One of the biggest annoyances with WhatsApp used to be that you couldn’t see whether a particular phone number was registered with the service unless it was saved in the Contacts app. That changed with WhatsApp version 2.19.30 so now you can easily if any phone number is on WhatsApp before messaging it, and iDB shows you how.

This feature is useful if you’d like to see if a person whose phone number you know is using WhatsApp. Before WhatsApp 2.19.30, you had to first save a phone number in the Contacts app for WhatsApp to be able to determine if it’s registered with the service.

So the next time you meet someone and get their phone number, you can check if they’re on WhatsApp before saving the number.

Follow along with us as we show you how.

Seeing if a phone number is on WhatsApp

1) Open the WhatsApp app on your iPhone.

2) Tap Chats in the tab area alongside the bottom of the screen.

3) Tap the New Chat button in the upper-right corner.

4) Now tap New Contact near the top of the screen.

5) Type in the full phone number (preceded by the country code) to see if has already been registered with the WhatsApp service.

Check WhatsApp number: type in a desired phone number
Found! This person is clearly using WhatsApp!

6) Tap Cancel to exit this option or type in a person’s first and last name alone with any other details before tapping Save (you’ll review details on the next screen; don’t forget to hit Done to finish creating a new contact from the selected phone number).

If the person is already in your contacts, you’ll see an appropriate message below their typed phone number, saying “Already in contacts”.

Check WhatsApp phone number: already in contacts
Whoops, seems I saved this number before.

If a phone number cannot be found on WhatsApp, or it was deregistered from the service, the message will read “Not on WhatsApp”.

Check WhatsApp number: not registered
This number doesn’t seem to be using WhatsApp.

Are you thinking what I am? Getting a phone number of someone you fancy through a friend and checking if they’re on WhatsApp before stalking them there? Well, don’t. First of all, if you’re into someone you should be able to approach them in real life.

But more importantly, don’t overuse this feature because WhatsApp will refuse to check new phone numbers after a few successive attempts. And that’s what you need to know about seeing if someone’s phone number has been registered with the WhatsApp service.

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