WhatsApp Web can only be used with a cell phone number to start chatting

A new feature in the WhatsApp desktop app will allow users to find an unregistered phone number among their contacts and start a conversation without having to add it as a contact. This way, only the numbers you want will be stored in the cell phone’s memory or in Google.

The new feature would solve a common problem when starting a conversation, which is that to do so currently it is necessary to ask someone for their number, type it on the cell phone, save it as a name and then open the application to search for it. Contact and open chat. This complex process should be done with new friends and with people you talk to only occasionally or only on a specific occasion.

Instead of going through a long process and taking up space on the device’s internal memory, users can simply enter another user’s number into the browser, including the country code they belong to, to send a direct message.

To use the new WhatsApp desktop feature, users will need to follow these steps:

– Open the WhatsApp application on your computer. This is not valid in the web version of the browser.

– Click on the new message button, which will be located at the top right of the active conversations section.

– In the pop-up window that will be displayed, users will have to select the “Phone Number” option. This will open a new section containing a text box, country selector, and numeric keypad.

– Users will just have to click on the country selector and search for the number they want to write to. Once selected, the code will be entered automatically.

– Using the virtual keyboard, users must enter the number they want to type to and press the “Enter” button.

At the end of the process, a new active conversation will open in which the cell phone number will be used as the contact name, as happens in other versions of WhatsApp. Logically, this can only be done if the contact is registered in the app with that number because this new feature does not work if the number is not found on the platform.

The new WhatsApp functionality also allows you to create a connection with other users regardless of the version of the application they are using, whether it is desktop, web pages, tablets or mobile phones.

Another benefit of this new function is privacy-related: if the contact you’re going to talk to has a phone number stored in their history, you’ll be able to see their profile picture, know when they’re online and even access their WhatsApp statuses. By not having to store a number, this type of exposure can be avoided.

The functionality is in the launch phase, so if users install the application on their computers, they will be able to access it whenever they want. For this, as in mobile phones, users will have to install the latest version of WhatsApp for desktop.

If the new WhatsApp feature cannot be accessed, it could mean one of these situations: The app version is not the latest or the feature has not yet reached the user’s region/country.

In this case, it will be necessary to search for “WhatsApp” in the computer’s application store and check that the “Update” option does not appear under the platform name. If it is displayed, you should tap it and wait for the update to finish downloading and installing before trying again to see if the new functionality is enabled.