You will soon be able to call unsaved contacts on WhatsApp

WhatsApp has been one of the best messaging apps out there for getting in touch with saved contacts, whether it is by message or a voice/video call. However, for years there wasn’t an easy way to ‘WhatsApp’ someone whose number you didn’t have saved in your contacts.

While there have been some sneaky workarounds for this that people have come up with over the years, there was never a way to directly punch in a new phone number and get started messaging immediately. Well, it seems WhatsApp has finally decided to fix that.

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As per a new report by WABetaInfo, the latest WhatsApp beta versions have been showing a new in-app dialer. As you probably guessed, this in-app dialer will let users punch in the numbers and make a WhatsApp call directly.

It is currently unknown if the app will let users directly message a number you just entered. This is because leaked screenshots of the implementation only show a single, green calling button under the numbers, and a button to initiate a text conversation seems to be missing, for now.

Why the feature would be handy

Even if the new in-app dialer cannot directly be used for messaging unsaved contacts, the ability to put in a number and call it via WhatsApp will be something a lot of people find useful.

For instance, a number of businesses operate on WhatsApp, and the new feature will allow new and old customers to place a call for enquiries without having to go through hoops to save the number first.

When will your phone get the WhatsApp feature?

Since the feature is still in beta, it is hard to predict when WhatsApp will bring its in-app dialer to the stable version of the app for Android phones and iPhones.

That said, simpler implementations like these usually don’t take more than a few weeks to reach the stable channel, and we could see the feature roll out in the next couple of months after WhatsApp has ironed out any bugs.