>0.0.5</version>
  </dependency>
  

• Annotation processor (required for @RegisterListener)

  <plugin>
      <groupId>org.apache.maven.plugins</groupId>
      <artifactId>maven-compiler-plugin</artifactId>
      <configuration>
          <annotationProcessorPaths>
              <annotationProcessorPath>
                  <groupId>com.github.auties00</groupId>
                  <artifactId>cobalt</artifactId>
                  <version>0.0.5</version>
              <annotationProcessorPath>
          <annotationProcessorPaths>
      <configuration>
  <plugin>
  

Gradle

• Groovy DSL

  • Dependency

  implementation 'com.github.auties00:cobalt:0.0.5'
  

  • Annotation processor (required for @RegisterListener)

  annotationProcessor 'com.github.auties00:cobalt:0.0.5'
  

• Kotlin DSL

  • Dependency

  implementation("com.github.auties00:cobalt:0.0.5")
  

  • Annotation processor (required for @RegisterListener)

  annotationProcessor("com.github.auties00:cobalt:0.0.5")
  

Javadocs & Documentation

Javadocs for Whatsapp4j are available here. The documentation for this project reaches most of the publicly available APIs(i.e. public members in exported packages), but sometimes the Javadoc may be incomplete or some methods could be absent from the project's README. If you find any of the latter, know that even small contributions are welcomed!

How to contribute

As of today, no additional configuration or artifact building is needed to edit this project. I recommend using the latest version of IntelliJ, though any other IDE should work. If you are not familiar with git, follow these short tutorials in order:

1. Fork this project
2. Clone the new repo
3. Create a new branch
4. Once you have implemented the new feature, create a new merge request

If you are trying to implement a feature that is present on WhatsappWeb's WebClient, for example audio or video calls, consider using CobaltAnalyzer, a tool I built for this exact purpose.

Disclaimer about async operations

This library heavily depends on async operations using the CompletableFuture construct. Remember to handle them as your application will terminate without doing anything if the main thread is not executing any task. Please do not open redundant issues on GitHub because of this.

How to create a connection

.serializer(new CustomControllerSerializer())

.connect()

Whatsapp.webBuilder() // Use the Web api
      .lastConnection() // Deserialize the last connection, or create a new one if it doesn't exist
      .unregistered(QrHandler.toTerminal()) // Print the QR to the terminal
      .addLoggedInListener(api -> System.out.printf("Connected: %s%n", api.store().privacySettings())) // Print a message when connected
      .addDisconnectedListener(reason -> System.out.printf("Disconnected: %s%n", reason)) // Print a message when disconnected
      .addNewChatMessageListener(message -> System.out.printf("New message: %s%n", message.toJson())) // Print a message when a new chat message arrives
      .connect() // Connect to Whatsapp asynchronously
      .join(); // Await the result

System.out.println("Enter the phone number(include the country code prefix, but no +, spaces or parenthesis):")
var scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
var phoneNumber = scanner.nextLong();
Whatsapp.webBuilder() // Use the Web api
      .lastConnection() // Deserialize the last connection, or create a new one if it doesn't exist
      .unregistered(phoneNumber, PairingCodeHandler.toTerminal()) // Print the pairing code to the terminal
      .addLoggedInListener(api -> System.out.printf("Connected: %s%n", api.store().privacySettings())) // Print a message when connected
      .addDisconnectedListener(reason -> System.out.printf("Disconnected: %s%n", reason)) // Print a message when disconnected
      .addNewChatMessageListener(message -> System.out.printf("New message: %s%n", message.toJson())) // Print a message when a new chat message arrives
      .connect() // Connect to Whatsapp asynchronously
      .join(); // Await the result

System.out.println("Enter the phone number(include the country code prefix, but no +, spaces or parenthesis):")
var scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
var phoneNumber = scanner.nextLong();
Whatsapp.mobileBuilder() // Use the Mobile api
      .lastConnection() // Deserialize the last connection, or create a new one if it doesn't exist
      .device(CompanionDevice.ios(false)) // Use a non-business iOS account
      .unregistered() // If the connection was just created, it needs to be registered
      .verificationCodeMethod(VerificationCodeMethod.SMS) // If the connection was just created, send an SMS OTP
      .verificationCodeSupplier(() -> { // Called when the OTP needs to be sent to Whatsapp
          System.out.println("Enter OTP: "); 
          var scanner = new Scanner(System.in);
          return scanner.nextLine();
      })
      .register(phoneNumber) // Register the phone number asynchronously, if necessary
      .join() // Await the result
      .addLoggedInListener(api -> System.out.printf("Connected: %s%n", api.store().privacySettings())) // Print a message when connected
      .addDisconnectedListener(reason -> System.out.printf("Disconnected: %s%n", reason)) // Print a message when disconnected
      .addNewChatMessageListener(message -> System.out.printf("New message: %s%n", message.toJson())) // Print a message when a new chat message arrives
      .connect() // Connect to Whatsapp asynchronously
      .join(); // Await the result

