How To Find Someone On WhatsApp

For those of you who don’t know, WhatsApp is one of the most widely used messaging apps in the world. With well over 1.5 billion monthly active users, it’s easy to see why so many people are flocking to the platform. The app is rich with many useful features, such as; group chats, voice & video calls, end-to-end encryption, and more. Because of it’s popularity, there are many users who want to know how to find someone on WhatsApp. Below, we’ll explore some of the different ways a person can find someone on the app.

How To Find Someone On WhatsApp

Unlike most social platforms, the WhatsApp app does not have a dedicated search feature. This means, there’s no way to enter a person’s name or phone number within the app itself and view their WhatsApp profile. Instead, WhatsApp users will have to sync up the app to their phone’s contacts list. The good news is, this process is relatively simple, and should only take a few minutes to set up completely.

Once this is done, any new phone number that you add to your contacts list will automatically be sync’d to your WhatsApp account as well (if that contact also has an account with WhatsApp, of course.) Here’s a quick break-down of the steps you’ll go through to complete this process.

Note: Before you attempt to find someone on WhatsApp, first make sure they already have an account and are actively using it. Otherwise, you may end up wasting your time trying to find an account that isn’t there.

Step 1. Launch WhatsApp

If you’re having trouble finding the app, just look for the green icon with the white phone inside it. Once you’ve found the icon, tap it to open. If this is your first time using WhatsApp, you’ll be asked to input a phone number. Simply enter your phone number into the bar provided and you’ll receive a text message with an activation code inside. Enter this activation code in the space provided and you’ll be ready to start using WhatsApp.

Step 2. Open A New Chat

Once you’ve gained access to your WhatsApp account, look towards the top right corner of the screen and you’ll see the new chat button. Click on this button and you’ll be taken to a new page with two options. The first will instruct you to enter the phone number of the person you’d like to chat with. The second allows you to scroll through your contact list to find that person instead.

Here’s a good tip for those of you who want to go with the second option. Once you sync your phone’s contact list with WhatsApp, you’ll notice some of your contacts have profile pictures. You can use this an indicator to see whether or not a specific person in your contacts list has a registered account with WhatsApp. Be aware that you must give WhatsApp permission to access your phone’s contacts if you choose the second option. So, if you don’t want WhatsApp to have permission to view your contact list, you should go with the first option instead.

Step 3. Send A Message

After you’ve selected a contact, you’ll be brought to a new screen where you can begin typing out your first message. Before you do that though, take a look at the top left corner of the screen. In this location, you should see one of two things. Either the name of the contact you’re messaging, or both their name and profile picture. If you see both a name and profile picture, you can be sure that this individual does have an account with WhatsApp. On the other hand, if you don’t see a profile picture, then this person might not have an account.  Not to worry though, as you can easily send them an invite to join WhatsApp.

And that’s it! That’s all you have to do to find someone on WhatsApp. That being said, you will need either the person’s phone number or have their phone number stored in your contacts list in order for this process to work. That can be an issue if you only know the person’s name, or if they’ve gotten a new phone number recently. Luckily, you can use an online person search service to help find that person’s phone number. Simply enter their full name into the search bar and you’ll receive a full background check report on the person in minutes, including their phone number. Once you have that report, you’ll have all the information you need to find them on WhatsApp.

Now that you know the basics on how to find someone on WhatsApp, check out some of our more advanced guides like what is a WhatsApp spy app and how can you use one?