Objective

WhatsApp messages sent via Twilio Programmable Messaging allow for some simple text formatting via lightweight markup. When markup is used as described below, WhatsApp users will see the formatting included on messages they receive in the app. This guide explains what text formatting options are available, and gives examples on how to use them.

Product

Programmable Messaging

Environment

legacy Twilio Console

Procedure 

Outgoing text formatting

To format text in your outgoing WhatsApp message, you'll need to add the usage character(s) listed before and after the section of text you want to format. Please see the below chart for more details.

Styling	Usage	Input Example	Output
Bold	* x *	We'll see you at *4PM*.
Italic	_ x _	Your driver has been _delayed_ until 6PM.
Strike-through	~ x ~	We expect to see you at ~4PM~ 6PM.
Pre-formatted (Code)	``` x ```	Use the ```Message``` API to notify users.

Incoming text formatting

At this time, Twilio does not display formatted text for incoming messages with markup in Twilio Console. Messages will, however, be displayed with the markup character(s) included, as seen in the examples above.