Open a chat with your number without anyone saving it as a contact first.
Generated on your device. Nothing you type is sent anywhere.
A WhatsApp QR code opens a chat with a specific number, optionally with a message already typed into the box. It works through WhatsApp's click-to-chat link, which means the person scanning does not need to save your number as a contact first — normally a prerequisite for messaging someone on WhatsApp, and the friction this removes. The prewritten message is the part most people underuse: it turns an open-ended "someone messaged us" into a labelled enquiry, so a business can tell at a glance whether a message came from a table card, a shop window or a delivery box.
WhatsApp normally requires a number to be in your address book before you can message it. A click-to-chat link bypasses that entirely, which removes the most common reason people abandon the attempt to get in touch.
A prefilled message tells you where the scan happened. Different codes with different text on the window, the counter and the packaging turn an undifferentiated inbox into something you can actually triage.
People answer WhatsApp messages they would ignore as email, and the conversation stays threaded without any system on your side. For a small business that is a support channel with no setup cost.
The link points at WhatsApp's own domain, so there is no hosted page, no redirect service and no account of ours in the path that could lapse and break the code.
Placed on the glass so passers-by can ask about stock or opening times when the shop is closed. The message names the location so replies are immediately identifiable.
Encoded as
https://wa.me/442079460958?text=Hi%2C%20I'm%20outside%20the%20shop%20and%20wanted%20to%20ask%20aboutOn a table card, with the table number written into the message so staff know where to go without asking.
Encoded as
https://wa.me/442079460958?text=Table%207%20here%20%E2%80%94%20could%20we%20order%20please%3FJust opens the chat with an empty box. Useful where the reason for contact varies too much for a prefilled line to help.
Encoded as
https://wa.me/12025550143?text=Type the WhatsApp number with its country code and nothing else — no plus sign, no spaces, no leading zero. A UK number written as 020 7946 0958 becomes 442079460958. This is the format WhatsApp's link scheme requires, and the most common thing people get wrong.
The Prewritten message appears in the chat box when the code is scanned. Keep it short and specific to where the code is placed, so replies arrive already labelled with their source rather than needing a follow-up question to establish context.
Scan the code and confirm WhatsApp opens on the correct account before printing. A wrong country code usually produces a chat with an invalid number rather than an error, so the failure is quiet and easy to miss.
Export the code and put it at the point where someone actually has the question — beside the item, on the table, on the packaging — rather than collecting every code onto one sign at the entrance.
WhatsApp's link format wants bare digits with the country code first. Writing +44 20 7946 0958 or 020 7946 0958 produces a link that opens WhatsApp and then reports the number as invalid, or opens a chat with the wrong number entirely. Strip everything except digits and start with the country code — 442079460958.
The prefilled text lands in the chat box and waits. The person still has to press send, which is deliberate on WhatsApp's part and cannot be changed. Write the message from their point of view — it is something they are choosing to say, not a notification you are pushing.
The message is percent-encoded into the URL, so spaces and punctuation expand it substantially — a space becomes three characters. A long prefilled message can double the payload and force a much denser pattern. Keep it to a short sentence, especially for anything printed small.
The code links to a WhatsApp account, not to a phone line. A landline, or a mobile that has never been registered with WhatsApp, opens the app and then fails with an unhelpful message. Confirm the number is active on WhatsApp before printing anything.
Emoji encode as several bytes each and inflate the payload faster than plain text does. They are handled correctly, but a message with three or four emoji can push a code into a noticeably denser pattern for no real gain in clarity.
Click-to-chat links work on iOS, Android and WhatsApp Web. On a phone with WhatsApp installed the app opens directly; without it the link falls back to a WhatsApp web page prompting installation, which is a reasonable outcome rather than a dead end. WhatsApp Business accounts work identically — there is no separate link format. The main limitation is regional: in markets where WhatsApp has little penetration a code like this is worse than a phone number, since it assumes an app the person may not have. Desktop scans open WhatsApp Web, which requires the phone to have been linked already.
The payload is an ordinary https link to wa.me, so the code is a URL code and any scanner handles it. The message is percent-encoded, which is why a plus typed into the message survives as %2B rather than being read as a space — a distinction that matters if the message contains a phone number.
No. It appears in the chat box ready to go, and the person has to press send themselves. WhatsApp deliberately does not allow a link to send a message on someone's behalf, and no generator can change that. Write the prefilled text as something the sender would want to say, not as a notification.
Country code first, digits only, with no plus sign, spaces or leading zero. A UK number of 020 7946 0958 becomes 442079460958, and a US number of (202) 555-0143 becomes 12025550143. This is the most common mistake with WhatsApp codes and it usually fails quietly rather than with a clear error.
Yes, with no change. Business accounts use the same click-to-chat link format as personal accounts, so the same code works either way. If you later move the number from a personal account to a Business one, existing printed codes keep working.
The link opens a WhatsApp web page prompting them to install it, so the scan is not a dead end but it is a poor experience. In regions where WhatsApp is not the default messaging app, a phone number or an SMS code is usually a better choice than assuming the app is present.
No. The number is encoded in the link inside the pattern, so changing it breaks every printed copy at once. If the number is likely to change, point the code at a page you control instead and put the WhatsApp link on that page, where it can be edited.
No. The link is assembled in your browser and the code is drawn on your device. Nothing is transmitted while you type, which you can verify in your browser's developer tools by watching the Network tab stay empty. The code itself contains a public wa.me link and nothing else.
This generator is part of social media QR codes — see the whole group, and what to decide before you generate one.