Using Twilio for Sending WhatsApp Message in Java

In this blog post, we will try to send WhatsApp message in Java using Twilio account.

Prerequisite:

1. Create a free account in Twilio.

2. Once verified, you will have your own account SID and authorization token.

3. Thereafter, you need to activate the Sandbox.

4. Now add the number +14155238886 in you mobile account and send a message "join up-post" (without quotes).

This will register your mobile number with Twilio sandbox and now you are eligible to send WhatsApp messages. The sandbox will look like below:

Now we will write simple java code to initiate the engine and send message using program to any registered number.

Maven Dependency

Add maven dependency for Twilio java library

<dependency>
    <groupId>com.twilio.sdk</groupId>
    <artifactId>twilio</artifactId>
    <version>7.51.0</version>
</dependency>

After adding the maven dependency, create a new program with the below method and global variables.

private String ACCOUNT_SID="ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTVWXYZ";
private String AUTH_TOKEN="123abc456def789ghi";

private void sendMessageUsingTwilio(){
    Twilio.init(ACCOUNT_SID, AUTH_TOKEN);
    Message message = Message.creator(
            new com.twilio.type.PhoneNumber("whatsapp:+xxxxxxxxxxx"),
            new com.twilio.type.PhoneNumber("whatsapp:+14155238886"),
            "Hello there!")
            .create();

    System.out.println(message.getSid());
}

The Message.creator takes three arguments: to, from and message. You can get the account SID and Auth token from the Twilio dashboard.

Custom HTTP Client

The Twilio Java helper library also provide custom HttpClient which can be created like this. Twilio used org.apache.http.client package for its custom HttpClient. Add the below lines before creating and sending the message like Message.creator() method.

ProxiedTwilioClientCreator clientCreator = new ProxiedTwilioClientCreator(
        ACCOUNT_SID, AUTH_TOKEN, PROXY_HOST, PROXY_PORT);
TwilioRestClient twilioRestClient = clientCreator.getClient();
Twilio.setRestClient(twilioRestClient);

You can find the entire code here on my Github repository.

References

• https://www.twilio.com/blog/what-does-twilio-do

• https://www.twilio.com/docs/whatsapp/quickstart/java

• https://www.twilio.com/docs/libraries/java

• https://www.twilio.com/docs/libraries/java/custom-http-clients-java

NOTE:

• This is a fun project but always remember not to share your SID or authorization token details. You should also verify that you don't mistakenly shared it with the code.

• Twilio is not free and is having a trial period of 14 days.

Hope you will enjoy as much as I enjoyed trying it out. Please do suggest more content topics of your choice and share your feedback. Also subscribe and appreciate the blog if you like it.