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Is that number even on WhatsApp?

Type a number into the box below. You get its country, the international spelling WhatsApp expects, and one click that asks WhatsApp whether it is registered.

Check a number

In your browser · Nothing stored · No sign-up

No account

Type it here, read the verdict here

Most numbers that fail never reach WhatsApp at all, because a missing country code, a local zero or a digit lost in a copy and paste stops them first. That part is decided here, instantly, and what is left is one click.

  • Nothing is transmitted. The check runs on your device, so no number of yours ends up in anyone's log.
  • Paste it however you have it, with spaces, dashes, brackets, a leading plus or a leading 00, and get the international form back.
  • The dialling code is named, not just accepted, so a country you did not expect shows up before you spend anything on it.
  • The registration question then goes to WhatsApp with the number already correct, and both answers are explained below.
Need the chat link itself, with a message ready to send?

Scripting is switched off, so here is the manual route

Write the number with its country code and no separators, put those digits after wa.me/ in the address bar, and open it. A chat window means the number is registered; a page calling the link invalid means it is not.

Build the link instead
Reading it

Three things that screen can mean

WhatsApp answers the question itself once the link opens, but it answers in screens rather than in words. Two of them are about the number. One of them is about you.

The conversation opens

That is a yes. The number is registered and a message sent to it will arrive. Opening the link sends nothing, and the chat stays empty until you type.

The link is refused

That is a no, provided the digits above came back well formed. A refusal on a badly formed number tells you about the typing, not about the person.

It offers to install WhatsApp

That is neither answer. The device you are on has no WhatsApp to hand the link to. Run it from a phone that does, or from a browser already signed in to WhatsApp Web.

What none of them tell you

Whether the account belongs to a business, which country it bills in, or anything at all about the several thousand other rows in your spreadsheet. That is the part an account does.

The answer

What a proper check gives you back

The browser trick answers yes or no. A check run from your account answers yes or no plus everything WhatsApp already knows about the number, and it arrives as JSON, ready to write straight into a contact record.

Reachable, or not

A boolean rather than a guess. The lookup runs against WhatsApp while you wait, so it reflects the network now and not a list someone compiled last year.

  • exists
  • phone
  • wid

Personal or business

Business accounts come back with the name WhatsApp shows customers, its verification level, and whether it runs from the app or through the API.

  • isBusiness
  • businessInfo.name
  • level

Where the number lives

Country and dialling prefix, the flag, the official currency, the languages spoken there and the time zones, which is enough to pick a language and a decent hour to write.

  • country.name
  • currency
  • languages
  • timezones

A link you can act on

The direct chat URL for that number, so a lead that just passed the check is one click away from its first message.

  • link
At scale

One number is a browser tab. A list is an API call.

Everything above is a single POST. Send a number in international format, get the profile back while the request is still open. Your own connected number does the asking, so the answer is the one WhatsApp would give the app.

  • POST/numbers/exists, one call per number
  • Real timeasked live, never served from a cached list
  • 404the honest answer when a number is not there
  • 15+languages with ready-made examples
Read the API referenceRun it in the API tester
PHP · Go · Ruby · Java · C# · +7
# Is this number on WhatsApp?
curl -X POST https://api.wali.chat/v1/numbers/exists \
  -H "Authorization: $WALI_TOKEN" \
  -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
  -d '{"phone":"+14155550142"}'
// Is this number on WhatsApp?
await fetch("https://api.wali.chat/v1/numbers/exists", {
  method: "POST",
  headers: {
    Authorization: process.env.WALI_TOKEN,
    "Content-Type": "application/json"
  },
  body: JSON.stringify({ phone: "+14155550142" })
})
# Is this number on WhatsApp?
requests.post(
    "https://api.wali.chat/v1/numbers/exists",
    headers={"Authorization": token},
    json={"phone": "+14155550142"},
)
RESPONSE · 200
{ "exists": true, "isBusiness": false, "country": { "code": "ES", "currency": "EUR" } }
Order of operations

Format is one question. WhatsApp is another.

Most rows in a messy list fail before WhatsApp is involved at all: a missing country code, a local zero, a landline, a cell that was never a number. Cleaning is free and unlimited. Asking WhatsApp is not. Run them in that order.