How to close a connection

There are three ways to close a connection:

1. Disconnect

   api.disconnect();
   

   IMPORTANT: The session remains valid for future uses

2. Reconnect

   api.reconnect();
   

   IMPORTANT: The session remains valid for future uses

3. Log out

   api.logout();
   

   IMPORTANT: The session doesn't remain valid for future uses

What is a listener and how to register it

Listeners are crucial to handle events related to Whatsapp and implement logic for your application. Listeners can be used either as:

1. Standalone concrete implementation

   If your application is complex enough, it's preferable to divide your listeners' logic across multiple specialized classes. To create a new concrete listener, declare a class or record that implements the Listener interface:

   import it.auties.whatsapp.listener.Listener;
   
   public class MyListener implements Listener {
    @Override
    public void onLoggedIn() {
        System.out.println("Hello :)");
    }
   }
   

   Remember to manually register this listener:

   api.addListener(new MyListener());
   

   Or to register it automatically using the @RegisterListener annotation:

   import it.auties.whatsapp.listener.RegisterListener;
   import it.auties.whatsapp.listener.Listener;
   
   @RegisterListener // Automatically registers this listener
   public class MyListener implements Listener {
    @Override
    public void onLoggedIn() {
        System.out.println("Hello :)");
    }
   }
   

   Listeners often need access to the Whatsapp instance that registered them to, for example, send messages. If your listener is marked with @RegisterListener and a single argument constructor that takes a Whatsapp instance as a parameter exists, the latter can be injected automatically, regardless of if your implementation uses a class or a record. Records, though, are usually more elegant:

   import it.auties.whatsapp.listener.RegisterListener;
   import it.auties.whatsapp.api.Whatsapp;
   import it.auties.whatsapp.listener.Listener;
   
   @RegisterListener // Automatically registers this listener
   public record MyListener(Whatsapp api) implements Listener { // A non-null whatsapp instance is injected
    @Override
    public void onLoggedIn() {
        System.out.println("Hello :)");
    }
   }
   

   IMPORTANT: @RegisterListener will only work if you register the annotation processor provided by Cobalt

2. Functional interface

   If your application is very simple or only requires this library in small operations, it's preferable to add a listener using a lambda instead of using full-fledged classes. To declare a new functional listener, call the method add followed by the name of the listener that you want to implement without the on suffix:

   api.addDisconnectedListener(reason -> System.out.println("Goodbye: " + reason));
   

   All lambda listeners can access the instance of Whatsapp that called them:

   api.addDisconnectedListener((whatsapp, reason) -> System.out.println("Goodbye: " + reason));
   

   This is extremely useful if you want to implement a functionality for your application in a compact manner:

    Whatsapp.newConnection()
                .addLoggedInListener(() -> System.out.println("Connected"))
                .addNewMessageListener((whatsapp, info) -> whatsapp.sendMessage(info.chatJid(), "Automatic answer", info))
                .connect()
                .join();
   

How to handle serialization

In the original version of WhatsappWeb, chats, contacts and messages could be queried at any from Whatsapp's servers. The multi-device implementation, instead, sends all of this information progressively when the connection is initialized for the first time and doesn't allow any subsequent queries to access the latter. In practice, this means that this data needs to be serialized somewhere. The same is true for the mobile api.

By default, this library serializes data regarding a session at $HOME/.whatsapp4j/[web|mobile]/<session_id>. The data is stored in gzipped .smile files to reduce disk usage.

If your application needs to serialize data in a different way, for example in a database create a custom implementation of ControllerSerializer. Then make sure to specify your implementation in the Whatsapp builder. This is explained in the "How to create a connection" section.

How to handle session disconnects

When the session is closed, the onDisconnect method in any listener is invoked. These are the three reasons that can cause a disconnect:

1. DISCONNECTED

   A normal disconnection. This doesn't indicate any error being thrown.

