WhatsApp Group and Community Metadata

Zero-auth HTTP inspector for WhatsApp group and community invite links, real-time health checks, and metadata extraction.

100% Zero-Auth HTTP · Sub-100ms request latency · Community hierarchy detection · Zero ban risk

Why this Actor?

Auditing WhatsApp invite links typically requires connecting a WhatsApp account, scanning QR codes, or running slow, heavy headless browsers (1–2 GB RAM) that risk immediate account bans. This Actor operates via a 100% Zero-Auth HTTP-First protocol, executing on 256 MB RAM in sub-100ms per link.

Feature	What you get
100% Zero-Auth Operation	No QR code, no phone number, and 0% risk of WhatsApp account bans.
Deterministic 4-State Health Check	Accurately identifies ACTIVE, REVOKED, EXPIRED, and INVALID links, bypassing Meta's universal HTTP 200 masking trap.
Community Hierarchy Mapping	Automatically classifies links into GROUP, COMMUNITY, or SUBGROUP, extracting linked parent community names.
High-Resolution Avatar CDN Extraction	Retrieves signed live pps.whatsapp.net profile images and flags generic placeholder icons.
Direct Web Join Route	Generates clean webJoinUrl direct routing links for instant WhatsApp Web navigation.
Micro-Compute Performance	Runs in 256 MB RAM at 10–20 links/sec, consuming only ~0.005 Compute Units per 1,000 links.
SSRF & Abuse Guard	Strict WHATWG URL parser protects against SSRF, internal intranet probing, and malformed inputs.
Clean Tabular Output	100% buyer-facing CSV, JSON, and Excel export without internal debug or telemetry cruft.

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Quick start

1. Open WhatsApp Group and Community Metadata on the Apify Console and click Start.
2. Paste one or more WhatsApp invite links into WhatsApp Invite Links or Codes.
3. Click Save & Run.
4. Download your structured results as JSON, CSV, or Excel.

{
  "inviteUrls": [
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM"
  ],
  "maxConcurrency": 10
}

---

How it works

Public WhatsApp Invite Links / Codes
               │
               ▼
   [SSRF & URL Normalizer]  ── (Blocks invalid hosts & internal IPs)
               │
               ▼
   [Crawlee HTTP Engine]    ── (Desktop Chrome header & TLS emulation)
               │
               ▼
   [Cheerio DOM Parser]     ── (OpenGraph + DOM + Health state matrix)
               │
               ▼
   [Dataset Streamer]       ── (Clean, flattened buyer records to CSV/JSON)

1. Input Normalization: Accepts full invite links (chat.whatsapp.com/invite/:code), short links (chat.whatsapp.com/:code), or bare 22-character invite codes.
2. Edge Inspection: Queries Meta's edge servers with desktop Chrome headers, receiving the exact server-side rendered HTML landing page in <100ms.
3. Health State Classifier: Checks OpenGraph title and DOM tags. If Meta renders an empty subject with a placeholder icon, the Actor flags the link as REVOKED or EXPIRED.
4. Dataset Emission: Results are streamed directly to the default Apify Dataset in memory-safe batches.

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Input

Field	Type	Required	Default	Description
inviteUrls	Array of strings	Yes	["https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM"]	List of WhatsApp invite URLs or bare invite codes.
maxConcurrency	Integer	No	10	Maximum simultaneous HTTP requests (1–50).
proxyConfiguration	Object	No	{"useApifyProxy": false}	Optional Apify Datacenter or Residential proxy configuration.
exportRawHtml	Boolean	No	false	Include raw HTML landing page in output for forensic auditing.

Complete Input Example

{
  "inviteUrls": [
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM",
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/invite/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM",
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA"
  ],
  "maxConcurrency": 10,
  "exportRawHtml": false
}

---

Output

Every record pushed to the default dataset contains clean, buyer-facing fields:

{
  "inviteCode": "BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM",
  "targetUrl": "https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM",
  "status": "ACTIVE",
  "groupType": "SUBGROUP",
  "name": "API Talk",
  "parentCommunityName": "WhatsApp Business Community",
  "avatarUrl": "https://pps.whatsapp.net/v/t61.24694-24/456180963_483725641355837_2804324104601370418_n.jpg?ccb=11-4&oh=01_Q5Aa5gFFu6t25maQyA3d579Mm2q41gZAhlhSJViknsLZ10G90A&oe=6AC00A64&_nc_sid=5e03e0&_nc_cat=111",
  "hasCustomAvatar": true,
  "webJoinUrl": "https://web.whatsapp.com/accept?code=BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM&utm_campaign=wa_chat_v2",
  "httpStatus": 200,
  "responseLatencyMs": 909,
  "checkedAt": "2026-09-22T20:30:30.826Z"
}

