How to Make a QR Code for WhatsApp

Make it (WhatsApp tab, 2 minutes)

A WhatsApp QR code is not a special format. It is just a link. Specifically it is https://wa.me/<countrycode><number>, and when someone scans it, their phone opens a WhatsApp chat pointed straight at that number. That is the whole trick.

Here is how to build one in the tool:

1. Open the WhatsApp tab. Go to QR Codes Made Easy and pick the WhatsApp input tab.
2. Choose your country from the dropdown.
3. Type your phone number (the local part, in a second I will tell you exactly how).
4. Add an optional message so the chat opens with your text already waiting.
5. Style it, then download or embed. Save a PNG up to 4000px or a true vector SVG, or hit "Copy code for your website" to grab a self-contained embed snippet.

That is the entire process. No sign-up, nothing uploaded off your device, and the finished code carries the wa.me link baked right into the pattern. Using a different messenger? The same trick works for other chat apps, and I have a matching Telegram version.

The number format that trips people up

This is where most WhatsApp codes go wrong, so read this part twice.

The number has to be in full international format, digits only. No plus sign. No leading zero. No spaces, no dashes, no brackets.

Take a UK mobile written the normal way as 07123 456789. On a WhatsApp link it becomes 447123456789. The 44 is the country code, the leading 0 gets dropped, and every space disappears.

The good news is you do not type the country code yourself. You pick your country from the dropdown and the tool adds the code for you, so you only enter the local number without the leading zero. Get it right once and you never think about it again.

Add a pre-filled message

You can pre-load the first message so the customer does not have to think of what to say. They scan, WhatsApp opens with your text already sitting in the box, and all they do is press send.

Type something like "Hi, I would like to book a table" or "Hi, I saw your flyer and want to order." It shows up in their chat ready to go. This is quietly the best part of a WhatsApp code, because the hardest moment for a customer is the blank message box. Fill it in for them and more people actually hit send.

Good fits: table bookings, takeaway orders, quote requests, and support questions. Keep the message short and specific to whatever you want them to do next.

Where to put it

A WhatsApp code earns its keep anywhere a person has a phone in hand and a question they would rather text than say out loud.

• Table tents and menus, for bookings or orders while they are sitting there.
• Windows and doors, so people can message you even when you are closed.
• Flyers, posters, and business cards.
• Packaging and delivery inserts, for support without a phone tree.
• Your website. The "Copy code for your website" button gives you a self-contained embed snippet you paste straight in. I wrote a fuller walkthrough on putting a QR code on your website if you want the details.

You do not need the WhatsApp Business app for any of this. It works with a normal personal WhatsApp account or WhatsApp Business, whichever one you already have on your phone.

Why it never expires

Here is the part that annoys me on your behalf. Plenty of vendors will sell you a "WhatsApp QR code" that routes through their server. You scan it, it hits their redirect, and then it forwards you on to WhatsApp. That works right up until the subscription lapses, and then the code printed on your menu points at nothing.

This tool does not do that. It encodes the wa.me link directly into the black and white pattern. There is no server in the middle, nothing to renew, and no company that has to stay in business for your code to keep working. Scan it in three years and it still opens the same chat. That is what static means, and it is the reason your code never expires.

FAQ