Share image/text through WhatsApp in an iOS app

Question

Is it possible to share images, text or whatever you want through Whatsapp in a iOS app? I'm searching on google but I only found results talking about Android implementations.

Wagner Sales · Answer 1 · 2016-03-22T02:29:37.857

Is now possible in this way:

Send Text - Obj-C

NSString * msg = @"YOUR MSG";
NSString * urlWhats = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"whatsapp://send?text=%@",msg];
NSURL * whatsappURL = [NSURL URLWithString:[urlWhats stringByAddingPercentEscapesUsingEncoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding]];
if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL: whatsappURL]) {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: whatsappURL];
} else {
    // Cannot open whatsapp
}

Send Text - Swift

let msg = "YOUR MSG"
let urlWhats = "whatsapp://send?text=\(msg)"
if let urlString = urlWhats.stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters(NSCharacterSet.URLQueryAllowedCharacterSet()) {
    if let whatsappURL = NSURL(string: urlString) {
        if UIApplication.sharedApplication().canOpenURL(whatsappURL) {
            UIApplication.sharedApplication().openURL(whatsappURL)
        } else {
            // Cannot open whatsapp
        }
    }
}

Send Image - Obj-C

-- in .h file

<UIDocumentInteractionControllerDelegate>

@property (retain) UIDocumentInteractionController * documentInteractionController;

-- in .m file

if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL: [NSURL URLWithString:@"whatsapp://app"]]){

    UIImage     * iconImage = [UIImage imageNamed:@"YOUR IMAGE"];
    NSString    * savePath  = [NSHomeDirectory() stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"Documents/whatsAppTmp.wai"];

    [UIImageJPEGRepresentation(iconImage, 1.0) writeToFile:savePath atomically:YES];

    _documentInteractionController = [UIDocumentInteractionController interactionControllerWithURL:[NSURL fileURLWithPath:savePath]];
    _documentInteractionController.UTI = @"net.whatsapp.image";
    _documentInteractionController.delegate = self;

    [_documentInteractionController presentOpenInMenuFromRect:CGRectMake(0, 0, 0, 0) inView:self.view animated: YES];


} else {
    UIAlertView * alert = [[UIAlertView alloc] initWithTitle:@"WhatsApp not installed." message:@"Your device has no WhatsApp installed." delegate:self cancelButtonTitle:@"OK" otherButtonTitles:nil];
    [alert show];
}

Send Image - Swift

let urlWhats = "whatsapp://app"
if let urlString = urlWhats.stringByAddingPercentEncodingWithAllowedCharacters(NSCharacterSet.URLQueryAllowedCharacterSet()) {
    if let whatsappURL = NSURL(string: urlString) {

        if UIApplication.sharedApplication().canOpenURL(whatsappURL) {

            if let image = UIImage(named: "image") {
                if let imageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1.0) {
                    let tempFile = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: NSHomeDirectory()).URLByAppendingPathComponent("Documents/whatsAppTmp.wai")
                    do {
                        try imageData.writeToURL(tempFile, options: .DataWritingAtomic)
                        self.documentInteractionController = UIDocumentInteractionController(URL: tempFile)
                        self.documentInteractionController.UTI = "net.whatsapp.image"
                        self.documentInteractionController.presentOpenInMenuFromRect(CGRectZero, inView: self.view, animated: true)
                    } catch {
                        print(error)
                    }
                }
            }

        } else {
            // Cannot open whatsapp
        }
    }
}

Because a new security feature of iOS 9, you need add this lines on .plist file:
<key>LSApplicationQueriesSchemes</key>
 <array>
  <string>whatsapp</string>
 </array>
More information about url sheme: https://developer.apple.com/videos/play/wwdc2015-703/

I did not find a single solution for both. More information on http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/23559013

I made a small project to help some. https://github.com/salesawagner/SharingWhatsApp