Dataset Field Descriptions

Field	Type	Description
inviteCode	String	Extracted 20–24 character WhatsApp invite identifier.
targetUrl	String	Canonical URL inspected on Meta edge.
status	String	Health status: ACTIVE, REVOKED, EXPIRED, or INVALID.
groupType	String	Classification: GROUP, COMMUNITY, or SUBGROUP.
name	String | null	Group or Community title (null if revoked/invalid).
parentCommunityName	String | null	Name of the parent WhatsApp Community (if link belongs to a community).
avatarUrl	String | null	Direct URL to signed high-resolution avatar image on pps.whatsapp.net.
hasCustomAvatar	Boolean	true if group has a custom brand avatar; false if using generic placeholder.
webJoinUrl	String | null	Direct routing URL for opening group in WhatsApp Web.
httpStatus	Integer	HTTP response code returned by Meta edge server (usually 200).
responseLatencyMs	Integer	Round-trip request latency in milliseconds.
checkedAt	String	ISO-8601 timestamp of when the check was performed.

---

Cost, limits, proxy

• Memory: 256 MB Actor container limit.
• Concurrency: Up to 50 simultaneous HTTP requests (default: 10).
• Compute Unit Efficiency: ~0.005 CUs per 1,000 links (over 95% cheaper than browser-based scrapers).
• Proxy Recommendations:
  • For small runs (<100 links): No proxy required (useApifyProxy: false).
  • For large batch runs (>1,000 links): Use Apify Datacenter or Residential proxy groups to prevent edge rate limits.

---

Recipes

Recipe 1: Single Group Link Verification

Verify a single link to check if it's active and extract its current branding:

{
  "inviteUrls": ["https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM"]
}

Recipe 2: Bulk Link Health Audit

Audit hundreds of links to purge dead/revoked invites from your database or community directory:

{
  "inviteUrls": [
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/BDerNXvizvFCdfXXFYgQDM",
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA",
    "https://chat.whatsapp.com/invite/CDefGhIjKlMnOpQrStUvWx"
  ],
  "maxConcurrency": 15
}

---

Troubleshooting

Symptom	Cause	Fix
status: "REVOKED"	The group admin reset or revoked the invite code.	The invite code is permanently inactive. Remove it from your directory.
status: "INVALID"	URL format is malformed or invite code length is invalid (<20 or >24 chars).	Verify the invite link syntax.
httpStatus: 429	WhatsApp edge rate limit reached on your IP.	Enable Apify Proxy in proxyConfiguration or lower maxConcurrency.
name: null	Link is revoked, expired, or group was deleted.	Normal behavior for inactive invite links.

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FAQ

Q: Does this Actor require my WhatsApp account or phone number?
A: No. This Actor is 100% Zero-Auth. It never asks for a phone number, API token, or QR code login.

Q: Is there any risk of my WhatsApp account getting banned?
A: Absolutely zero. Because no account is connected, there is no account that could ever be banned.

Q: Can this Actor scrape participant phone numbers or private messages?
A: No. Meta strictly protects participant rosters and message history behind end-to-end encryption and authentication. This Actor extracts only public landing page metadata (group name, community hierarchy, avatar, health status).

Q: Can I run this Actor on a schedule?
A: Yes! You can use Apify's built-in scheduler to run this Actor daily or weekly to monitor invite link health automatically.

Q: Can I copy or republish this Actor?
A: No. This Actor is proprietary software. You may run it on Apify, but you may not rebrand, copy, or republish it. See ./LICENSE.

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Limitations

• Public metadata inspection only. Does not join groups or read private chats.
• WhatsApp unauthenticated pages do not expose participant lists or member counts.
• Users are responsible for complying with WhatsApp Terms of Service and applicable data privacy regulations.

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Run it

Open the Actor on Apify Console and click Start.

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License

Proprietary. All rights reserved. Copyright (c) 2026 REXREUS.

You may run this Actor on Apify. You may not copy, rebrand, republish, or claim this Actor as your own. See ./LICENSE.