View-Once Message Detection

Problem

WhatsApp “view once” photos and videos can only be opened on the phone. The CRM has no way to know one was received — the user might miss it entirely.

Solution

Detect msg._data.isViewOnce on incoming messages and surface a visible alert in the conversation.

Backend — WhatsAppService

In handleMessage():

• Checks msg._data.isViewOnce before any media download attempt
• If true: logs [View-once photo — check your phone] to the contact’s transcript file
• Sets hasMedia: false in the serialized message (no broken media placeholder)
• Sets isViewOnce: true in the serialized message
• Returns early — skips downloadMedia() entirely
• Still emits the WebSocket event so the frontend updates in real-time

In serializeMessage():

• Reads msg._data.isViewOnce and includes it in the serialized object

In archiveMessage():

• Stores is_view_once boolean in the messages table

Database

New column on the messages table:

ALTER TABLE messages ADD COLUMN IF NOT EXISTS is_view_once BOOLEAN DEFAULT FALSE;

Frontend — MessageBubble

When message.isViewOnce is true, an orange banner renders above the message body:

• EyeOff icon from lucide-react
• Text: “View-once — check your phone”
• Styled with bg-orange-500/10 background and border-orange-500/20 border

Key Gotcha

The isViewOnce property lives on msg._data.isViewOnce, NOT as a top-level whatsapp-web.js Message property. The library uses it for sending view-once messages (as a sendMessage option), but for received messages it’s only on the raw data object.

Files Modified