is it possible to integrate whatsapp with android application — BeingMIAkashs, Dec 18 '13 at 05:50
can text be sent to specific number via whatsapp? means no need to pick contact from whats app contact list ? — Kalpesh Lakhani, Feb 13 '14 at 06:50
You need to have "ID Address Book" to associate with a contact, simply add the parameter "abid = ". I do not know to send directly to the phone number, but I'm looking for a solution. The link has a better explanation. http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/23559013 — Wagner Sales, Feb 13 '14 at 18:49
The whole "if ([self.delegate respondsToSelector:@selector(imageCompartilhar)]) {" seems to be redundant. Other than this it works, — Vaiden, Apr 06 '14 at 13:41
@vaiden, you're right about the "if ([self.delegate respondsToSelector: @ selector (imageCompartilhar)]) {" I put because I get the image of my delegate. something like "UIImage * iconImage = [_delegate imageCompartilhar];" — Wagner Sales, Jul 02 '14 at 15:33
Is it possible to come back to the app after message is sent — Imran, Sep 01 '14 at 13:04
Thanks. But sharing image and text at the same time? And how to go back to previous application. — Bagusflyer, Apr 30 '15 at 03:55
@bagusflyer i'm looking for the same answer too. By the way, `CGRectMake(0, 0, 0, 0)` can be replaced by `CGRectZero`. — Raptor, Jun 09 '15 at 05:22
when I select whatsapp from iOS native share sheet , it gives me the following alert "pease launch whatsapp from the home screen before continuing." Is there any option to share text on whatsapp from native share sheet ? — Sushil Sharma, Jan 28 '16 at 07:57
@Wagner Sales Does it give both options: 'WhatsApp' & 'Import with WhatsApp'? — BaSha, Jan 27 '17 at 13:20
@WagnerSales thanks it helped me, also update the answer to current swift version. — Sunny, Jun 15 '17 at 06:36
Is there a way to send image without using UIDocumentInteractionController. like we can do in instagram? — Iraniya Naynesh, Sep 10 '19 at 10:17

score 24 · Answer 2 · edited Dec 06 '16 at 08:07

24

It is now possible. Have not tried yet though.

The latest release notes for whatsapp indicate that you can through the share extension:

WhatsApp accepts the following types of content:

text (UTI: public.plain-text)
photos (UTI: public.image)
videos (UTI: public.movie)
audio notes and music files (UTI: public.audio)
PDF documents (UTI: com.adobe.pdf)
contact cards (UTI: public.vcard)
web URLs (UTI: public.url)

edited Dec 06 '16 at 08:07

Anya Shenanigans

91,618
3
107
122

answered Jul 18 '13 at 12:51

Adel

411
5
9

2

its not possible its just open the app but not share the image etc...:) – Rushabh Sep 12 '13 at 05:23
The above link is good. This is now possible. This should become the best answer. – Yoav Shapira Feb 21 '14 at 17:09
2

The above link does not allow for sharing of media to Whatsapp without displaying the menu. You must always show the document controller's menu before going to Whatsapp, which is a pain in the ass. – user3344977 Mar 01 '16 at 04:45
PDF documents (UTI: com.adobe.pdf) -> has problems while sharing. If I create pdf on the code, store it on documentdirectory and try to share it on whatsapp, it fails. I think whatsapp wants a pdf file that has a type of Adobe pdf i.e. has UTI com.adobe.pdf only – Kaan Esin Sep 28 '18 at 07:04
1

@Adel: How we have to set this UTI in UIActivityViewController???? – Abhishek Thapliyal Jul 30 '20 at 11:18

score 21 · Accepted Answer · edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

21

~~No this is not possible, whatsapp does not have any public API you can use.~~

Please note that this answer is correct for 2011 when there was no API for WhatsApp.

Now there is an api available for interacting with WhatsApp: http://www.whatsapp.com/faq/en/iphone/23559013

The Objective-C call to open one of these URLs is as follows:

NSURL *whatsappURL = [NSURL URLWithString:@"whatsapp://send?text=Hello%2C%20World!"];
if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL: whatsappURL]) {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: whatsappURL];
}

edited Apr 13 '17 at 12:37

Mohammad Zaid Pathan

16,304
7
99
130

answered Dec 02 '11 at 11:18

rckoenes

69,092
8
134
166

1

now any api for this, please help me, i have spend more time for this – SampathKumar May 28 '13 at 09:03
1

No, still no API to interacte with WhatsApp in iOS. – rckoenes May 28 '13 at 09:06
You can talk to the whatsapp app using url schemes! See @Wagner Sales answer. – JHSnows Dec 16 '13 at 18:56
1

@JHNeves when I posted my answer this was not available. – rckoenes May 12 '14 at 07:08
Consider deleting this answer or expanding it to more than a link. – Suragch Nov 23 '15 at 06:53
@Suragch can't delete the answer since it is accepted as an answer and see no need why I should expanded it. – rckoenes Nov 23 '15 at 09:37
What will this code do if the user doesn't have whatsapp installed? – Adil Malik Apr 14 '17 at 18:27
Nothing, sine the system is not Swart if the App Schema. – rckoenes Apr 14 '17 at 18:29
Is there any character limit? – Vaibhav Jhaveri Oct 04 '17 at 08:45

score 8 · Answer 4 · answered Sep 12 '16 at 07:29

This is the correct code for share link to whats app users.

