Introduction

Working with Contacts in WhatsApp API

In WhatsApp, every contact is essentially a chat. Whapi.Cloud allows you to manage contacts in almost the same way as WhatsApp Web — you can add, edit, rename, or delete them directly through the API.

Previously, WhatsApp Web could only display contacts synchronized from your phone’s address book. However, with recent updates, WhatsApp introduced the ability to manage contacts directly within the app or the web interface.

The same applies to the API — if your WhatsApp account supports contact management, these actions will also be available via Whapi.Cloud API.

Before using these methods, please ensure that:

1. Your WhatsApp account has received the update enabling contact management. If this feature is not yet available in your WhatsApp Web, the API will not be able to perform these operations either.

2. You have granted WhatsApp permission to access and modify contacts on your device. To do this, open your phone’s privacy settings and make sure WhatsApp has full access to your contacts.

Go to the app's privacy settings

Ensure you have permission to access contacts

If these conditions are met, you will be able to fully manage your WhatsApp contact list — add new contacts, update their names, or remove them — directly via API.

If this update is not available to you, you can manage your contacts via the Google Contacts API, which we also provide access to: Google Contacts