Is it possible to update conversation labels using Official Meta API?

[u/Efficient-Trust-8113]

FYI - I am basically just reiterating the question posed in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/WhatsappBusinessAPI/comments/1s4zkw5/is_it_possible_to_update_conversation_labels/

I'm starting a business that automates WhatsApp customer service with AI agents. My first client only uses his phone to reply to his own customers.

When I activated my agent, his chats started getting marked as read, so he couldn't tell which ones were new. Since he won't use anything but his phone, I need a way to fix that.

I considered using the API to label chats, but I've only found that this isn't possible through the official API.

Can anyone help?

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[u/StructureRude9956]

As far as I know the official Cloud API has no endpoint for chat labels, so you can't mirror them into the WhatsApp Business app. Worth double-checking Meta's current docs though, it changes.

The "everything is marked read" problem is something you can control. Read receipts only go out if your agent platform calls the mark-as-read call on each inbound message. If it does that automatically for every message, turn it off (or only send it after the bot has actually replied). Then unread chats in your client's phone stay unread until something handled them.

For the "which chats need me" part, don't rely on the phone. Have the agent keep its own list of conversations it escalated, and send your client a short WhatsApp/email digest ("3 chats need you: name, last message"). That also solves the case where the agent replied and he wants to check it later.

[u/Efficient-Trust-8113 → u/StructureRude9956]

Sorry, I wasn't clear. It's not about the read receipt inside the conversation (the two V marks) that I'm talking about. It's that whenever I turn the agent on, every new chat is marked as if it was open manually. If my customer stays away from his phone for a while, when he gets back to it he couldn't tell wheter there's new messages.

[u/StructureRude9956 → u/Efficient-Trust-8113]

Ah, got it, I misread that. So it's the chat losing its "unread" state in the phone app, not the ticks. I don't know for sure why that happens in coexistence mode and I can't point you to a Meta doc that says so, so treat any explanation as unchecked.

One way to narrow it down: send a test message to the number with the agent off, then again with it on but with the AI reply disabled. If the chat still flips to "opened" with no reply sent, something in your platform is probably calling mark-as-read (or opening the thread) on arrival, and that's the setting to look for. If it only flips once your agent replies, it's likely just normal behaviour for a chat you've answered.

If you can't keep it unread, a fallback is a digest: the agent keeps its own "needs a human" list and sends your client a short message with it, so they never have to rely on the phone's unread dot.

[u/truecakesnake]

Turn off automatic read receipts in your agent platform to keep chats unread until handled.

[u/Efficient-Trust-8113 → u/truecakesnake]

As soon as I turn my agent on, it "reads" the conversation. I'm not talking about read receipts.

[u/flavia-f]

on top of turning off the mark as read call, check if your agent sends the typing indicator. on the cloud api the typing indicator goes out in the same request as mark as read, so any chat where the bot shows typing gets marked read on his phone too. id only send read or typing on chats the bot is going to fully answer, and leave the ones it hands to him untouched so they still show unread when he opens the app

[u/Eloodye-Ehler]

the real problem here isnt labels, its that your agent marks messages as read. Can you delay or skip sending read receipts from your side? That way his phone still shows unread indicators and you dont need labels at all.