Looking for the previous docs site? Visit the legacy docs homepage. (opens in a new tab)
Agora Docs

Message receipts

Updated

Introduces how to use the Agora Chat SDK to implement message receipt functionalities in one-to-one chats and chat groups.

The Chat SDK provides the message read receipt feature that allows the user, after sending a message, to know whether the message is read. The feature is available to both one-to-one chats and group chats.

  • Message delivery receipt: Available only to one-to-one chats.
  • Message read receipt: Available to both one-to-one chats and group chats.

Understand the tech

The Chat SDK uses IChatManager to provide message receipt, which includes delivery receipts and read receipts. The following are the core methods:

  • ChatOptions.requireDeliveryAck: Enable message delivery receipts.
  • ChatOptions.requireAck: Enable conversation and message read receipts.
  • ChatManager.sendConversationReadAck: Send a conversation read receipt.
  • ChatManager.sendMessageReadAck: Send a message read receipt.
  • ChatManager.sendGroupMessageReadAck: Send a group message read receipt.

The logic for implementing these receipts are as follows:

  • Message delivery receipts

    1. The message sender enables delivery receipts by setting ChatOptions.requireDeliveryAck as true.
    2. After the recipient receives the message, the SDK automatically sends a delivery receipt to the sender.
    3. The sender receives the delivery receipt by listening for onMessageDelivered.

  • Conversation and message read receipts

    1. The message sender enables read receipt by setting ChatOptions.requireAck as true.
    2. After reading the message, the recipient calls sendConversationReadAck or sendMessageReadAck to send a conversation or message read receipt.
    3. The sender receives the conversation or message receipt by listening for onConversationRead or onMessageRead.

Prerequisites

Before proceeding, ensure that you meet the following requirements:

  • You have integrated the Chat SDK, initialized the SDK and implemented the functionality of registering accounts and login. For details, see Chat SDK quickstart.
  • You understand the API call frequency limits as described in Limitations.
  • Message read receipts for chat groups are not enabled by default. To use this feature, contact support@agora.io.

Implementation

This section introduces how to implement message delivery and read receipts in your chat app.

Message delivery receipts

To send a message delivery receipt, take the following steps:

  1. When initializing the SDK, set requireDeliveryAck in ChatOptions as true on the sender's client.

    // Set the SDK app key.
const appKey = "appKey";
// Enable message delivery receipts.
const requireDeliveryAck = true;
ChatClient.getInstance()
.init(
    new ChatOptions({
    appKey,
    requireDeliveryAck,
    })
)
.then(() => {
    console.log("init sdk success");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    console.log("init sdk fail.", reason);
});

  2. Once the recipient receives the message, the SDK triggers OnMessageDelivered on the message sender's client, notifying the message sender that the message has been delivered to the recipient. Listen for the onMessageDelivered callback on the sender's client:

    class ChatMessageEvent implements ChatMessageEventListener {
onMessagesDelivered(messages: ChatMessage[]): void {
    console.log(`onMessagesDelivered: `, messages);
}
// ...
}
// Add a message listener
const listener = new ChatMessageEvent();
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.addMessageListener(listener);

Conversation and message read receipts

In both one-to-one chats and group chats, you can use message read receipts to notify the message sender that the message has been read. To minimize the method call for message read receipts, the SDK also supports conversation read receipts in one-to-one chats.

One-to-one chats

In one-to-one chats, the SDK supports sending both the conversation read receipts and message read receipts. Agora recommends using conversation read receipts if the new message arrives when the message recipient has not entered the conversation UI.

Conversation read receipts

Follow the steps to implement conversation read receipts in one-to-one chats.

  1. When initializing the SDK, set requireAck in ChatOptions as true.

    // Set the SDK app key.
const appKey = "appKey";
// Enable the conversation and message read receipt.
const requireAck = true;
ChatClient.getInstance()
.init(
    new ChatOptions({
    appKey,
    requireAck,
    requireDeliveryAck,
    })
)
.then(() => {
    console.log("init sdk success");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    console.log("init sdk fail.", reason);
});

  2. When a user enters the conversation UI, check whether the conversation contains unread messages. If yes, call sendConversationReadAck to send a conversation read receipt.

    // Get the conversation ID
const convId = "convId";
// Call sendConversationReadAck to send the receipt.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.sendConversationReadAck(convId)
.then(() => {
    console.log("send conversation read success");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    console.log("send conversation read fail.", reason);
});

  3. The message sender listens for message events and receives the conversation read receipt in onConversationRead.

    class ChatMessageEvent implements ChatMessageEventListener {
onConversationRead(from: string, to?: string): void {
    // `from` indicates the message recipient that sends this receipt, and `to` indicates the message sender that receives this receipt.
    console.log(`onConversationRead: `, from, to);
}
// ...
}
// Add a chat message event.
const listener = new ChatMessageEvent();
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.addMessageListener(listener);

In use-cases where a user is logged in multiple devices, if the user sends a conversation read receipt from one device, the server sets the count of unread messages in the conversation as 0, and all the other devices receive onConversationRead.

