Sending Whatsapp message to a specific contact number (Swift Project)

Question

I'm trying to send a whatsapp message to a recipient number stored in a global variable!

By using this simple code:

let whatsAppUrl = NSURL(string: "whatsapp:\(globalPhone)")
            
if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsAppUrl as! URL) {
    UIApplication.shared.openURL(whatsAppUrl as! URL)
} else {
    let errorAlert = UIAlertView(
        title: "Sorry",
        message: "You can't send a message to this number",
        delegate: self,
        cancelButtonTitle:"Ok"
    )
    errorAlert.show()
}

I'm always getting the alert message which's the else case! although the number is always true! May be the the error in the url syntax?

In the console:

canOpenURL: failed for URL: "whatsapp:0534260282" -
"This app is not allowed to query for scheme whatsapp"

Is this the correct way to do that? Or this way just for sharing, text through Whatsapp?

score 13 · Answer 1 · edited Nov 18 '22 at 11:25

13

Try this....

let urlWhats = "whatsapp://send?phone=***********&text=***"

var characterSet = CharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed
characterSet.insert(charactersIn: "?&")
  
if let urlString = urlWhats.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: characterSet){
                   
if let whatsappURL = NSURL(string: urlString) {
    if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsappURL as URL) {
        UIApplication.shared.openURL(whatsappURL as URL)
    } else {
        print("Install Whatsapp")
                           
    }
}

Note:Country code (Ex:+91) is mandatory to open mobile number Chat

Note: Add url scheme in info.plist

<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
   <array>
  <string>whatsapp</string>
</array>

edited Nov 18 '22 at 11:25

Olcay Ertaş

5,987
8
76
112

answered Apr 10 '18 at 10:26

Sreekanth

549
5
13

1

Thanks, it has worked for me to send a text directly to a certain number – Mario Burga Nov 13 '18 at 21:04
is there any chances of app rejection due to send direct to user – Sangram Shivankar Jul 01 '19 at 09:19
@SangramShivankar No , there is no issue in app store review. – Sreekanth Jul 03 '19 at 06:04
Hi, Can I send the message to multiple Phone Numbers – shubham mishra Sep 10 '19 at 13:40
2

this is not working anymore, whatsapp open and show error "The link couldn't be opened check the link and try again." – Waseem Sarwar Apr 19 '21 at 10:55

score 5 · Accepted Answer · edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

5

Two issues.

The first is that's not a valid url scheme. A URL scheme takes the format identifier://params so you'll need to use whatsapp://phone_number instead.

Secondly is that Apple now requires you to define which external url schemes that your application uses in your Info.plist file, nested under the key LSApplicationQueriesSchemes. Please see iOS 9 not opening Instagram app with URL SCHEME for more info.

According to the Whatsapp URL scheme docs, you can't actually supply the phone number of the contact that you'd like to send the message to: https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/23559013.

You can however supply the message that you'd like to send to them:

whatsapp://send?text=Some%20Text.

Ensure that the text is percentage encoded as otherwise NSURL will fail to create a valid URL from the supplied string.

edited May 23 '17 at 11:46

Community

1
1

answered Sep 25 '16 at 12:52

max_

24,076
39
122
211

I have did this! But I could open the whatsapp application only not to the recipient I want to send the message to? – Mariah Sep 25 '16 at 14:14
How can I make it direct to the recipient? – Mariah Sep 25 '16 at 14:16
@Mariah it doesn't seem like that's possible, according to their docs: https://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/23559013, you can however specify the text. Please see the updated answer. – max_ Sep 25 '16 at 14:16
Is there any character limit? – Vaibhav Jhaveri Oct 04 '17 at 08:43
Can i send a message to more than one number – shubham mishra Sep 10 '19 at 13:55

score 1 · Answer 3 · edited Nov 18 '22 at 11:24

1

If you want to send to a specific number use the folowing code:

let whatsAppUrl = NSURL(string: "https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=**********&text=******")
    
if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsAppUrl as! URL) {
    UIApplication.shared.openURL(whatsAppUrl as! URL)
} else {
    let errorAlert = UIAlertView(
        title: "Sorry",
        message: "You can't send a message to this number",
        delegate: self,
        cancelButtonTitle:"Ok"
    )
    errorAlert.show()
}

The trick works because you don't call directly whatsapp, but the browser, and this one can receive the number of phone and open whatsapp to desired phone and desired text

edited Nov 18 '22 at 11:24

Olcay Ertaş

5,987
8
76
112

answered Jan 09 '19 at 16:55

christian mini

1,662
20
39

Can i send a single message to more than one number – shubham mishra Sep 10 '19 at 13:57
@shubhammishra AS far I now is not possible, but you can simply iterate foreach phone number by sending the same message – christian mini Sep 11 '19 at 09:20
Thanks bro, but I do have to handle the next iteration call on the success of the first one since, Calling openURL() inside for loop will leads to open WhatsApp multiple times and will end up by opening chat screen for the last number. So, basically can I have closure or any kind of callbacks after openURL(). If u find the solution please add it into your answer. – shubham mishra Sep 13 '19 at 06:46
this is not working anymore, whatsapp open and show error "The link couldn't be opened check the link and try again." – Waseem Sarwar Apr 19 '21 at 10:55

Sending Whatsapp message to a specific contact number (Swift Project)

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