Web link to specific whatsapp contact

Question

I'd like to place a link on a webpage which opens a whatsapp chat with a certain whatsapp contact. In other words: I want a "contact me by whatsapp" link to go next to the page's "Contact us my facebook/twitter/google+/etc" links. Something like:

href="whatsapp:contact=015555555555@s.whatsapp.com&message="I'd like to chat with you"

Possible duplicate of [Mobile website "WhatsApp" button to send message to a specific number](http://stackoverflow.com/questions/29218378/mobile-website-whatsapp-button-to-send-message-to-a-specific-number) — Lyric Roy, Apr 14 '17 at 11:44

Rafael Araújo · Accepted Answer · 2020-08-31T15:45:48.443

********* UPDATE ADDED AT THE END *********

I've tried many approaches and I have a winner (see Test 3), here is the result of each one:

(I think the Test 3 will also work for you because if the person visiting your site doesn't have you on their contact list, it's the only option that will allow it.)

In all tests, the number had to be complete, with country and location code without any initial zeros. Example:

+55(011) 99999-9999 (NOT)
+5511999999999 (YES)

On tests 1 and 2, it only worked with a plus sign on the country code: +5511999999999

Test 1:

<a href="whatsapp://send?abid=phonenumber&text=Hello%2C%20World!">Send Message</a>

This way you must have the phonenumber on your contact list. It doesn't work for me because I wanted to be able to send a message to a number which I may not have on my contact list.

If you don't have the number on your contact list, it opens the Whatsapp listing all your registered contacts, so you can choose one.

It's a good option for sharing stuff.

Test 2:

<a href="intent://send/phonenumber#Intent;scheme=smsto;package=com.whatsapp;action=android.intent.action.SENDTO;end">Send Message</a>

This approach only works on Android AND if you have the number on your contact list. If you don't have it, Android opens your SMS app, so you can invite the contact to use Whatsapp.

Test 3 (The Winner):

<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567">Send Message</a>

This was the only way that worked fully for me.

It works on Android, iOS and Web app on the desktop,
You can start a conversation with a number that you don't have on your contact list
You can create a link with one pre-built message adding &text=[message-url-encoded] like:

https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567&text=Send20%a20%quote

And if you wish to have a bookmarklet for additional ease of use, you may use this one:

javascript: (function() { var val= prompt("Enter phone number",""); if (val) location="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone="+escape('972' + val)+""; })()

Youll need to change the country code(or remove it) to you.r target country and paste it in the address field in a chrome/firefox link

Worth notice:

I had to update my WhatsApp to the latest version
The number's country code must not have a leading plus
More details here: https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/general/26000030

***************** UPDATE (START) *****************

Whatsapp made available other option, now you can create one link to a conversation like this:

https://wa.me/[phonenumber]

The phone number should be in international format:

Like this:

https://wa.me/552196312XXXX

NOT like this:

https://wa.me/+55(021)96312-XXXX

And if you want to add one pre-built message to your link, you can add ?text= at the end with the text URL Encoded:

https://wa.me/552196312XXXX?text=[message-url-encoded]

Exemple:

https://wa.me/552196312XXXX?text=Send20%a20%quote

More info here:

https://faq.whatsapp.com/general/chats/how-to-use-click-to-chat

***************** UPDATE (END) *****************

Just to help other users avoid the same mistake I did, use the international prefix but without the plus. So italian 0039 becomes 39. — MDaldoss, May 17 '18 at 10:26
yes, + symbol not required, so, e.g, if you want to link to an Indian number, you could leave out the plus in +919********* and just use 91 as the prefix. 91********** — dresh, May 31 '18 at 15:45
whatsapp link wont work if you do not have the person contact in your phone — James Tan, Sep 25 '18 at 14:48
exactly @JamesTan, if you want to contact someone that is not on your contact list use like this: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567 as shown above. — Rafael Araújo, Sep 26 '18 at 16:40
i realised it works even if phone dont exists, my mistake was that ive invalid number, with extra one digit which causes the error — James Tan, Sep 28 '18 at 02:55
The third option is actually a page that finally redirects to `whatsapp://send?phone=15551234567` so you might want to skip the intermediate step. — Andrea Lazzarotto, Oct 31 '18 at 12:23
Test 3 (The Winner): phone number shared via url is invalid - when the number is not in your contact list! — Mohammed Mohammed, Dec 08 '21 at 11:03
This works in 2022 the same. But as MDaldoss said, without the + or 00 in front of the country prefix. — Alexandru, Jul 12 '22 at 13:25
Old post but this is actually a good reference as this worked for me — kabuto178, Jun 27 '23 at 01:02

score 66 · Answer 2 · answered Jan 16 '17 at 10:21

66

The following link seems to work fine -

<a href="whatsapp://send?text=Hello World!&phone=+9198********1">Ping me on WhatsApp</a>

It opens the contact in WhatsApp app, along with the message 'Hello World!' prepopulated in the input text box.