POST /numbers/validate

First, clean the digits

  • Takes a whole list in one request instead of one number at a time.
  • Normalises anything readable into international format and returns the local, national and international spellings.
  • Reports the country, the dialling prefix, and whether the line looks mobile or fixed.
  • Can assume a default country for rows that arrived without a prefix.
  • Comes back with a count of how many rows were usable and how many were not.
  • Never touches WhatsApp, so nothing is deducted from your allowance.
POST /numbers/exists

Then, ask WhatsApp

  • One number per request, checked against the live network.
  • Returns the account type and the country profile, not only a yes.
  • Answers 404 when the number is simply not registered.
  • Needs one number connected and synced; without one it answers 503 rather than inventing a result.
  • Answers 429 once the monthly allowance is spent, instead of failing quietly.
  • Each answer counts as one check against that allowance.
In practice

Where a number check pays for itself

Validation is rarely the goal. It is the step that stops the next one from wasting a send, a follow-up or an afternoon.

Before a campaign leaves

A list gathered over three years has retired numbers in it. Dropping them first keeps the queue moving and keeps the delivery report describing something real.

See how campaigns work

While the lead is still on the page

Check the number the moment a form is submitted, when the visitor can still fix a typo. An hour later you are guessing, and a week later you are calling.

Inside an automation

A flow that opens with a WhatsApp message should know the number can receive one. Branch on the answer and send an email instead when it cannot.

Build a no-code Flow

When two systems disagree

A spreadsheet, an import and a contact database rarely write a number the same way. Normalise once and every system finally shares one key for the same person.

Safety

The number doing the asking is yours

Every check travels through a WhatsApp number you own. Checking a huge list as fast as the API will accept it is exactly the pattern that gets numbers flagged, so the platform is deliberately unhurried about it, and you should be too.

  • Pace it. Around thirty checks a minute is the ceiling we recommend, roughly one every two seconds. Bursts are the risk, not volume spread out.
  • Keep a session up. The check runs through a connected number; if none is online the API returns an error rather than a false negative.
  • Watch the allowance. Past your monthly quota you get a clear 429, so a job stops instead of silently producing empty results.
  • Clean the format first. Every malformed row you catch for free is a check you did not spend.
  • Reachable is not the same as interested. A valid number still belongs to someone who may never have asked to hear from you, and writing to them anyway is what gets a number reported, not validation.
Included

How many checks come with each plan

Number checks are part of the plan, not a meter you top up separately. The shared inbox, campaigns, Flows and the full API come with all of them.

Professional

5,000number checks per month

Checks reset with each billing cycle and are shared across every number connected to the account.

Business

30,000number checks per month

Checks reset with each billing cycle and are shared across every number connected to the account.

Enterprise

50,000number checks per month

Checks reset with each billing cycle and are shared across every number connected to the account.

Start a 7-day free trialCompare every limit

Questions about checking numbers

Can I check a number without an account?

You can, and the box at the top of this page is the whole tool. It reads what you type, names the country behind the dialling code, tells you whether the format survives, and then opens the registration check on WhatsApp with the digits already right. What it will not do is take a list, or say anything about the account behind the number.

Does the number I type go to your servers?

No. The check on this page is JavaScript running inside your own browser. Because it never makes a request, there is nothing for us to receive, log or keep. The API check described further down is a different thing entirely: that one runs on your account, through a number you have connected yourself.

What format does the number have to be in?

International, with the country code and no separators, which is the format messaging systems call E.164. The box above will get you there from almost anything, and for a whole file the validate endpoint normalises every row at once and can assume a default country for the ones that arrived without a prefix.

Does the other person find out I checked?

No. Nothing is sent and no conversation is created. A check is a lookup against the WhatsApp network, not a message, and it leaves nothing on the recipient side.

Which kind of WhatsApp account has to be connected?

For the API checks, any of them. One number linked to WaliChat and online is the whole requirement, and it makes no difference to the result whether that number runs on the standard app or the business one.

How many numbers can I check per month?

It depends on the plan you are on. The allowance is listed per plan on the pricing page, next to every other limit, and it resets with each billing cycle rather than carrying over.

Why did a check come back as unavailable?

Because no connected number was online and synced at that moment. The check is answered by your own WhatsApp session, so when none is available the API says so with a 503 instead of returning a result it cannot stand behind. Reconnect the number and run the job again.

Can I check a whole list in one request?

Format validation takes a list. The WhatsApp check takes one number per request, so a batch job means looping with a pause of roughly two seconds between calls. That pacing is a feature, not a limitation: it is what keeps your number out of trouble.

A number passed the check. Is it safe to message?

It is deliverable, which is not the same as welcome. Validation tells you a message can arrive, never that someone wants it. Keep to people who gave you their number, and follow the messaging rules that apply to your account type.

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