# Open a chat without saving the number

> Message any WhatsApp number or username without adding a contact first. Free, no account, on your phone or your computer.

To message a supplier, a courier or a new customer on WhatsApp, you usually have to save their number as a contact first. The Open tool at [walink.com/open](https://walink.com/open) skips that step: type or paste the number and go straight to the chat. Nothing is added to your contacts, and there's nothing to sign up for.

## How to use it

1. Go to [walink.com/open](https://walink.com/open).
2. Under **Who you’re writing to**, choose **Phone** and type the number, or choose **Username** and type a WhatsApp username, with or without the `@`.
3. Optionally, write a first message or tap a suggestion such as **Is this still available?**.
4. Select **Open chat**.

The message waits in the chat for you to edit. Nothing is sent until you press send in WhatsApp.

## What you can paste

The field reads more than digits. Paste whatever you were sent and it finds the chat:

| You paste                                  | What happens                     |
| ------------------------------------------ | -------------------------------- |
| `+91 98765 43210`                          | Sets the country for you         |
| `(415) 555-0123`                           | Uses the country you picked      |
| `Call Ana on +55 11 91234-5678 after five` | Finds the number in the sentence |
| `wa.me/14155550123?text=Hello`             | Takes the number and the message |
| `@studionube`                              | Switches to the username         |
| `wa.link/dentalsol`                        | Opens the link as it is          |

If the text holds more than one number, the tool lists them so you can pick one. It also fixes the usual mistakes in a typed number: a leading `0`, the country code typed twice, and the old `1` in Mexican mobile numbers. On a phone, **Paste** reads your clipboard in one tap.

## On a phone

**Open chat** opens WhatsApp straight away. If the app doesn't open, WhatsApp's own web page takes over, where you can try again.

## On a computer

On a computer or a tablet, **Open chat** asks where to open it:

- **WhatsApp Desktop**: the app on this computer. If nothing happens, it may not be installed, so try WhatsApp Web.
- **WhatsApp Web**: opens in a new tab.
- **On my phone**: shows a QR code. Point your phone's camera at it and the chat opens in WhatsApp there. A very long message doesn't fit in the code, so in that case the chat opens empty.

If the number isn't on WhatsApp, WhatsApp tells you when it opens. Check the country code first: a number from another country is the usual cause.

## Nothing is stored

The tool runs in your browser. It builds the chat link on your device and hands it to WhatsApp, so the number and the message never reach Walink. There's no history to clear and no account to create.

The other person can't tell whether you saved their number. WhatsApp doesn't show it: your message arrives like any other, with your number and profile name.

## Share the chat as a link

After a chat opens, **Share this chat as a free wa.link** fills in the free link generator with the same number or username and the same message. Select **Generate my free wa.link** to create it. Unlike the chat itself, this link is stored, because it has to keep working for whoever taps it. It follows the [free link rules](https://walink.com/docs/free-links): a random address, no editing and no analytics.

To start over with another number, select **Start over**.

## Let customers do the same

The Open tool is for writing to someone else. To make it this easy for customers to write to you, give them a wa.link: one tap opens a chat with you, with your first message already typed. A [free link](https://walink.com/docs/free-links) takes seconds and needs no account. A [Premium Link](https://walink.com/docs/premium-links) adds an address you choose, edits after you've shared it, and click analytics.