Sticker messages

Updated: Jun 24, 2026

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Sticker messages display animated or static sticker images in a WhatsApp message.

WhatsApp message showing an animated sticker delivered to a user

Request syntax

Use the Messages API to send a sticker message to a WhatsApp user.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/<API_VERSION>/<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer <ACCESS_TOKEN>' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>",
  "type": "sticker",
  "sticker": {
    "id": "<MEDIA_ID>", <!-- Only if using uploaded media -->
    "link": "<MEDIA_URL>", <!-- Only if using hosted media (not recommended) -->
  }
}'

Post body parameters

Placeholder	Description	Example Value
`<ACCESS_TOKEN>` String	Required. System token or business token.	`EAAA...`
`<API_VERSION>` String	Optional. Graph API version.	v26.0
`<MEDIA_ID>` String	Required if using uploaded media, otherwise omit. ID of the uploaded media asset.	`1013859600285441`
`<MEDIA_URL>` String	Required if using hosted media, otherwise omit. URL of the media asset hosted on your public server. For better performance, we recommend using `id` and an uploaded media asset ID instead.	`https://www.luckyshrub.com/assets/animated-smiling-plant.webp`
`<WHATSAPP_BUSINESS_PHONE_NUMBER_ID>` String	Required. WhatsApp business phone number ID.	`106540352242922`
`<WHATSAPP_USER_PHONE_NUMBER>` String	Required. WhatsApp user phone number.	`+16505551234`

Supported sticker formats

WhatsApp supports the following sticker file formats and size limits for sticker messages.

Sticker Type	Extension	MIME Type	Max Size
Animated sticker	.webp	image/webp	500 KB
Static sticker	.webp	image/webp	100 KB

Example request

Example request to send an animated sticker image to a WhatsApp user.

curl 'https://graph.facebook.com/v26.0/106540352242922/messages' \
-H 'Content-Type: application/json' \
-H 'Authorization: Bearer EAAJB...' \
-d '
{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "recipient_type": "individual",
  "to": "+16505551234",
  "type": "sticker",
  "sticker": {
    "id" : "798882015472548"
  }
}'

Example response

{
  "messaging_product": "whatsapp",
  "contacts": [
    {
      "input": "+16505551234",
      "wa_id": "16505551234"
    }
  ],
  "messages": [
    {
      "id": "wamid.HBgLMTY0NjcwNDM1OTUVAgARGBI1RjQyNUE3NEYxMzAzMzQ5MkEA"
    }
  ]
}

Error handling

A request fails if the <MEDIA_ID> is invalid or has expired, if the sticker isn’t a supported WebP type, or if the file exceeds the maximum size listed in Supported sticker formats. When a request fails, the API returns an error response instead of a message ID.

For the full list of error codes and recommended handling, see WhatsApp Cloud API error codes.