2. RECONNECT

   The client is being disconnected but only to reopen the connection. This always happens when the QR is first scanned for example.

3. LOGGED_OUT

   The client was logged out by itself or by its companion. By default, no error is thrown if this happens, though this behaviour can be changed easily:

   import it.auties.whatsapp.api.DisconnectReason;
   import it.auties.whatsapp.listener.Listener;
   
   class ThrowOnLogOut implements Listener {
       @Override
       public void onDisconnected(DisconnectReason reason) {
           if (reason != SocketEvent.LOGGED_OUT) {
               return;
           }
   
           throw new RuntimeException("Hey, I was logged off :/");
       }
   }
   

How to query chats, contacts, messages and status

Access the store associated with a connection by calling the store method:

var store = api.store();

IMPORTANT: When your program first starts up, these fields will be empty. For each type of data, an event is fired and listenable using a WhatsappListener

You can access all the chats that are in memory:

var chats = store.chats();

Or the contacts:

var contacts = store.contacts();

Or even the status:

var status = store.status();

Data can also be easily queried by using these methods:

• Chats
  • Query a chat by its jid

    var chat = store.findChatByJid(jid);
    

  • Query a chat by its name

    var chat = store.findChatByName(name);
    

  • Query a chat by a message inside it

    var chat = store.findChatByMessage(message);
    

  • Query all chats that match a name

    var chats = store.findChatsByName(name);
    

• Contacts
  • Query a contact by its jid

    var chat = store.findContactByJid(jid);
    

  • Query a contact by its name

    var contact = store.findContactByName(name);
    

  • Query all contacts that match a name

    var contacts = store.findContactsByName(name);
    

• Media status
  • Query status by sender

    var chat = store.findStatusBySender(contact);
    

How to query other data

To access information about the companion device:

var companion = store.jid();

This object is a jid like any other, but it has the device field filled to distinguish it from the main one. Instead, if you only need the phone number:

var phoneNumber = store.jid().toPhoneNumber();

All the settings and metadata about the companion is available inside the Store class

var store = api.store();

Explore of the available methods!

How to query cryptographic data

Access keys store associated with a connection by calling the keys method:

var keys = api.keys();

There are several methods to access and query cryptographic data, but as it's only necessary for advanced users, please check the javadocs if this is what you need.

How to send messages

To send a message, start by finding the chat where the message should be sent. Here is an example:

var chat = api.store()
        .findChatByName("My Awesome Friend")
        .orElseThrow(() -> new NoSuchElementException("Hey, you don't exist"));

All types of messages supported by Whatsapp are supported by this library:

IMPORTANT: Buttons are not documented here because they are unstable. If you are interested you can try to use them, but they are not guaranteed to work. There are some examples in the tests directory.

• Text

  api.sendMessage(chat,  "This is a text message!");
  

• Complex text

  var message = new TextMessageBuilder() // Create a new text message
          .text("Check this video out: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ") // Set the text of the message
          .canonicalUrl("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ") // Set the url of the message
          .matchedText("https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dQw4w9WgXcQ") // Set the matched text for the url in the message
          .title("A nice suprise") // Set the title of the url
          .description("Check me out") // Set the description of the url
          .build(); // Create the message
  api.sendMessage(chat,  message); 
  

• Location

  var location = new LocationMessageBuilder() // Create a new location message
          .caption("Look at this!") // Set the caption of the message, that is the text below the file
          .latitude(38.9193) // Set the longitude of the location to share
          .longitude(1183.1389) // Set the latitude of the location to share
          .build(); // Create the message
  api.sendMessage(chat, location);
  

• Live location

  var location = new LiveLocationMessageBuilder() // Create a new live location message
          .caption("Look at this!") // Set the caption of the message, that is the text below the file. Not available if this message is live
          .latitude(38.9193) // Set the longitude of the location to share
          .longitude(1183.1389) // Set the latitude of the location to share
          .accuracy(10) // Set the accuracy of the location in meters
          .speed(12) // Set the speed of the device sharing the location in meter per endTimeStamp
          .build(); // Create the message
  api.sendMessage(chat, location);
  

  IMPORTANT: Live location updates are not supported by Whatsapp multi-device. No ETA has been given for a fix.

