Create shortcuts for important WhatsApp contacts

Martin Brinkmann
Feb 4, 2014
Apps, Google Android
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3

If you are using WhatsApp to chat with lots of people and groups, you may have some contacts or groups that you are especially interested in.

While it is possible to access the latest messages the normal way, you can also speed things up a little by creating contact shortcuts on your Android device.

The main advantage here is that you can open those contacts directly without having to start WhatsApp first before you can do so. That's especially useful if you have lots of contacts and groups listed on WhatsApp's start page, as it may take some time to find the right contact to browse the most recent messages or write new ones.

So how is this done?

It is actually very simple. The first thing you need to do is start the WhatsApp application on your Android device.

Note: I can only test this on Android, it may work on other operating systems as well, but I was not able to test this.

Once WhatsApp has been opened, you should see the list of contacts and groups. All you need to do now is long-tap on the contact that you want to create a shortcut for.

whatsapp conversation shortcuts

A context menu is displayed on the screen after a short period of time that you can use to create a new conversation shortcut.

When you select the "add conversation shortcut" option from the menu, a shortcut is added to Android that you can use to load that contact directly in WhatsApp.

The icon displays the image of the contact or group, so that it can be easily identified.

Shortcuts can also be created in a different way. Instead of long-tapping on contacts or groups, you open the conversation view instead first.

Tap on the menu button of your device and select more from the menu that opens up. Here you can now select the "add shortcut" option from the menu to add a shortcut to your home screen.

Shortcuts may speed things up for you, at least a little bit. While this is usually not something that moderate WhatsApp users may want to do, it may help users who write a lot of messages throughout the day to a small group of contacts.

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Comments

  1. bruh said on August 18, 2023 at 1:25 pm
    Reply

    Uhh, this has already been possible – I am not sure how but remember my brother telling me about it. I’m not a whatsapp user so not sure of the specifics, but something about sending the image as a file and somehow bypassing the default compression settings that are applied to inbound photos.

    He has also used this to share movies to whatsapp groups, and files 1Gb+.

    Like I said, I never used whatsapp, but I know 100% this isn’t a “brand new feature”, my brother literally showed me him doing it, like… 5 months ago?

  2. 💥 said on August 18, 2023 at 3:55 pm
    Reply

    Martin, what happened to those: 12 Comments (https://www.ghacks.net/chatgpt-gets-schooled-by-princeton-university/#comments). Is there a specific justifiable reason why they were deleted?

    Hmm, it looks like the gHacks website database is faulty, and not populating threads with their relevant cosponsoring posts.

  3. 45 RPM said on August 19, 2023 at 6:29 pm
    Reply

    The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk that it’s about to be deleted from my ‘daily reads’.

    It’s really like “Press Release as re-written by some d*ck for clicks…poorly.” And the subjects are laughable. Can’t wait for “How to search for files on Windows”.

    1. owl said on August 20, 2023 at 12:51 am
      Reply

      > The page on ghacks this is on represents the best of why it has become so worthless, fill of click-bait junk…

      Sadly, I have to agree.

      Only Martin and Ashwin are worth subscribing to.
      Especially Emre Çitak and Shaun are the worst ones.

      If ghacks.net intended “Clickbait”, it would mark the end of Ghacks Technology News.
      Ghacks doesn’t need crappy clickbaits. Clearly separate articles from newer authors (perhaps AIs and external sales person or external advertising man) as just “Advertisements”!

      We, the subscribers of Ghacks, urge Martin to make a decision.

  4. chessandonions said on August 20, 2023 at 12:40 am
    Reply

    because nevermore wants to “monetize” on every aspect of human life…

  5. Frank Rizzo said on August 20, 2023 at 11:52 pm
    Reply

    “Threads” is like the Walmart of Social Media.

  6. Ashray said on August 21, 2023 at 4:06 pm
    Reply

    How hard can it be to clone a twitter version of that as well? They’re slow.

  7. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:16 pm
    Reply

    Yes, why not mention how large the HD files can be?
    Why, not mention what version of WhatsApp is needed?
    These omissions make the article feel so bare. If not complete.

    1. Paul(us) said on August 21, 2023 at 5:18 pm
      Reply

      Sorry posted on the wrong page.

  8. Marc said on August 21, 2023 at 6:00 pm
    Reply

    such a long article for such a simple matter. Worthless article ! waste of time

  9. plusminus_ said on August 21, 2023 at 7:54 pm
    Reply

    I already do this by attaching them via the ‘Document’ option.

  10. John G. said on August 21, 2023 at 11:43 pm
    Reply

    I don’t know what’s going on here at Ghacks but it’s obvious that something is broken, comments are being mixed whatever the article, I am unable to find some of my later posts neither. :S

  11. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:28 pm
    Reply

    Quoting the article,
    “As users gain popularity, the value of their tokens may increase, allowing investors to reap rewards.”

    Besides, beyond the thrill and privacy risks or not, the point is to know how you gain popularity, be it on social sites as everywhere in life. Is it by being authentic, by remaining faithful to ourselves or is it to have this particular skill which is to understand what a majority likes, just like politicians, those who’d deny to the maximum extent compatible with their ideological partnership, in order to grab as many of the voters they can?

    I see the very concept of this Friend.tech as unhealthy, propagating what is already an increasing flaw : the quest for fame. I won’t be the only one to count himself out, definitely.

    1. Tom Hawack said on August 23, 2023 at 2:34 pm
      Reply

      @John G. is right : my comment was posted on [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/08/23/what-is-friend-tech/] and it appears there but as well here at [https://www.ghacks.net/2023/07/08/how-to-follow-everyone-on-threads/]

      This has been lasting for several days. Fix it or at least provide some explanations if you don’t mind.

  12. Tom said on August 24, 2023 at 11:53 am
    Reply

    > Google Chrome is following in Safari’s footsteps by introducing a new feature that allows users to move the Chrome address bar to the bottom of the screen, enhancing user accessibility and interaction.

    Firefox did this long before Safari.

  13. Mavoy said on September 16, 2023 at 2:17 pm
    Reply

    Basically they’ll do anything except fair royalties.

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