diff --git a/src/SlashCommands.tsx b/src/SlashCommands.tsx
index d60434cf97..aac42b6740 100644
--- a/src/SlashCommands.tsx
+++ b/src/SlashCommands.tsx
@@ -914,7 +914,7 @@ export const Commands = [
     // Command definitions for autocompletion ONLY:
     // /me is special because its not handled by SlashCommands.js and is instead done inside the Composer classes
     new Command({
-        command: 'me',
+        command: "me",
         args: '<message>',
         description: _td('Displays action'),
         category: CommandCategories.messages,
@@ -931,16 +931,7 @@ Commands.forEach(cmd => {
     });
 });
 
-
-/**
- * Process the given text for /commands and return a bound method to perform them.
- * @param {string} roomId The room in which the command was performed.
- * @param {string} input The raw text input by the user.
- * @return {null|function(): Object} Function returning an object with the property 'error' if there was an error
- * processing the command, or 'promise' if a request was sent out.
- * Returns null if the input didn't match a command.
- */
-export function getCommand(roomId, input) {
+export function parseCommandString(input) {
     // trim any trailing whitespace, as it can confuse the parser for
     // IRC-style commands
     input = input.replace(/\s+$/, '');
@@ -956,6 +947,20 @@ export function getCommand(roomId, input) {
         cmd = input;
     }
 
+    return {cmd, args};
+}
+
+/**
+ * Process the given text for /commands and return a bound method to perform them.
+ * @param {string} roomId The room in which the command was performed.
+ * @param {string} input The raw text input by the user.
+ * @return {null|function(): Object} Function returning an object with the property 'error' if there was an error
+ * processing the command, or 'promise' if a request was sent out.
+ * Returns null if the input didn't match a command.
+ */
+export function getCommand(roomId, input) {
+    const {cmd, args} = parseCommandString(input);
+
     if (CommandMap.has(cmd)) {
         return () => CommandMap.get(cmd).run(roomId, args, cmd);
     }
diff --git a/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js b/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js
index e3cffd59f8..bbfc2780e8 100644
--- a/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js
+++ b/src/components/views/rooms/BasicMessageComposer.js
@@ -39,6 +39,7 @@ import EMOTICON_REGEX from 'emojibase-regex/emoticon';
 import * as sdk from '../../../index';
 import {Key} from "../../../Keyboard";
 import {EMOTICON_TO_EMOJI} from "../../../emoji";
+import {CommandCategories, CommandMap, parseCommandString} from "../../../SlashCommands";
 
 const REGEX_EMOTICON_WHITESPACE = new RegExp('(?:^|\\s)(' + EMOTICON_REGEX.source + ')\\s$');
 
@@ -162,7 +163,16 @@ export default class BasicMessageEditor extends React.Component {
         }
         this.setState({autoComplete: this.props.model.autoComplete});
         this.historyManager.tryPush(this.props.model, selection, inputType, diff);
-        TypingStore.sharedInstance().setSelfTyping(this.props.room.roomId, !this.props.model.isEmpty);
+
+        let isTyping = !this.props.model.isEmpty;
+        // If the user is entering a command, only consider them typing if it is one which sends a message into the room
+        if (isTyping && this.props.model.parts[0].type === "command") {
+            const {cmd} = parseCommandString(this.props.model.parts[0].text);
+            if (CommandMap.get(cmd).category !== CommandCategories.messages) {
+                isTyping = false;
+            }
+        }
+        TypingStore.sharedInstance().setSelfTyping(this.props.room.roomId, isTyping);
 
         if (this.props.onChange) {
             this.props.onChange();