NSString * url = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"http://video...bla..bla.."];
url =    (NSString*)CFBridgingRelease(CFURLCreateStringByAddingPercentEscapes(NULL,(CFStringRef) url, NULL,CFSTR("!*'();:@&=+$,/?%#[]"),kCFStringEncodingUTF8));

  NSString * urlWhats = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"whatsapp://send?text=%@",url];
NSURL * whatsappURL = [NSURL URLWithString:urlWhats];
if ([[UIApplication sharedApplication] canOpenURL: whatsappURL]) {
    [[UIApplication sharedApplication] openURL: whatsappURL];
} else {
    // can not share with whats app
}

score 7 · Answer 5 · edited Jun 20 '20 at 09:12

Simple code and Sample code ;-)

Note:- You can only share text or image, both sharing together in whatsApp is not working from whatsApp side

 /*
    //Share text
    NSString *textToShare = @"Enter your text to be shared";
    NSArray *objectsToShare = @[textToShare];
    
    UIActivityViewController *activityVC = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:objectsToShare applicationActivities:nil];
    [self presentViewController:activityVC animated:YES completion:nil];
     */
    
    //Share Image
    UIImage * image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"images"];
    NSArray *objectsToShare = @[image];
    
    UIActivityViewController *activityVC = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:objectsToShare applicationActivities:nil];
    [self presentViewController:activityVC animated:YES completion:nil];

oscar castellon · Answer 6 · 2018-10-20T07:44:00.637

For Swift 4 - Works fine

delclare

var documentInteractionController:UIDocumentInteractionController!

func sharePicture() {
    let urlWhats = "whatsapp://app"
    if let urlString = urlWhats.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: NSCharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed) {
        if let whatsappURL = NSURL(string: urlString) {

            if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsappURL as URL) {

                let imgURL = FileManager.default.urls(for: .documentDirectory, in: .userDomainMask).first!
                let fileName = "yourImageName.jpg"
                let fileURL = imgURL.appendingPathComponent(fileName)
                if let image = UIImage(contentsOfFile: fileURL.path) {
                    if let imageData = image.jpegData(compressionQuality: 0.75) {
                        let tempFile = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: NSHomeDirectory()).appendingPathComponent("Documents/yourImageName.jpg")
                        do {
                            try imageData.write(to: tempFile!, options: .atomicWrite)
                            self.documentInteractionController = UIDocumentInteractionController(url: tempFile!)
                            self.documentInteractionController.uti = "net.whatsapp.image"
                            self.documentInteractionController.presentOpenInMenu(from: CGRect.zero, in: self.view, animated: true)
                        } catch {
                            print(error)
                        }
                    }
                }
            } else {
                // Cannot open whatsapp
            }
        }
    }
}

Do not forget to edit the .plist with the following lines

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

Enjoy!!!

This doesn't open whatsapp directly, this opens the document interaction view. Any way to open directly whatsapp? — DanielZanchi, May 23 '22 at 10:27

score 4 · Answer 7 · answered Nov 05 '16 at 00:07

Swift 3 version of Wagner Sales' answer:

let urlWhats = "whatsapp://app"
if let urlString = urlWhats.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: CharacterSet.urlQueryAllowed) {
  if let whatsappURL = URL(string: urlString) {
    if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsappURL) {

      if let image = UIImage(named: "image") {
        if let imageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1.0) {
          let tempFile = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: NSHomeDirectory()).appendingPathComponent("Documents/whatsAppTmp.wai")
          do {
            try imageData.write(to: tempFile!, options: .atomic)

            self.documentIC = UIDocumentInteractionController(url: tempFile!)
            self.documentIC.uti = "net.whatsapp.image"
            self.documentIC.presentOpenInMenu(from: CGRect.zero, in: self.view, animated: true)
          }
          catch {
            print(error)
          }
        }
      }

    } else {
      // Cannot open whatsapp
    }
  }
}

score 2 · Answer 8 · answered Aug 04 '18 at 09:56

Swift 4

let urlWhats = "whatsapp://app"
        if let urlString = urlWhats.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: CharacterSet.urlHostAllowed) {

            if let whatsappURL = URL(string: urlString) {

                if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsappURL) {

                        if let imageData = UIImageJPEGRepresentation(image, 1.0) {
                            let tempFile = NSURL(fileURLWithPath: NSHomeDirectory()).appendingPathComponent("Documents/whatsAppTmp.wai")!
                            do {
                                try imageData.write(to: tempFile, options: .atomic)
                                self.documentController = UIDocumentInteractionController(url: tempFile)
                                self.documentController.uti = "net.whatsapp.image"
                                self.documentController.presentOpenInMenu(from: CGRect.zero, in: self.view, animated: true)
                            } catch {
                                print(error)
                            }
                        }

