---
schema_version: "newruntime-reader-dossiers-v1"
type: "reader_dossier"
slug: "whatsapp"
kind: "link_preview"
operator: "Meta (WhatsApp)"
researched_at: "2026-10-23"
confidence: "high"
json_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/whatsapp.json"
canonical_url: "https://newruntime.com/readers/whatsapp/"
---

# WhatsApp

> WhatsApp's fetcher that GETs a shared page to build a link preview from Open Graph tags; UA is WhatsApp/2.x.x.x with A/I/N platform suffix.

## Dossier

- Kind: Link previewers
- Operator: Meta (WhatsApp) (https://www.whatsapp.com/)
- Documentation: https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/link-previews
- robots.txt tokens: WhatsApp
- Feeds: link preview
- Respects robots.txt: Not documented. Meta's link-preview doc does not mention robots.txt.
- Verification: No published method
- Labels matched in our logs: whatsapp

## Why it matters to New Runtime (our interpretation)

A New Runtime link was shared in a WhatsApp chat or status; private person-to-person distribution.

## Observed behaviour

- Baseline 2026-10-23 (93-day window): 31 requests on 2 days; first seen 2026-09-11, last seen 2026-09-14; Dormant.
- Live numbers: https://newruntime.com/bot-traffic-history.json and https://newruntime.com/crawler-journeys.json

## Sources

- https://developers.facebook.com/docs/whatsapp/link-previews
- https://knownagents.com/agents/whatsapp

Identity: A family name is what a client claims in its user agent. It is verified only when its request came from the operator's published IP ranges or passed forward-confirmed reverse DNS, as reported per family in /crawler-journeys.json. Anyone can claim any name.

All dossiers: https://newruntime.com/readers.md