Web Widget: Add a Typing indicator
complete
N
Norman Guilló Vicente
Business Problem
Although the Respond.io Web Widget is functional, the lack of a visible loading or typing indicator when the AI Agent is generating a response creates the impression that the widget is frozen or unresponsive.
This leads to:
- Users abandoning the conversation because they think nothing is happening
- A drop in engagement and conversion rates
- A perception that the widget experience is less polished compared to competitors like Intercom
Small UI refinements (such as header size, shadow polish, and visual refinements) would further enhance the widget
Desired Outcome
Introduce a clear, real-time indicator that shows when a response is being processed
A
Alyaa See
updated the status to
complete
Your Contacts can now see when an agent is typing a reply in the Web Widget. This gives them confidence that help is on the way and reduces follow-up messages. No setup needed!
A
Alyaa See
Merged in a post:
Webchat: Typing Indicator for Contacts
Sebis
Business Problem
As a business using respond.io's webchat, I need contacts to see a typing indicator when an agent or AI Agent is composing a reply — the same way it works on WhatsApp, TikTok, and Telegram.
Without it, contacts have no visual feedback after sending a message. They don't know if their message was received, seen, or being responded to — so they leave the website before a reply arrives.
Desired Outcome
• Show a typing indicator to the contact in webchat when an agent or AI Agent is composing a reply
Current Workaround
N/A
A
Alyaa See
Hi Sebis thanks for the request.
We’d like to understand better so we can evaluate properly - for example, what kind of conversations does this affect (sales, support etc), what’s difficult without it, and what you’d hope to improve by having a typing indicator in webchat?
This would help us in assessing your needs more accurately.
Sebis
Alyaa See Yes the situation is that when someone enters on our webchat and sends a message he is waiting for a reply but he leaves the website because he doesn't see if somenone is typing in the back.
He doesn't know if something is working in the back, if the message was sent, was seen and so on.
This increases the drop-off rate
If it had a typing indicator, the client will stay on webchat because he knows that he will get a reply.
Florian Barral
Alyaa See +1 on this! We're building an AI sales agent on Respond.io that handles orders via WhatsApp and Telegram. Our agent takes 5-15 seconds to process requests (product search, stock check, pricing), and during that time the customer has zero feedback that something is happening.
We currently send interim text messages ("Searching products...", "Processing your order...") as a workaround, but these clutter the conversation history and feel unnatural. And still the customer does not know if things are still going on.
What we'd need specifically:
- An API endpoint to trigger the typing indicator programmatically (e.g. POST /contact/{id}/typing), not just in the webchat UI
- Support for WhatsApp channels (has native typing indicator APIs)
This would be a huge improvement for AI agent use cases where processing time is non-trivial. Right now the lack of visual feedback makes it feel like the bot is unresponsive.
Honestly, if this isn't on the roadmap, we may have to integrate directly with the WhatsApp Business API (Meta Cloud API) which supports typing indicators natively — but we'd obviously prefer to keep everything through Respond.io. 🙂
A
Alyaa See
Hi Florian Barral to clarify, typing indicators are actually already live on WhatsApp and Telegram (as well as TikTok) for both human agents and the AI Agent. You can find more details here.
On the API endpoint - could you share a bit more about your setup? Specifically, are you using respond.io's built-in AI Agent, or are you running an external AI/bot that sends messages via our API? That'll help us understand the right scope for this.
A
Alyaa See
Hi Florian Barral just following up on this — could you share a bit more about your setup?
This will help us understand whether the typing indicator request should be scoped to our AI Agent behavior or the API endpoint.
Florian Barral
Hi Alyaa See
Our setup: external AI agent (custom NestJS + Gemini), sending/receiving via the Respond.io Messaging API on WhatsApp + Telegram. Not the built-in AI Agent.
So the request is scoped to the API, not AI Agent behavior. Today typing indicators work for human agents and the native AI Agent, but there's no way to trigger them from an external system via the API => that's the gap.
Concretely, what we'd need:
- POST /contact/{id}/typing_on + typing_off endpoints
- Works on WhatsApp + Telegram (both support it natively upstream)
- Lets us keep the indicator active during multi-step processing (5-15s in our case), not just at the moment a message is finally sent
Why it matters: our agent takes 5-15s per turn (product search, stock check, pricing) and up to 60s. Without a way to signal "I'm working on it", customers think the bot is frozen and drop off. We currently send interim text messages as a workaround, but they clutter the conversation and still don't convey "something is happening right now".
Hope it's clear!
Thanks!
Flo
A
Alyaa See
Hi Florian Barral, thanks for the clear context it's really helpful!
There’s an existing request for Developer API support for typing indicators here. Feel free to add your vote to the request there so you can track any progress.
Florian Barral
Alyaa See thanks done!
N
Nabilah Binti Salleh
Merged in a post:
Major Improvement Needed for Web Widget UI and Typing Feedback
Norman Guilló
A substantial improvement of the web widget ui and typing feedback is absolutely necessary.
Compared to modern chat widgets such as intercom, the current respond web widget feels outdated and significantly less polished. The difference is noticeable immediately and negatively impacts perceived product quality.
Key issues include:
- Typing feedback and input responsiveness feel basic and lack refinement.
- Visual hierarchy, spacing, and micro-interactions are weak compared to leading competitors.
- The overall writing and interaction experience does not feel smooth or modern.
- There is limited real-time feedback while typing, which makes the widget feel less responsive.
In customer-facing tools, the chat widget is often the first and most frequent point of interaction. A weak ui at this level directly affects trust, engagement, and conversion.
Intercom has set a clear baseline for what users expect in terms of typing experience, responsiveness, and visual feedback. In comparison, the current respond widget falls short, to the point where the gap is noticeable and disappointing.
Despite the platform’s strong backend capabilities and ai features, this ui weakness undermines the overall experience and makes the product feel less mature than it actually is.
Improving the web widget ui, typing feedback, and interaction polish should be considered a core product investment, not a cosmetic enhancement.
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