diff --git a/package-lock.json b/package-lock.json
index 446c773..aab32a4 100644
--- a/package-lock.json
+++ b/package-lock.json
@@ -67,6 +67,14 @@
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/assert-plus/-/assert-plus-1.0.0.tgz",
       "integrity": "sha1-8S4PPF13sLHN2RRpQuTpbB5N1SU="
     },
+    "async": {
+      "version": "2.6.1",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/async/-/async-2.6.1.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-fNEiL2+AZt6AlAw/29Cr0UDe4sRAHCpEHh54WMz+Bb7QfNcFw4h3loofyJpLeQs4Yx7yuqu/2dLgM5hKOs6HlQ==",
+      "requires": {
+        "lodash": "^4.17.10"
+      }
+    },
     "async-limiter": {
       "version": "1.0.0",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/async-limiter/-/async-limiter-1.0.0.tgz",
@@ -1214,6 +1222,11 @@
         "sha3": "^1.1.0"
       }
     },
+    "lodash": {
+      "version": "4.17.11",
+      "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/lodash/-/lodash-4.17.11.tgz",
+      "integrity": "sha512-cQKh8igo5QUhZ7lg38DYWAxMvjSAKG0A8wGSVimP07SIUEK2UO+arSRKbRZWtelMtN5V0Hkwh5ryOto/SshYIg=="
+    },
     "lowercase-keys": {
       "version": "1.0.1",
       "resolved": "https://registry.npmjs.org/lowercase-keys/-/lowercase-keys-1.0.1.tgz",
diff --git a/package.json b/package.json
index bbdf2da..9fce686 100644
--- a/package.json
+++ b/package.json
@@ -17,6 +17,7 @@
   },
   "homepage": "https://github.com/status-im/status-x#readme",
   "dependencies": {
+    "async": "^2.6.1",
     "colors": "^1.3.2",
     "neo-blessed": "^0.2.0",
     "status-js-api": "^1.0.5"
diff --git a/src/index.js b/src/index.js
index 53a52e5..57b1594 100644
--- a/src/index.js
+++ b/src/index.js
@@ -1,3 +1,5 @@
+const async = require('async');
+
 var UI = require('./ui.js');
 var StatusJS = require('status-js-api');
 var ChannelManager = require('./channelManager.js');
@@ -5,6 +7,8 @@ var ChannelManager = require('./channelManager.js');
 const DEFAULT_CHANNEL = "mytest";
 const CONTACT_CODE_REGEXP = /^(0x)?[0-9a-f]{130}$/i;
 
+let userPubKey;
+
 var ui = new UI();
 
 var channels = new ChannelManager();
@@ -33,7 +37,6 @@ var updateUsers = function() {
   let users = channels.getUsersInCurrentChannel().map((x) => {
     return {name: x.username, status: (x.online ? "on" : "offline")}
   });
-  //ui.availableUsers([{name: "iuri", status: "on"}, {name: "rramos", status: "on"}, {name: "barry", status: "on"}, {name: "satoshi", status: "off"}])
   ui.availableUsers(users)
 }
 
@@ -50,6 +53,7 @@ var handleProtocolMessages = function(channelName, data) {
  }
 
   if (msg.type === 'typing') {
+    if (fromUser === userPubKey) return; // ignore typing events from self
     usersTyping[fromUser] = (new Date().getTime());
   }
 }
@@ -62,26 +66,26 @@ setInterval(function() {
   let currentTime = (new Date().getTime());
   for (let pubkey in usersTyping) {
     let lastTyped = usersTyping[pubkey];
-  if (currentTime - lastTyped > 5*1000 || currentTime < lastTyped) {
+    if (currentTime - lastTyped > 3*1000 || currentTime < lastTyped) {
       delete usersTyping[pubkey];
-  } else {
-   if (channels.allUsers.users[pubkey]) {
-     typingUsers.push(channels.allUsers.users[pubkey].username);
+    } else {
+      if (channels.allUsers.users[pubkey]) {
+        typingUsers.push(channels.allUsers.users[pubkey].username);
       }
-  }
+    }
   }
 
- if (typingUsers.length === 0) {
-   ui.consoleState.setContent("");
-  return;
- }
+  if (typingUsers.length === 0) {
+    ui.consoleState.setContent("");
+    return;
+  }
   if (typingUsers.length === 1) {
-   ui.consoleState.setContent(typingUsers[0] + " is typing");
+    ui.consoleState.setContent(typingUsers[0] + " is typing");
     return;
   }
 
- ui.consoleState.setContent(typingUsers.join(', ') + " are typing");
-}, 3*1000);
+  ui.consoleState.setContent(typingUsers.join(', ') + " are typing");
+}, 0.5*1000);
 
 ui.logEntry(`
   Welcome to
@@ -101,17 +105,17 @@ ui.logEntry(`Rejoining Channels....`);
   const status = new StatusJS();
 
   await status.connect("ws://localhost:8546");
-  const pubKey = await status.getPublicKey();
+  userPubKey = await status.getPublicKey();
   const userName = await status.getUserName();
 
-  ui.logEntry(`PK:  ${pubKey}`);
+  ui.logEntry(`PK:  ${userPubKey}`);
   ui.logEntry(`-----------------------------------------------------------`);
 
   const fs = require('fs');
   fs.writeFile("/tmp/test", await status.getPublicKey(), function(err) {
-      if(err) {
-          return console.log(err);
-      }
+    if (err) {
+      return console.log(err);
+    }
   });
 
   setInterval(function() {
@@ -135,6 +139,7 @@ ui.logEntry(`Rejoining Channels....`);
       if (JSON.parse(data.payload)[1][1] === 'content/json') {
         handleProtocolMessages(DEFAULT_CHANNEL, data);
       } else {
+        usersTyping[data.data.sig] = 0 // user is likley no longer typing if a message was received
         channels.addMessage(DEFAULT_CHANNEL, msg, data.data.sig, data.username)
       }
     });
@@ -212,13 +217,34 @@ ui.logEntry(`Rejoining Channels....`);
     }
   });
 
+  // keep track of each channel typing sent for throttling purposes
+  let typingNotificationsTimestamp = {
+  }
+
   ui.events.on('typing', (currentText) => {
     // TODO: use async.cargo instead and/or a to avoid unnecessary requests
     if (currentText[0] === '/') return;
     const channel = channels.getCurrentChannel();
     if(!channel.pubKey){
-      // TODO: the json message is being displayed in the UI
-      status.sendJsonMessage(channels.getCurrentChannel().name, {type: "typing"});
+      let channelName = channels.getCurrentChannel().name;
+      if (!typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName]) {
+        typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName] = {
+          timeout: 0,
+          lastEvent: 0
+        }
+      }
+      let now = (new Date().getTime());
+
+      clearTimeout(typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName].timeout);
+      if (typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName].lastEvent === 0 || now - typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName].lastEvent > 3*1000) {
+        typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName].lastEvent = (new Date().getTime());
+        status.sendJsonMessage(channelName, {type: "typing"});
+      }
+
+      typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName].timeout = setTimeout(function() {
+        typingNotificationsTimestamp[channelName].lastEvent = (new Date().getTime());
+        status.sendJsonMessage(channelName, {type: "typing"});
+      }, 3*1000);
     }
   });