(Tested this with google chrome on an android phone.)

answered Jan 16 '17 at 10:21

Sachin Doshi

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I tested this with Safari on an iPhone and it worked! – Alan Avalos Feb 01 '17 at 01:40
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Works in Opera and Chrome. – W.M. Sep 07 '17 at 19:07
It works on Chrome, Firefox and the default browser of Android 6 and it also works on both Safari and Chrome on iPhone6 (Dec. 2017). – MattAllegro Dec 05 '17 at 12:45
Not working in UC Browser but working fine in Chrome. – Devsainii Jul 23 '18 at 19:11
doesnt work for me in 2023 – jodoro Feb 26 '23 at 13:14
@jodoro Which browser/OS did you try? It seems to work fine for me with Chrome on Android and Chrome on Windows desktop. – Sachin Doshi Feb 27 '23 at 14:19

score 14 · Answer 3 · answered Apr 05 '18 at 12:26

14

Official WhatsApp doc Says-:

https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=countrycode+phonenumber

Use: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567

Don't use: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=+001-(555)1234567

https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000030

answered Apr 05 '18 at 12:26

Shemeer M Ali

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score 14 · Answer 4 · answered Aug 13 '18 at 11:31

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You can use the following URL as per the WhatsApp FAQ:

https://wa.me/PHONENUMBERHERE

Add the country code in front of the number and don't add any plus (+) sign or any dashes (-) or any other characters in the number. Only integrers/numeric values.

You can also predefine a text message to start with:

https://wa.me/PHONENUMBERHERE/?text=urlencodedtext

answered Aug 13 '18 at 11:31

contrid

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This opens Play Store in Android, after a confirmation page. – amarmishra Jun 17 '19 at 15:10
@amarmishra Yes it probably opens in the app store because it wants to install the WhatsApp app. If you already have WhatsApp installed, it will open whatsapp and start a chat with the number. – contrid Jul 03 '19 at 12:20
Source: https://faq.whatsapp.com/452366545421244/ – stackprotector Aug 29 '22 at 19:16

score 12 · Answer 5 · edited May 23 '17 at 12:34

I've tried this:

<a href="whatsapp://send?abid=phonenumber&text=Hello%2C%20World!">whatsapp</a>

changing 'phonenumber' into a specific phonenumber. This doesn't work completely, but when they click on the link it does open whatsapp and if they click on a contact the message is filled in.

If you want to open a specific person in chat you can, but without text filled in.

<a href="intent://send/phonenumber#Intent;scheme=smsto;package=com.whatsapp;action=android.intent.action.SENDTO;end">test</a>

You'll probably have to make a choice between the two.

some links to help you Sharing link on WhatsApp from mobile website (not application) for Android https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/nl/android/28000012

Hope this helps

(I tested this with google chrome on an android phone)

score 11 · Answer 6 · answered Aug 18 '18 at 19:49

You can now use a very simple API https://wa.me/ to perform this task where you can provide a valid whatsapp contact number like 15555555555 ( add country code, remove all '+', '-', brackets, spaces or leading zeros). You can also provide a urlencoded text as a predefined msg which user can send directly or change before sending.

Chat with me link : <a href="https://wa.me/15555555555">Contact me by whatsapp</a>

Chat with me link with predefined text : <a href="https://wa.me/15555555555?text=I%27d%20like%20to%20chat%20with%20you">Contact me on whatsapp</a>

Beauty of this wa.me url is you don't need to check user agent as it works on both mobile and desktop (opens web.whatsapp.com)

Source : https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000030

More details in my answer on a similar question https://stackoverflow.com/a/51854282/2485420

Kevin · Answer 7 · 2019-08-21T03:38:27.457

5

For what its worth, as of this writing (Nov. 29, 2018), the updated API that seems to work on my end is using this link:

https://wa.me/<phone number here>

Note:

Just replace the placeholder <phone number here> with the intended phone number that you want to use INCLUDING the country code, this means I had to add +60 then the rest of the remaining number.

It doesn't work on my end without one (using Android and iOS at least). It doesn't work means an error message that says along the lines of "you don't have this number".

Reference:

https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000030

edited Aug 21 '19 at 03:38

answered Nov 29 '18 at 03:08

Kevin

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@Korayem you're kidding right? that's why in my answer I explicitly said "I added the + plus sign" because the duplicate that you linked doesn't work – Kevin Aug 21 '19 at 03:36
deserves to be a comment on the original answer – Korayem Aug 21 '19 at 13:27

score 5 · Answer 8 · edited Oct 06 '21 at 11:59

5

I have been struggling with how to do that as well. I managed to find this helpful method

from php variable:

href="https://wa.me/<?php echo esc_attr( $phone ); ?>?text=Hi%27,%20like%20to%20chat%20with%20you"

<?php echo esc_attr( $phone ); ?> for number in the format:

href="https://wa.me/263777300093?text=Hi%27,%20like%20to%20chat%20with%20you"

edited Oct 06 '21 at 11:59

Renier

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answered Aug 07 '21 at 09:13

Courage Garupwa

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score 4 · Answer 9 · edited Apr 30 '17 at 01:44

4

This approach only works on Android AND if you have the number on your contact list. If you don't have it, Android opens your SMS app, so you can invite the contact to use Whatsapp.

