WhatsApp has an unnecessarily complicated system for sending messages to people you don’t have saved in your contacts. You have to add them to your contacts before you can open a chat with them. This can be slightly annoying or downright frustrating if you’re in a rush.
Let’s say you just want to send a one-time message (for example, your location to the pizza delivery guy) or you don’t want to add a random person to your contact list because it would mess up your WhatsApp privacy settings. In this case, we’ll show you how to start a new chat without adding the phone number to your contact list. You can delete the chat later or archive it to keep the conversations organized.
Start a WhatsApp chat by sending yourself an SMS with the phone number
If you didn’t know, WhatsApp allows you to chat with yourself. You can store files or make quick notes here. But you can also use it to start chats with other people. This is the simplest solution to your problem.
Search for your WhatsApp number in the search bar and tap your contact card (it will have a “you” tag), then simply send an SMS to yourself with the number you want to start a chat with.
When you tap on the text you just sent yourself, the app will check if the number is on WhatsApp. If so, you will see a pop-up telling you: “This number is on WhatsApp.” From here, you can either chat with the person directly or add them to your contacts. Tap “Chat with…” and WhatsApp will start a new chat with that number.
This trick works equally well in the WhatsApp app and WhatsApp Web.
Start a WhatsApp chat with a custom link
Custom links are another platform-independent way to quickly start a chat. Open any web browser (phone, tablet, or desktop) and enter this URL in the search bar: https://wa.me/
Replace
https://wa.me/123456789
Make sure the phone number does not contain any special characters, hyphens or parentheses before entering it into the URL bar.
Then tap enter and you will be redirected to the WhatsApp API page. Once the page loads, tap “Continue to chat” which will take you to the app with a newly opened chat.
You can even preload the URL with a text message. This saves you an extra step and pre-populates the chat window with your message. This way you can open the chat and send the text with a single tap. Use this URL template: https://wa.me/
Replace “
https://wa.me/123456789?text=This%is%my%location
Tap Enter when it’s done and open a new chat with the message pre-filled by tapping Continue to Chat.
Start WhatsApp chat with an Android app
If you frequently start contactless chats, you can save yourself the hassle of typing by using a special app.
I don’t usually recommend mods or companion apps for sensitive apps like WhatsApp, but the two apps I’m listing here don’t require any permissions.
ChatLaunch for WhatsApp
The first ChatLaunch for WhatsApp. It is an ad-free, secure and open-source app available on the F-Droid store. You need to either sideload the APK file or install it via the F-Droid app.
Once installed, you can launch the app by tapping the WhatsApp icon labeled “Chat.” You’ll find it either on your home screen or in the app drawer. The app has a pretty simple interface – just a popup where you can enter a phone number and quickly start a WhatsApp conversation. The gear icon lets you set a default country code.
Click to chat
The second app is Click to Chat. It works just like ChatLaunch but has more features and is easier to install. You can download it from the Play Store with a single tap.
Click to Chat has a handy Paste button that lets you extract the phone number from your clipboard and paste it into the input field. Tapping the arrow button will bring up a text box where you can pre-fill your message before opening a new chat. There’s also a button to create a shareable WhatsApp link with that pre-filled message (which you can use on WhatsApp Web or desktop).
Click to Chat also supports Telegram and Signal. You can enable it by tapping the settings icon. On the same screen, you’ll also find a number of other settings you can adjust. For example, you can enable or disable the history of recent chat starts or set the app to automatically open a chat as soon as you enter the phone number.
You can download similar apps on your iPhone to quickly launch chats. I tried EzChat for WhatsApp, Direct Message and Easy Message. And they worked as expected. However, some of these apps contain ads. You can buy Messenger Launcher if you want an ad-free experience.
You can also simulate the functionality of these apps using the Shortcuts app. Open Shortcuts and tap the plus sign in the top right.
Tap Add Action and look for Ask for Input. It’s listed under Scripting. Tap Ask for Input.
When you do, you’ll see the “Ask for text with prompt” action. Tap “Text” and select “URL” from the dropdown menu. Then tap “Prompt” and type “Phone number.” Finally, tap “Done” on the keyboard bar. First action. Three more to follow.
Tap the search bar at the bottom and search for “Set Variable”. Tap “Set Variable” and enter “Phone Number” as the variable name. Tap “Done” to set up this action. That’s action number two. In the search, search for “URL” and paste this link as the input:
http://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=
Scroll horizontally on the keyboard bar and tap the “Phone number” chip.
For this to work, the variable name and prompt in the two actions must match exactly.
The fourth and final action is quite simple. Just search for “Open URL” and tap “Open URLs”. And that’s it!
Tap Done in the top right corner and press Play to test it.
Now you know all the ways to open chats without touching the contacts app.
