In order to chat with your friends and family on WhatsApp, you first need to add them as contacts – thankfully doing so is really easy. There are three ways to add a new contact to your WhatsApp chat list. See below for instructions.
Add a new contact in WhatsApp
The easiest way to add a new contact in WhatsApp is via the app itself. Open it. On Android, press the small chat bubble in the bottom right corner and then select the New Contact option at the top.
On iOS, it works in much the same way, except the button is in a slightly different place. After opening the app, tap the button with the pen and pencil in the top right corner, then select the same New Contact option.
On the following screen, add the details of your new contact.
Once you have saved your new contact, they will appear in your contact list. By pressing the chat bubble or pen and pencil again, and selecting the new contact, you can send them a message!
Tip: If the contact you are adding doesn’t have WhatsApp, you won’t be able to send them messages, but you can send them an invite to WhatsApp instead.
Add a new contact in Contacts
By adding a new contact the same way you would add a contact to your regular contact list, it will also be available in WhatsApp. Simply save a contact the same way you would normally – by going into your Contacts app and saving them there. The exact steps will depend on the phone you are using.
When you’ve added the contact, you can send a new message to the person by going into the app and either pressing the chat bubble in the bottom right corner on Android, or by tapping the pen and paper icons in the top right corner.
Next, select the contact you just added and send your message!
Tip: The contact won’t show up in the WhatsApp contact list if the number isn’t a registered WhatsApp user. You can send them an invitation, but you won’t be able to send them WhatsApp messages.
Add a new contact from a chat
You can also add a new contact if the other person sends you a message first. You’ll be able to see the message from them, and below it you’ll find the option to add them to your contacts list (along with an option to block and report them).
Here, simply tap the option to save the new contact and you’ll be able to fill in details like the name, occupation etc, before saving the contact as normal. In this case, the chat is automatically added to your list of conversations with the new saved name, and you can continue chatting immediately.
Tip: You can also reply and message back without saving the contact first. You can always decide to save them as a contact later!
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