Some Useful WhatsApp Features

Allows starting a chat with somebody without having their phone number saved in phonebook.

• Work on browsers, which means this can be operated on a computer, not necessarily on a phone, which can be easier for typing in most cases
• Chatting with someone not on the phonebook, separating private phonebook and business usage
• Business notifications by whatsapp by pre-filled message

Usage:

1. Use

   https:/wa.me/<number>

   or

   https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=<number>

   or

   https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=<number>&text=&source=&data=&app_absent=

   where <number> is a full phone number in international format but omitting any zeroes, brackets or dashes. For international phone format, refer to How to add International Contacts' Phone numbers
   • e.g.  use https://wa.me/15551234567  instead of https://wa.me/+001-(555)1234567
2. To create a pre-filled message that will automatically appear in the text field of a chat, use https://wa.me/whatsappphonenumber/?text=urlencodedtext
   • where whatsappphonenumber is a full phone number in international format
   • urlencodedtext is the URL-encoded pre-filled message
   • e.g.  https://wa.me/15551234567?text=I'm%20interested@20in@20your@20car@20for@20sale
   • e.g.  https://wa.me/?text=I'm%20inquiring@20about@20the@20apartment@20listing, after clicking on the link, a list of contacts will be shown

Ref:

WhatsApp:  Using Click to Chat

Instead of the administrator adding users into the group, this will allow the users to opt-in to a group.

To Create a Group

1. On the smartphone, go to CHATS tab in WhatsApp, and tap More Options, and select New Group
2. Search for or select contacts to add to the group
3. Enter a group subject, which will become the name of the group.
4. Optionally, add a group icon by tapping the camera icon.

Invite into Groups via Links

1. On the WhatsApp group chat, tap the group subject, and select Group Info
2. Tap Invite via Link.  This is the link to join the group.
3. Optionally, tap on More Options and Print Group QR Code

Ref

WhatsApp:  How to Create and Invite into a Group

Messages can be formatted into italic, bold or strikethrough like:

• Italic:  _text_
• Bold:  *text*
• Strikethrough:  ~text~
• Monospace:  ```text```

Ref

WhatsApp:  Formatting Your Messages

Sometimes it is desired to have own design of stickers for business or personal branding reasons.  It can be packaged in an Android or iOS app, and publish to the Google Play Store or Apple App Store.  Stickers must be legal, authorized and acceptable.

Sample apps and code for both Android and iOS are provided by WhatsApp, so that stickers can be built with minimal development or coding experience needed.  It is advised to use a different UI then the one provided in order to comply with guidelines of the Stores.

For more details, please refer to the below reference.

Requirements of Stickers

• Transparent background
• Must be exactly 512x512 pixels
• Must be less than 100 KB in size

Ref

WhatsApp:  Creating Stickers for WhatsApp