When you send a message through Chatwoot, the message goes through a series of statuses that reflect its current state in the delivery pipeline. These statuses are visible in the conversation view and help agents understand whether a message has been successfully delivered or read by the contact.Documentation Index
Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://developers.chatwoot.com/llms.txt
Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.
Status Overview
Chatwoot tracks four outgoing message statuses:Sent
The message has been accepted and sent to the channel provider (e.g. WhatsApp, Facebook). Chatwoot has handed the message off successfully.
Delivered
The message has been delivered to the contact’s device. The channel provider has confirmed receipt on the recipient’s end.
Read
The contact has opened and read the message. This requires the contact’s client to send a read receipt back to the channel provider.
Failed
The message could not be delivered. This can happen due to an invalid number, a blocked contact, channel restrictions, or a provider-side error.
Status Details
Sent
A message moves to Sent as soon as Chatwoot has successfully submitted it to the upstream channel provider. This does not mean the message has reached the contact’s device — it only confirms that Chatwoot’s outbound request to the provider was accepted. If you see a message stuck in a state before Sent, it typically indicates a connectivity or authentication issue between Chatwoot and the channel provider.Delivered
A message is marked Delivered when the channel provider confirms that the message has reached the contact’s device or inbox. The contact does not need to open the message for this status to be set. Not all channels report delivery status back to Chatwoot. For channels where this is not supported, messages will remain at Sent after submission.Read
A message is marked Read when the contact’s messaging client sends a read receipt to the channel provider, which then relays that information to Chatwoot. Read receipts depend on the contact’s device settings — some users disable read receipts, in which case this status will never be reported even if the message was read. Not all channels support read receipts. See the channel support table below for details.Failed
A message is marked Failed when the channel provider reports that delivery was unsuccessful. Common reasons include:- The contact’s phone number is invalid or not registered on the channel
- The contact has blocked the sender
- The message violates channel policies (e.g. sending a non-template WhatsApp message outside the 24-hour window)
- A provider-side outage or rate limit was encountered
Channel Support
Not every channel supports all four statuses. The table below shows which statuses each channel reports back to Chatwoot.| Channel | Sent | Delivered | Read | Failed |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Website (Widget) | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| API Channel | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Official WhatsApp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Twilio WhatsApp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| 360Dialog WhatsApp | Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes |
| Yes | Yes | Yes | Yes | |
| TikTok | Yes | Not supported | Yes | Yes |
| Twilio SMS | Yes | Yes | Not supported | Yes |
| Bandwidth SMS | Yes | Yes | Not supported | Yes |
| Yes | Not supported | Yes | Yes | |
| Telegram | Yes | Not supported | Not supported | Yes |
| Line | Yes | Yes¹ | Not supported | Yes |
| Yes | Not supported | Not supported | Yes² |
Read receipt support depends not only on the channel but also on the contact’s device settings. Contacts can disable read receipts on WhatsApp and other platforms, meaning a message can be read without Chatwoot receiving a Read status update.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why does a message show no status indicator at all?
Why does a message show no status indicator at all?
If a message has no status indicator, it has not yet been submitted to the channel provider. This is most common immediately after sending, before Chatwoot’s background worker has processed the message. If this state persists, check that Chatwoot’s Sidekiq workers are running correctly.
A WhatsApp message shows Sent but never moves to Delivered — what's wrong?
A WhatsApp message shows Sent but never moves to Delivered — what's wrong?
This typically means the message was accepted by the WhatsApp API but hasn’t reached the contact’s device. Possible causes include: the contact’s phone is off or offline, the number is no longer active on WhatsApp, or the contact has blocked the sender. The message will be delivered once the device comes back online, or it will eventually expire if the device stays offline for too long.
Why do some messages show Delivered but never Read?
Why do some messages show Delivered but never Read?
Read receipts are optional. WhatsApp and some other platforms allow users to turn off read receipts. If a contact has disabled them, messages will stop at Delivered even after being opened. This is expected behaviour and not an error.
A message shows Failed — can I resend it?
A message shows Failed — can I resend it?
Currently, Chatwoot does not have a one-click resend for failed messages. You will need to type a new message. Before retrying, review any error information in the conversation to understand why the message failed, so you can resolve the underlying issue first.
Why don't email bounces show up as Failed?
Why don't email bounces show up as Failed?
Email messages are marked Failed only when sending raises an exception (for example, an SMTP authentication error or a rejected recipient during the SMTP handshake). Bounce notifications and asynchronous delivery failures returned by downstream mail servers are not currently fed back into the message status system, so a message that bounces after a successful SMTP handoff will remain at Sent.
Related Pages
- Supported Features on Channels — A full feature comparison table across all Chatwoot channels, including the delivery status support matrix.