• Group invite

  var group = api.store()
          .findChatByName("Programmers")
          .filter(Chat::isGroup)
          .orElseThrow(() -> new NoSuchElementException("Hey, you don't exist"));
  var inviteCode = api.queryGroupInviteCode(group).join();
  var groupInvite = new GroupInviteMessageBuilder() // Create a new group invite message
          .caption("Come join my group of fellow programmers") // Set the caption of this message
          .name(group.name()) // Set the name of the group
          .groupJid(group.jid())) // Set the jid of the group
          .inviteExpiration(ZonedDateTime.now().plusDays(3).toEpochSecond()) // Set the expiration of this invite
          .inviteCode(inviteCode) // Set the code of the group
          .build(); // Create the message
  api.sendMessage(chat, groupInvite); 
  

• Contact

   var vcard = new ContactCardBuilder() // Create a new vcard
          .name("A nice friend") // Set the name of the contact
          .phoneNumber(contact) // Set the phone number of the contact
          .build(); // Create the vcard
  var contactMessage = new ContactMessageBuilder()  // Create a new contact message
          .name("A nice friend") // Set the display name of the contact
          .vcard(vcard) // Set the vcard(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/VCard) of the contact
          .build(); // Create the message
  api.sendMessage(chat, contactMessage);
  

• Contact array

  var contactsMessage = new ContactsArrayMessageBuilder()  // Create a new contacts array message
          .name("A nice friend") // Set the display name of the first contact that this message contains
          .contacts(List.of(jack,lucy,jeff)) // Set a list of contact messages that this message wraps
          .build(); // Create the message
  api.sendMessage(chat, contactsMessage);
  

• Media

  IMPORTANT:

  The thumbnail for videos and gifs is generated automatically only if ffmpeg is installed on the host machine.

  The length of videos, gifs and audios in seconds is computed automatically only if ffprobe is installed on the host machine.

  To send a media, start by reading the content inside a byte array. You might want to read it from a file:

  var media = Files.readAllBytes(Path.of("somewhere"));
  

  Or from a URL:

  var media = new URL(url).openStream().readAllBytes();
  

  All medias supported by Whatsapp are supported by this library:

  • Image

    var image = new ImageMessageSimpleBuilder() // Create a new image message builder
          .media(media) // Set the image of this message
          .caption("A nice image") // Set the caption of this message
          .build(); // Create the message
    api.sendMessage(chat,  image);
    

  • Audio or voice

     var audio = new AudioMessageSimpleBuilder() // Create a new audio message builder
           .media(urlMedia) // Set the audio of this message
           .voiceMessage(false) // Set whether this message is a voice message
           .build(); // Create the message
     api.sendMessage(chat,  audio);
    

  • Video

    var video = new VideoMessageSimpleBuilder() // Create a new video message builder
          .media(urlMedia) // Set the video of this message
          .caption("A nice video") // Set the caption of this message
          .width(100) // Set the width of the video
          .height(100) // Set the height of the video
          .build(); // Create the message
    api.sendMessage(chat,  video); 
    

  • GIF(Video)

    var gif = new GifMessageSimpleBuilder() // Create a new gif message builder
          .media(urlMedia) // Set the gif of this message
          .caption("A nice gif") // Set the caption of this message
          .gifAttribution(VideoMessageAttribution.TENOR) // Set the source of the gif
          .build(); // Create the message
    api.sendMessage(chat,  gif);
    

    IMPORTANT: Whatsapp doesn't support conventional gifs. Instead, videos can be played as gifs if particular attributes are set. Sending a conventional gif will result in an exception if detected or in undefined behaviour.

  • Document

    var document = new DocumentMessageSimpleBuilder() // Create a new document message builder
          .media(urlMedia) // Set the document of this message
          .title("A nice pdf") // Set the title of the document
          .fileName("pdf-test.pdf") // Set the name of the document
          .pageCount(1) // Set the number of pages of the document
          .build(); // Create the message
    api.sendMessage(chat,  document);
    

• Reaction

  • Send a reaction

  var someMessage = ...; // The message to react to
  api.sendReaction(someMessage, Emoji.RED_HEART); // Use the Emoji class for a list of all Emojis
  

  • Remove a reaction

  var someMessage = ...; // The message to react to
  api.removeReaction(someMessage); // Use the Emoji class for a list of all Emojis
  

How to wait for replies

If you want to wait for a single reply, use:

var response = api.awaitReply(info).join(); 

You can also register a listener, but in many cases the async/await paradigm is easier to use then callback based listeners.