                } else {
                    let ac = UIAlertController(title: "MessageAletTitleText".localized, message: "AppNotFoundToShare".localized, preferredStyle: .alert)
                    ac.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: "OKButtonText".localized, style: .default))
                    present(ac, animated: true)

                    print("Whatsapp isn't installed ")

                    // Cannot open whatsapp
                }
            }
        }

score 1 · Answer 9 · answered Oct 19 '15 at 10:21

1

WhatsApp provides two ways for your iPhone app to interact with WhatsApp:

Through a custom URL scheme
Through the iOS Document Interaction API

For more information Visit this link

Thanks.

answered Oct 19 '15 at 10:21

Himanshu Garg

599
9
21

score 1 · Answer 10 · answered Nov 01 '15 at 11:12

Yes it's possible :

NSMutableArray *arr = [[NSMutableArray alloc]init];
    NSURL *URL = [NSURL fileURLWithPath:path];
    NSString *textToShare = [NSString stringWithFormat:@"%@ \n",_model.title];
    NSString *SchoolName= [[AppUtility sharedUtilityInstance]getAppConfigInfoByKey:@"SchoolName" SecondKeyorNil:Nil];
    [arr addObject:textToShare];
    [arr addObject:URL];
    [arr addObject:_model.body];
    [arr addObject:SchoolName];
    TTOpenInAppActivity *openInAppActivity = [[TTOpenInAppActivity alloc] initWithView:_parentController.view andRect:((UIButton *)sender).frame];

    UIActivityViewController *activityViewController = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:arr applicationActivities:@[openInAppActivity]];

    // Store reference to superview (UIActionSheet) to allow dismissal
    openInAppActivity.superViewController = activityViewController;
    // Show UIActivityViewController
    [_parentController presentViewController:activityViewController animated:YES completion:NULL];

is it share image and text both? – Chandni Jan 02 '19 at 12:46 — Chandni, Jan 02 '19 at 12:46

score 1 · Answer 11 · edited Sep 12 '17 at 12:51

Swift 3 version for sending text:

func shareByWhatsapp(msg:String){
        let urlWhats = "whatsapp://send?text=\(msg)"
        if let urlString = urlWhats.addingPercentEncoding(withAllowedCharacters: .urlQueryAllowed) {
            if let whatsappURL = NSURL(string: urlString) {
                if UIApplication.shared.canOpenURL(whatsappURL as URL) {
                    UIApplication.shared.openURL(whatsappURL as URL)
                } else {

                    let alert = UIAlertController(title: NSLocalizedString("Whatsapp not found", comment: "Error message"),
                                                  message: NSLocalizedString("Could not found a installed app 'Whatsapp' to proceed with sharing.", comment: "Error description"),
                                                  preferredStyle: UIAlertControllerStyle.alert)

                    alert.addAction(UIAlertAction(title: NSLocalizedString("Ok", comment: "Alert button"), style: UIAlertActionStyle.default, handler:{ (UIAlertAction)in
                    }))

                    self.present(alert, animated: true, completion:nil)
                    // Cannot open whatsapp
                }
            }
        }
}

Also, you need to add whatsapp to LSApplicationQueriesSchemes in your Info.plist

score -1 · Answer 12 · edited Mar 02 '17 at 09:05

NSString *shareText = @"http:www.google.com";
NSArray *objectsToShare = @[shareText];

UIActivityViewController *activityVC = [[UIActivityViewController alloc] initWithActivityItems:objectsToShare applicationActivities:nil];

if (isIphone)
{
    [self presentViewController:activityVC animated:YES completion:nil];
}
else {
    UIPopoverController *popup = [[UIPopoverController alloc]         initWithContentViewController:activityVC];
    [popup presentPopoverFromRect:CGRectMake(self.view.frame.size.width/2, self.view.frame.size.height/4, 0, 0)inView:self.view permittedArrowDirections:UIPopoverArrowDirectionAny animated:YES];
}

You need to add some explanation. Why do you think this code works? How is it different from earlier answers? — default locale, Mar 02 '17 at 09:04

Share image/text through WhatsApp in an iOS app

12 Answers12

Note:- You can only share text or image, both sharing together in whatsApp is not working from whatsApp side

Swift 4

Linked

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