<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=2567xxxxxxxxx" method="get" target="_blank"><i class="fa fa-whatsapp"></i></a>

Google Chrome am targeting a blank window

edited Apr 30 '17 at 01:44

Alexan

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answered Apr 30 '17 at 01:21

Trophy Developers

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This works for me on Windows and iOS even if the contact isn't in my phonebook yet, so I guess WhatsApp has updated this since this answer was posted. More details and usage in their [official FAQ](https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/general/26000030/?category=5245251). – wasabigeek Nov 17 '17 at 03:12

score 4 · Answer 10 · answered Feb 14 '19 at 19:55

From the Official Whatsapp FAQ: https://faq.whatsapp.com/en/android/26000030/

WhatsApp's Click to Chat feature allows you to begin a chat with someone without having their phone number saved in your phone's address book. As long as you know this person’s phone number, you can create a link that will allow you to start a chat with them. By clicking the link, a chat with the person automatically opens. Click to Chat works on both your phone and WhatsApp Web.

To create your own link, use https://wa.me/ where the is a full phone number in international format. Omit any zeroes, brackets or dashes when adding the phone number in international format. For a detailed explanation on international numbers, read this article. Please keep in mind that this phone number must have an active account on WhatsApp.

Use: https://wa.me/15551234567

Don't use: https://wa.me/+001-(555)1234567

score 3 · Answer 11 · answered Aug 07 '18 at 07:32

This answer is useful to them who want click to chat whatsapp in website to redirect web.whatsapp.com with default content or message and in mobile device to open in whatsapp in mobile app with default content to text bar in app.

also add jquery link.

<a  target="_blank" title="Contact Us On WhatsApp" href="https://web.whatsapp.com/send?phone=+919581880892&amp;text=Hi, I would like to get more information.." class="whatsapplink hidemobile" style="background-color:#2DC100">
    <i class="fa fa-fw fa-whatsapp" style="color:#fff"></i>
    <span style="color:#fff">
        Contact Us On WhatsApp        </span>
</a>
<a  target="_blank" title="Contact Us On WhatsApp" href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=+919581880892&text=Hi,%20I%20would%20like%20to%20get%20more%20information.." class="whatsapplink hideweb" style="background-color:#2DC100">
    <i class="fa fa-fw fa-whatsapp" style="color:#fff"></i>
    <span style="color:#fff">
        Contact Us On WhatsApp        </span>
</a>

   <script type="text/javascript"> 
var mobile = (/iphone|ipod|android|blackberry|mini|windows\sce|palm/i.test(navigator.userAgent.toLowerCase()));  
if (mobile) { 

    $('.hidemobile').css('display', 'none'); // OR you can use $('.hidemobile').hide();
} 
else 
{ 
    $('.hideweb').css('display', 'none'); // OR you can use $('.hideweb').hide();
}
</script>

Seems that you can use the direct link `https://wa.me/PHONENUMBERHERE` for mobile and desktop now. — Avatar, Oct 31 '18 at 11:16

score 3 · Answer 12 · answered Jul 04 '19 at 12:57

I tried all combination for swiss numbers on my webpage. Below my results:

Doesn't work for Android and iOS

https://wa.me/0790000000/?text=myText

Works for iOS but doesn't work for Android

https://wa.me/0041790000000/?text=myText
https://wa.me/+41790000000/?text=myText

Works for Android and iOS:

https://wa.me/41790000000/?text=myText
https://wa.me/041790000000/?text=myText

Hope this information helps somebody!

score 2 · Answer 13 · answered Sep 18 '18 at 11:08

The solution that worked for me is here in PHP:

$android = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "android");
$iphone = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "iphone");
$ipad = stripos($_SERVER['HTTP_USER_AGENT'], "ipad");

$whatsappNumber = '1234597891';
$whatsappLink = '';
if($android !== false || $ipad !== false || $iphone !== false) {//For mobile
    $whatsappLink = '<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone='.$whatsappNumber.'">'.$whatsappNumber.'</a>';
} else {//For desktop
    $whatsappLink = '<a href="https://web.whatsapp.com/send?phone='.$whatsappNumber.'">'.$whatsappNumber.'</a>';
}

score 1 · Answer 14 · answered Dec 03 '18 at 13:56

1

Phone Number will be a country code followed by WhatsApp mobile number without any symbol. Please refer below code.

<a href="https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=19998887878&text=Hi%20There!">WhatsApp Now</a>

answered Dec 03 '18 at 13:56

Nirav

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Web link to specific whatsapp contact

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