# Get contacts

In WhatsApp, every contact is essentially a chat.\
So what’s the difference between **GET /chats** and **GET /contacts**?

* **GET /chats** returns only those contacts with whom you have an active or past conversation — in other words, chats that already exist.
* **GET /contacts** returns **all WhatsApp accounts** your number can see — including those saved in your phone book and participants of any groups you’re a member of.

This may cause some confusion because **GET /contacts** usually returns **more entries** than you actually have saved on your phone.\
That’s expected: the method includes every user who shares a group with you, even if they are not saved in your address book.

To distinguish real phone contacts from automatically discovered ones, check the **`saved`** flag in the response:

* `"saved": true` — this contact is saved in your phone’s address book.
* `"saved": false` — this contact is not saved on your phone (e.g., a group participant or there was a private conversation with this number, without adding it to contacts).

Contacts with `"saved": false` cannot be edited or deleted via the API.\
Similarly, you cannot create a contact with `"saved": true` if it already exists in your phone book.

Even if you delete a contact, you may still see it in future responses from **GET /contacts**, but it will then appear with `"saved": false`.

#### Endpoint

**GET** `https://gate.whapi.cloud/contacts`

#### Example response

```json
{
  "contacts": [
    {
      "id": "601111311480",
      "pushname": "MC",
      "saved": false
    },
    {
      "id": "972523637999",
      "pushname": "Omer-Ben",
      "saved": false
    },
    {
      "id": "619528001122",
      "name": "24name",
      "saved": true
    }
  ],
  "count": 100,
  "total": 1317
}

```

This response includes the list of all visible contacts, the number of returned items (`count`), and the total number of contacts accessible to your WhatsApp account.


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