You can use WhatsApp for everything from chatting to family to messaging someone you met in a conference. But what if you want to send a quick message to someone who is not among your WhatsApp contacts on iPhone? Here is how it works.
If you want to message someone, WhatsApp asks you to add them as a contact first. Fortunately, there is a workaround. Using the shortcuts, you can skip the process and start a conversation with any phone number (since they’re on WhatsApp).
Shortcuts is Apple’s built-in automation app for iPhone and iPad. You can use it to create automations or just import automations created by community members. We will import a ready-made shortcut for this guide.
Soon: What are iPhone shortcuts and how do I use them?
Before you start, you will need to enable the Untrusted Shortcuts feature, because you are downloading a shortcut from the Internet. To do this, open the “Settings” application and navigate to the “Shortcuts” section.
Here, tap on the toggle next to the “Allow unapproved shortcuts” option.
In the pop-up window, confirm with the “Allow” button.
Enter your device’s passcode from the next screen to enable untrusted shortcuts.
We are now ready to configure the new shortcut. Open the Unregistered WhatsApp number shortcut link in Safari on your iPhone.
From the page load, press the “Get Shortcut” button.
Your iPhone will open the “Shortcuts” application. Scroll down to the bottom of the windows and press the “Add untrusted shortcut” button.
The shortcut will now be installed.
Now, in the “Shortcuts” application, go to the “My shortcuts” tab and tap on the “Unregistered WhatsApp number” shortcut.
The shortcut will ask for the phone number. Here, enter the entire number including the country code. Make sure you enter only numbers and not modifiers such as “+” or “()”.
So if you send a message to someone in the US and their number is 987654321, you type in “1987654321” and then hit the “Done” button.
The Shortcuts app will open WhatsApp with a new conversation for the number you specified. At the top, you won’t see a contact name. Instead, you’ll just see the phone number.
You can now type a message and send it. Later, if you want, you can save the contact.
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