How to delete messages

var result = api.delete(someMessage, everyone); // Deletes a message for yourself or everyone

How to change your status

To change the status of the client:

api.changePresence(true); // online
api.changePresence(false); // offline

If you want to change the status of your companion, start by choosing the right presence: These are the allowed values:

• AVAILABLE
• UNAVAILABLE
• COMPOSING
• RECORDING

Then, execute this method:

api.changePresence(chat,  presence);

IMPORTANT: The changePresence method returns a CompletableFuture: remember to handle this async construct if needed

How to query the last known presence for a contact

To query the last known status of a Contact, use the following snippet:

var lastKnownPresenceOptional = contact.lastKnownPresence();

If the returned value is an empty Optional, the last status of the contact is unknown.

Whatsapp starts sending updates regarding the presence of a contact only when:

• A message was recently exchanged between you and said contact
• A new message arrives from said contact
• You send a message to said contact

To force Whatsapp to send these updates use:

api.subscribeToPresence(contact);

Then, after the subscribeToUserPresence's future is completed, query again the presence of that contact.

Query data about a group, or a contact

About

var status = api.queryAbout(contact) // A completable future
      .join() // Wait for the future to complete
      .flatMap(ContactAboutResponse::about) // Map the response to its status
      .orElse(null); // If no status is available yield null

Profile picture or chat picture

var picture = api.queryPicture(contact) // A completable future
      .join() // Wait for the future to complete
      .orElse(null); // If no picture is available yield null

Group's Metadata

var metadata = api.queryGroupMetadata(group); // A completable future
      .join(); // Wait for the future to complete

Search messages

var messages = chat.messages(); // All the messages in a chat
var firstMessage = chat.firstMessage(); // First message in a chat chronologically
var lastMessage = chat.lastMessage(); // Last message in a chat chronologically 
var starredMessages = chat.starredMessages(); // All the starred messages in a chat

Change the state of a chat

Mute a chat

var future = api.muteChat(chat);

Unmute a chat

var future = api.unmuteChat(chat);

Archive a chat

var future = api.archiveChat(chat);

Unarchive a chat

var future = api.unarchiveChat(chat);

Change ephemeral message status in a chat

var future = api.changeEphemeralTimer(chat,  ChatEphemeralTimer.ONE_WEEK);

Mark a chat as read

var future = api.markChatRead(chat);

Mark a chat as unread

var future = api.markChatUnread(chat);

Pin a chat

var future = api.pinChat(chat);

Unpin a chat

var future = api.unpinChat(chat);

Clear a chat

var future = api.clearChat(chat, false);

Delete a chat

var future = api.deleteChat(chat);

Change the state of a participant of a group

Add a contact to a group

var future = api.addGroupParticipant(group, contact);

Remove a contact from a group

var future = api.removeGroupParticipant(group, contact);

Promote a contact to admin in a group

var future = api.promoteGroupParticipant(group, contact);

Demote a contact to user in a group

var future = api.demoteGroupParticipant(group, contact);

Change the metadata or settings of a group

Change group's name/subject

var future = api.changeGroupSubject(group, newName);

Change or remove group's description

var future = api.changeGroupDescription(group, newDescription);

Change a setting in a group

var future = api.changeGroupSetting(group, GroupSetting.EDIT_GROUP_INFO, GroupPolicy.ANYONE);

Change or remove the picture of a group

var future = api.changeGroupPicture(group, img);

Other group related methods

Create a group

var future = api.createGroup("A nice name :)", friend, friend2);

Leave a group

var future = api.leaveGroup(group);

Query a group's invite code

var future = api.queryGroupInviteCode(group);

Revoke a group's invite code

var future = api.revokeGroupInvite(group);

Accept a group invite

var future = api.acceptGroupInvite(inviteCode);

Companions (Mobile api only)

Link a companion

var future = api.linkCompanion(qrCode);

Unlink a companion

var future = api.unlinkCompanion(companionJid);

Unlink all companions

var future = api.unlinkCompanions();

2FA (Mobile api only)

Enable 2FA

var future = api.enable2fa("000000", "[email protected]");

Disable 2FA

var future = api.disable2fa();

Calls (Mobile api only)

Start a call

var future = api.startCall(contact);

IMPORTANT: Currently there is no audio/video support

Stop or reject a call

var future = api.stopCall(contact);

Communities

IMPORTANT: Fully supported, but not documented here. Check the Javadocs.

Newsletters / Channels

IMPORTANT: Fully supported, but not documented here. Check the Javadocs.

Some methods may not be listed here, all contributions are welcomed to this documentation! Some methods may not be supported on the mobile api, please report them, so I can fix them. Ideally I'd like all of them to work.