Message read receipts

To implement the message read receipt in one-to-one chats, take the following steps:

  1. When initializing the SDK, set requireAck in ChatOptions as true.

    // Set the SDK app key.
const appKey = "appKey";
// Enable the conversation and message read receipt.
const requireAck = true;
ChatClient.getInstance()
.init(
    new ChatOptions({
    appKey,
    requireAck,
    requireDeliveryAck,
    })
)
.then(() => {
    console.log("init sdk success");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    console.log("init sdk fail.", reason);
});

  2. The message sender listens for the message receipt in onMessageRead:

    class ChatMessageEvent implements ChatMessageEventListener {
onMessagesRead(messages: ChatMessage[]): void {
    // Receive the onMessageRead callback
    console.log(`onMessagesRead: `, messages);
}
// ...
}
// Add a chat message event.
const listener = new ChatMessageEvent();
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.addMessageListener(listener);

  3. The sender sends a message. Ensure that you set msg.hasReadAck as true.

    // Send a message.
// Set hasReadAck as true to require a message read receipt.
msg.hasReadAck = true;
// Call sendMessage to send the message
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.sendMessage(msg)
.then(() => {
    // Print a log if message sending succeeds.
    console.log("send message success.");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    // Print a log if message sends fails.
    console.log("send message fail.", reason);
});

  4. When the message arrives, the recipient reads the message and call sendMessageReadAck to notify the send that the message is read. The SDK will trigger onMessageRead on the sender's client.

    // The message that requires a read receipt.
const msg;
// Call sendMessageReadAck to send a message read receipt.
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.sendMessageReadAck(msg)
.then(() => {
    console.log("send message read success");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    console.log("send message read fail.", reason);
});

Chat groups

For a group chat, group members can determine whether to require message read receipts when sending a message. If yes, after a group member reads the message, the SDK sends a read receipt. In a group chat, the number of message read receipts that are sent for the message refers to the number of group members that have read this message.

The following table shows the restrictions of this feature:

Feature RestrictionDefaultDescription
Enabling the functionDisabledTo use this feature, contact support@agora.io to enable it.
PermissionGroup owner and administratorsBy default, only the group owner and administrators can request read receipts when sending a message. You can contact support@agora.io to grant the permission to regular group members.
Number of days before read receipts cannot be returned after the message is sent3 daysThe server no longer records the group members that read the message three days after it is sent, nor sends the read receipts.
Chat group size500 membersThis feature is available only to groups with up to 500 members. In other words, each message in a group can have up to 500 read receipts. If the upper limit is exceeded, the latest read receipt record will overwrite the earliest one.
Maximum number of group messages that can have read receipts per day500A group can have up to 500 messages each day for which read receipts can be returned.

Follow the steps to implement read receipts for a chat group message:

  1. To receive the chat group message read receipts, the sender listens for the onGroupMessageRead callback.

    class ChatMessageEvent implements ChatMessageEventListener {
onGroupMessageRead(groupMessageAcks: ChatGroupMessageAck[]): void {
    // Receive the onGroupMessageRead callback.
    console.log(`onGroupMessageRead: `, messages);
}
// ...
}
// Add a chat message event.
const listener = new ChatMessageEvent();
ChatClient.getInstance().chatManager.addMessageListener(listener);

  2. The sender sends a chat group message. Ensure that you set needGroupAck as true.

    // Send a group message
// Set needGroupAck as true to require a chat group message read receipt
msg.needGroupAck = true;
// Call sendMessage to send the group message
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.sendMessage(msg)
.then(() => {
    // Print a log here if the message sending succeeds.
    console.log("send message success.");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    // Print a log here if the message sending fails.
    console.log("send message fail.", reason);
});

  3. The chat group member reads the message and call sendGroupMessageReadAck to send a chat group message receipt. The SDK will trigger onGroupMessageRead on the sender's client.

    // Send a chat group message read receipt
// The ID of the message that requires a read receipt
const msgId;
// The chat group ID
const groupId;
// Call sendGroupMessageReadAck
ChatClient.getInstance()
.chatManager.sendGroupMessageReadAck(msgId, groupId)
.then(() => {
    // Print a log here if the message sending succeeds.
    console.log("send message read success.");
})
.catch((reason) => {
    // Print a log here if the message sending fails.
    console.log("send message read fail.", reason);
});

Contact Us

+1 (408) 879-5885

2804 Mission College Blvd.Santa Clara, CA, USA 95054

AgoraCopyright © 2026 AgoraAll rights reserved