How to look for people on whatsapp


How to Find Someone on WhatsApp on iPhone or Android

  • You can easily find someone on WhatsApp if you know their phone number.
  • Contacts stored on your phone that use WhatsApp will automatically show up in your WhatsApp contacts list.
  • This story is a part of Business Insider's Guide to WhatsApp.

If you want to chat with someone you know on WhatsApp, doing so is relatively simple, as long as you have their phone number. 

There's only one way of going about locating someone on WhatsApp, and that's via the Chat section. It should be noted that if you want to find someone not already in your contacts list on WhatsApp, you'll need to add them before that's possible. 

Here's how to find someone on WhatsApp in the Chat section. 

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How to find someone on WhatsApp using your iPhone

1. Open WhatsApp on your iPhone. 

2. Tap the "Chats" icon in the bottom menu bar, which looks like two overlapped speech bubbles. 

Tap the "Chats" icon. Jennifer Still/Business Insider

3. In the upper-right hand corner of the Chats section, tap the "Compose" button to launch a new chat, which will automatically bring up your list of contacts. 

4. Tap the Search bar at the top of the screen and begin typing the name of the person you want to find, then tap on the contact's name once you find them.

Type the person's name into the search bar. Jennifer Still/Business Insider

5. A new chat will launch with the contact and will remain in your active chat list until you delete the conversation. 

How to find someone on WhatsApp using your Android

1. Open WhatsApp on your Android device.

2. Tap the "Chats" button located near the top of the screen. 

3. Locate the green speech bubble icon in the bottom-right hand corner of the Chats screen, and tap it to begin a new conversation. 

4. When your list of contacts appears, tap the Search bar at the top and type in the name of the contact you wish to locate. 

5. When they appear in the list, tap on the contact to start a new conversation with them.

 

  • How to share your location on WhatsApp using an iPhone or Android device

  • How to change the WhatsApp background in your chats to a wallpaper, color, or custom photo

  • How to hide your online status on WhatsApp to protect your privacy

  • How to delete a WhatsApp contact on your mobile device

  • How to delete a WhatsApp group using your iPhone or Android device

Jennifer Still

Jennifer is a writer and editor from Brooklyn, New York, who spends her time traveling, drinking iced coffee, and watching way too much TV. She has bylines in Vanity Fair, Glamour, Decider, Mic, and many more. You can find her on Twitter at @jenniferlstill.

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How to find someone on WhatsApp to start a new chat

If you want to talk to a new contact on WhatsApp, you need their phone number. There’s no other way around it. WhatsApp doesn’t have a central online directory of usernames as Skype does. You can’t search for a stranger in your WhatsApp app. You need to have their phone number to start a conversation (and even then, they may not even be WhatsApp users.)

So, assuming you have their phone number, how do you start a new conversation with them? Or how can you persuade someone to give you their number and become a new WhatsApp user?

Read more: How to use WhatsApp — a step-by-step beginner’s guide

QUICK ANSWER

To find someone on WhatsApp, start a new conversation. This will bring up a list of all the people in your device's phone book who also have WhatsApp accounts (assuming you already have their number listed in your device's phone book). Or if they give you their mobile number, add it to your device's phone book, refresh WhatsApp, and it will instantly show up if they have a WhatsApp account too.


JUMP TO KEY SECTIONS

  • How to find someone on WhatsApp (Android and iPhone)
  • How to find someone on WhatsApp without adding/saving a number
  • What if the contact doesn't have WhatsApp yet?

How to find someone on WhatsApp (Android and iPhone)

The following tips apply equally to both Android and iPhone. The only difference, of course, is that the iOS interface is a slightly different design. But it’s all still in the same place.

If this is a new contact, make sure their phone number is first added to your Google Contacts app (or your iOS Contacts app), along with the proper international and local dialing code. If you don’t know the dialing code for a particular country, you can find it here. Now restart your WhatsApp app and begin a new conversation in Chats. This will bring up all your contacts who have registered their phone number to a WhatsApp account.

If you have hundreds of contacts, you can quickly narrow the search by looking for them with the search function.

You can also add a contact manually to WhatsApp without adding them first to your device contacts app. Just start a new conversation, and in your WhatsApp contact list, you’ll see an option called New contact.

Mark O'Neill / Android Authority

Tapping on it, you can now add the person’s contact details. But again, you need their phone number.

Once you’ve found the contact you want in your list, tap on them, and begin your conversation.

How to find someone on WhatsApp without adding/saving a number

Edgar Cervantes / Android Authority

What if you want to have a one-off discussion with someone on WhatsApp? Maybe with a business associate or someone you’re not likely to talk to a second time? You may decide in that instance that you don’t want to go to all the bother of adding them to your contact book. In that case, we have previously covered sending someone a WhatsApp message without saving the number first.

What if the contact doesn’t have WhatsApp yet?

WhatsApp has an “invite a friend” function to give someone a link to install WhatsApp. When their account is made, they need to tell you the account has been set up — WhatsApp doesn’t notify you. When you invite them to WhatsApp, all the person receives is a direct download link to the app.

In your WhatsApp contact list, at the top, select Invite a friend.

A prewritten message will appear with a copy button and several messaging possibilities. Just choose one and send it off.

FAQs

No, not unless they know your phone number. So keep it secret from those you don’t know. If you need a WhatsApp for your business, get a different number.

Likely because they are also in your device’s contacts app. Remove the person from there (or, at the very least, their phone number), and they should then disappear from WhatsApp.

How to find a person on WhatsApp by phone number: Whatsapp people search