diff --git a/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/EventWebsocketHandler.java b/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/EventWebsocketHandler.java
index 2c4b4b0..1c3306e 100644
--- a/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/EventWebsocketHandler.java
+++ b/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/EventWebsocketHandler.java
@@ -32,6 +32,7 @@
 import org.springframework.web.socket.CloseStatus;
 import org.springframework.web.socket.PingMessage;
 import org.springframework.web.socket.PongMessage;
+import org.springframework.web.socket.TextMessage;
 import org.springframework.web.socket.WebSocketHandler;
 import org.springframework.web.socket.WebSocketMessage;
 import org.springframework.web.socket.WebSocketSession;
@@ -54,8 +55,8 @@ public EventWebsocketHandler(@Nonnull EventSessionManager sessionManager) {
   @Override
   @SuppressWarnings("unchecked")
   public void afterConnectionEstablished(@Nonnull WebSocketSession session) {
-    // don't allow any data to be sent from the client
-    session.setTextMessageSizeLimit(0);
+    // don't allow any data to be sent from the client, except for ping messages
+    session.setTextMessageSizeLimit(4);
     session.setBinaryMessageSizeLimit(0);
 
     // get the frame types added by the handshake interceptor and register the session
@@ -79,6 +80,8 @@ public void handleMessage(@Nonnull WebSocketSession session, @Nonnull WebSocketM
       case PingMessage _ -> eventSession.sendPong();
       // received pong from the client, mark the client as alive
       case PongMessage _ -> eventSession.handlePongReceive();
+      // client sends a ping in form of a text message, respond with a pong text message
+      case TextMessage tm when tm.getPayload().equals("ping") -> eventSession.sendPongText();
       // reject all other type of websocket messages being sent by the client
       default -> session.close(CloseStatus.NOT_ACCEPTABLE);
     }
diff --git a/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/session/EventWebsocketSession.java b/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/session/EventWebsocketSession.java
index b9ffb15..c2d9556 100644
--- a/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/session/EventWebsocketSession.java
+++ b/rest-api/src/main/java/tools/simrail/backend/api/event/session/EventWebsocketSession.java
@@ -85,6 +85,13 @@ public void sendPong() throws IOException {
     this.webSocketSession.sendMessage(new PongMessage());
   }
 
+  /**
+   * Sends out a text message with the data "pong".
+   */
+  public void sendPongText() throws IOException {
+    this.sendText("pong");
+  }
+
   /**
    * Sends the given text as a text frame to the websocket connection.
    *