WhatsApp link generator

How do I create a WhatsApp link?

Take the phone number, write it in full international format with digits only, and put it after https://wa.me/. That is the entire format.

The tool above does the formatting for you, which matters more than it sounds: most broken WhatsApp links are broken because a leading zero was kept, a plus sign was left in, or the country code was missing.

1. Select the country. This determines the dialling code and the validation rules applied to the rest of the number.
2. Enter the phone number. Type it the way you normally would. The tool strips spaces, dashes and brackets and removes any domestic trunk prefix.
3. Add a pre-filled message. Optional. Whatever you type here appears in the recipient's message box when they open the link, ready to send. They can edit or delete it before sending.
4. Copy the link or download the QR code. Copy the wa.me URL to paste into a website, bio or email signature, or download the QR code as a PNG for print and on-screen use.

How do I add a pre-filled message to a WhatsApp link?

Append ?text= to the link followed by your message, URL-encoded. For example https://wa.me/15551234567?text=Hi%2C%20I%20saw%20your%20listing puts “Hi, I saw your listing” in the message box.

Encoding is the part that breaks by hand. Spaces become %20, a comma becomes %2C, an ampersand becomes %26, and a line break becomes %0A. An unencoded ampersand is the classic failure: everything after it is read as a new URL parameter and silently disappears. The generator above encodes the text for you.

What is the difference between wa.me and api.whatsapp.com?

They do the same thing. wa.me carries the number in the URL path and api.whatsapp.com/send carries it as a query parameter, and wa.me redirects to api.whatsapp.com anyway.

Use wa.me for anything a human will read or type. It is short enough to print on a card or read aloud. The api.whatsapp.com form is more convenient when you are assembling the URL programmatically and already have a query string.

• Path form: https://wa.me/15551234567?text=Hello
• Query form: https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=15551234567&text=Hello

Where should I put a WhatsApp link?

Anywhere a customer might want to start a conversation and would otherwise have to copy a number by hand.

• Website: A contact button or a floating chat button. Use the link as a normal href; no script is required.
• Instagram and TikTok bios: The link opens WhatsApp directly from the in-app browser on both platforms.
• Email signatures and invoices: Useful where the reader is on a phone and a phone number would mean switching apps.
• Printed material and shop windows: Use the QR code rather than the URL. Scanning is faster than typing and removes transcription errors.
• Google Business Profile: Can be added as the chat destination so people can message from search results.

Do WhatsApp links expire?

A wa.me link does not expire. It is a plain URL containing a phone number, with nothing stored on any server, so it keeps working for as long as the number does.

Shortened links from link-generator services are a different matter. Those redirect through the provider's own domain, which means the link stops working if the provider shuts down, changes its terms, or puts the feature behind a paid plan. The links this tool produces point straight at wa.me, WhatsApp's own domain, and nothing here needs to stay online for them to work.

Frequently asked questions