WhatsApp Number Format: How to Write a Number With Country Code for WhatsApp and wa.me Links

The rule in one line

International number, no trunk prefix. That's the same structure as E.164, the international standard for phone numbers, which is a +, a country code of one to three digits and the national number, fifteen digits at most in total. We explain it in E.164 phone number format.

• In your phone's contacts: +44 7400 123456 (spaces are fine here).
• In a wa.me link: 447400123456 (digits only).

WhatsApp's help centre describes both: save contacts in full international format, and use click-to-chat links with the full number in international format, omitting zeros, brackets and dashes.

Examples by country

Country	How it's written at home	WhatsApp contact	wa.me link
United States	(415) 555-2671	+1 415 555 2671	wa.me/14155552671
Canada	(416) 555-0142	+1 416 555 0142	wa.me/14165550142
United Kingdom	07400 123456	+44 7400 123456	wa.me/447400123456
India	098765 43210 or 98765 43210	+91 98765 43210	wa.me/919876543210
UAE	050 123 4567	+971 50 123 4567	wa.me/971501234567
Saudi Arabia	050 123 4567	+966 50 123 4567	wa.me/966501234567
Australia	0412 345 678	+61 412 345 678	wa.me/61412345678
Germany	0151 23456789	+49 151 23456789	wa.me/4915123456789
Nigeria	0803 123 4567	+234 803 123 4567	wa.me/2348031234567
Italy (landline)	06 1234 5678	+39 06 1234 5678	wa.me/390612345678

The pattern: drop the domestic leading 0, put the country code in front. Italy is the exception worth remembering. Italian landline numbers keep their leading 0 after +39. In the US and Canada there's no leading zero to drop; a leading 1 dialled domestically is the country code.

The example numbers are for illustration. Not every one is a real allocated number. Look up any country's code in the country calling codes list, or format a single number with the international phone number format guide.

The mistakes that break WhatsApp numbers

1. No country code. If you save 07400 123456 in a phone set to the UK, WhatsApp may work it out. Send the same contact to someone in the US and it becomes a US number. Always save the + and country code.

2. Leading zero kept after the country code. +44 07400 123456 is wrong; it should be +44 7400 123456. This is the most common mistake in lists that were converted by adding a country code to the front of a domestic number. The drop leading zero after country code guide covers fixing it in bulk.

3. 00 instead of +. 0044 7400 123456 is how you dial internationally from many countries, but in a wa.me link it gives 00447400123456, which is wrong. Replace a leading 00 with nothing in links and with + in contacts.

4. A plus or symbols in the wa.me link. wa.me/+44 7400-123456 won't work reliably. Digits only.

5. Excel ate the number. Opening a CSV in Excel turns 447400123456 into 4.474E+11 and strips leading zeros. Keep phone columns as text; see CSV to Excel without losing leading zeros.

6. Trunk prefixes in brackets. UK numbers written +44 (0)7400 123456 mean "dial the 0 only from inside the UK". Remove (0) before saving.

Format a whole list at once

For more than a handful of numbers, do it in bulk:

1. Paste the numbers or upload a CSV to the free WhatsApp number formatter. Pick the default country for numbers written without a country code.
2. It returns each number in E.164, the wa.me digits and a ready link, and marks landline and toll-free ranges where the numbering plan identifies them, plus repeated numbers and numbers that can't exist. It runs in your browser; the list isn't uploaded.
3. Download the result and use the formatted column for your CRM, your WhatsApp Business contacts or your click-to-chat buttons.

If you only need links, the WhatsApp link generator builds one with a pre-filled message. For a general format conversion, the phone number formatter outputs E.164, national and international styles.

Storing numbers so you never fix them twice

If you collect numbers on a website or in a CRM, store them once in E.164 and generate every other format from that:

• Contacts and CRMs: the E.164 value, +447400123456.
• wa.me links and buttons: the same value with the + removed.
• Display on screen: a national or spaced format, created when you show the number, not saved over the original.

Add a country selector next to the phone field so the country code is never guessed, and validate as the person types. Code for that is in validate a phone number in JavaScript. A number stored this way works in WhatsApp, in SMS platforms and in dialers without another round of cleaning.

Does the right format mean the number is on WhatsApp?

No. Formatting makes sure you're asking about the number you meant. Whether that number has a WhatsApp account is something only WhatsApp knows, and there's no official way to check a list. See how to check if a number is on WhatsApp for the single-number methods and why bulk "WhatsApp checkers" are a risk.

What you can do is narrow a list to the numbers most likely to use WhatsApp: valid mobiles. Outside North America the prefix usually says mobile or fixed line. In the US and Canada, a live carrier lookup returns the line type. Before you message a list, see clean a contact list before a WhatsApp broadcast.

Checking numbers on SimpleVerifier

Upload a CSV to the verify page and every phone number gets a status, its E.164 form, its country and its numbering-plan type. If the file has an email column, each address gets a live SMTP mailbox check in the same pass, with catch-alls reported as risky, never guessed valid.

• Free: 100 checks with a Google sign-in, no card.
• Pro, $39 a month: phone format checks on every row, Unlimited email verification*, the API and the MCP server.
• Pro + Phone, $49.99 a month: adds 5,000 live carrier lookups a month.
• Starter, $9 a month: 2,500 emails a month, email only.

*Fair use: the first 100,000 checks a month at full speed, then slower, never cut off.

See pricing.

More reading: UK phone number format, India phone number format, validate a phone number in JavaScript.