--- title: "wa.me links explained: click to chat on WhatsApp, with a generator" description: "wa.me is WhatsApp's official click-to-chat shortener. Build a link with https://wa.me/, prefill a message with ?text=, and open a chat without anyone saving a contact. Includes a live generator and the wa.me/message and wa.me/c variants." url: "https://wame.api.br/blog/wa-me-link" language: "pt-BR" og:type: "article" published_time: "2026-09-12" modified_time: "2026-09-12" author: "Raphael Serafim" keywords: "wa.me, wa.me link, whatsapp click to chat, wa.me link generator, wa.me/message, whatsapp link with message, api.whatsapp.com/send" reading_time: "6 min read" --- # wa.me links explained: click to chat on WhatsApp, with a generator > wa.me is WhatsApp's official click-to-chat shortener. Build a link with https://wa.me/, prefill a message with ?text=, and open a chat without anyone saving a contact. Includes a live generator and the wa.me/message and wa.me/c variants. **`wa.me` is WhatsApp's official click-to-chat shortener.** Open a link like `https://wa.me/14155550132` and WhatsApp starts a chat with that number — on a phone or on WhatsApp Web — **without anyone having to save the contact first**. It is the simplest way to turn a phone number into a chat button for a website, a bio link, an ad or a QR code. The rules are short: full international number, **digits only**, and `?text=` if you want the message prefilled. Everything else in this page is detail, edge cases, and the generator below. ## Build one now ## The format ```text https://wa.me/ ``` Country code + area code + number, joined together, with **no `+`, no spaces, no parentheses, no dashes and no dots**. | Number | Link | | --- | --- | | US +1 (415) 555-0132 | `https://wa.me/14155550132` | | UK +44 7911 123456 | `https://wa.me/447911123456` | | Brazil +55 (66) 99685-2025 | `https://wa.me/5566996852025` | ## Prefilling a message Append `?text=` with the message **URL-encoded**. Spaces become `%20`, and punctuation gets encoded too: ```text https://wa.me/14155550132?text=Hi%2C%20I%27d%20like%20to%20know%20more%20about%20the%20API ``` That opens the chat with **"Hi, I'd like to know more about the API"** already typed. Most tools encode the text for you; if you are assembling the URL by hand, run it through a URL-encode function or the message will break at the first space. ## wa.me vs api.whatsapp.com/send You will see two shapes of link that do **exactly the same thing**: | Form | Example | | --- | --- | | Short (recommended) | `https://wa.me/14155550132?text=Hi` | | Long (equivalent) | `https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=14155550132&text=Hi` | Both open the chat and both accept the text parameter. Prefer `wa.me` — it is shorter, easier to say out loud, and a shorter URL makes a less dense QR code, which scans more reliably from print. ## Two variants worth knowing - **`wa.me/message/`** — builds the link from a **short link configured inside WhatsApp Business**. Useful when you would rather not expose the phone number directly in the URL. - **`wa.me/c/`** — opens that number's **WhatsApp Business catalog**, when products are registered on it. ## Mistakes that silently break the link - **Leaving the `+` or formatting in.** `https://wa.me/+1 415 555-0132` does not work. Digits only: `14155550132`. - **Dropping the country code.** Without the `1`, WhatsApp cannot tell which country the number belongs to. - **Dropping the area code.** The number needs it, even locally. - **Unencoded text.** A message with spaces or punctuation that was not URL-encoded gets truncated at the first space. - **A number with no WhatsApp account.** The link only works if that number is actually on WhatsApp. ## Where the link stops A `wa.me` link is built for **one person starting one conversation by hand**. That is its ceiling, and it is a hard one: **it never sends anything on its own**. The user always presses send. If what you need is to **send messages, notifications, order confirmations, media or interactive buttons automatically and at scale**, that is an API job, not a link job. A WhatsApp API lets you: - Send text, images, documents and buttons over HTTP; - Receive incoming messages in real time through a **webhook**; - Automate support, billing reminders and confirmations; - Work from an SDK in [Node.js/TypeScript or PHP](/docs). The [endpoint reference](/blog/whatsapp-api-endpoints) is the fastest way to see what that looks like in practice — one `curl` and a message goes out. ## Perguntas frequentes ### What is wa.me? wa.me is WhatsApp's official link shortener for click-to-chat links, short for 'WhatsApp Me'. Opening a wa.me link starts a direct chat with the number in it, on mobile or on WhatsApp Web, without the person having to save the number as a contact first. ### How do I create a wa.me link? Use https://wa.me/ with the full number in international format: country code, area code and number, digits only. No plus sign, no spaces, no parentheses, no dashes. For the US number +1 (415) 555-0132 the link is https://wa.me/14155550132. ### How do I prefill a message in a WhatsApp link? Add the ?text= parameter with the message URL-encoded. https://wa.me/14155550132?text=Hi%2C%20I%27d%20like%20to%20know%20more opens the chat with 'Hi, I'd like to know more' already typed, so the person only has to hit send. Spaces become %20 and punctuation is encoded too. ### What is the difference between wa.me and api.whatsapp.com/send? Nothing functional — they open the same chat and both accept the text parameter. https://wa.me/14155550132?text=Hi and https://api.whatsapp.com/send?phone=14155550132&text=Hi are equivalent. Prefer wa.me: it is shorter, easier to remember, and produces a denser QR code. ### What are wa.me/message and wa.me/c? wa.me/message/ builds a link from a short link configured inside WhatsApp Business, which is useful when you do not want to expose the phone number directly. wa.me/c/ opens that number's WhatsApp Business catalog, when products are registered. ### Can a wa.me link send messages automatically? No. A wa.me link only opens the chat — the user is always the one who presses send. To send messages, notifications, media or interactive buttons automatically and at scale you need a WhatsApp API, which is a different thing entirely.