Add shortcuts to WhatsApp contacts

One of the things that I do miss on iOS is the ability to directly open WhatsApp in the contact I want to send a message to, something possible on other platforms. There is no shortcut from the contacts, there is no possibility to create a shortcut from the springboard. Or rather, it is not possible directly, but it is possible thanks to some existing applications in the App Store or in Cydia. Although there are some that include it among their options (Launch Center Pro), others do not do it completely, and others do not include it directly. We are going to explain a way to do it almost with any application that allows us to create shortcuts of any kind.

It is done thanks to applications that are compatible with "Custom URL schemes", that is, using a URL that tells iOS to open a certain application and also to do so directly to a certain contact. We are going to use Launcher for this example, an application that has already been removed from the App Store for creating widgets with shortcuts on the lock screen, but as I said it is compatible with any similar application.

The "Custom URL scheme" consists on the one hand of the order to open an application, which for WhatsApp is very simple, but then you have to add the contact:

whatsapp: // send? abid = xxx

Where "xxx" is the "abid" (address book ID) of the contact that we want to open directly. ¿How do we get that "abid"? It is not complicated, we only need an application to access the files of our iPhone, and it is not necessary to jailbreak. We can use iFunBox, free and compatible with Windows and Mac, or DiskAid (which is the one I have used in the example). We connect our phone and access the path "User Applications / WhatsApp / Documents" and copy the file "Contacts.sqlite" to our computer (in my example to the desktop).

If you are a user of Windows you will need an application to be able to extract the contacts from that file, you can use SQLite Data Browser which is free. Access the "Browse Data" tab and select "ZWCHATSESSION" from the drop-down menu, the list of our contacts and their "abid" will appear.

If you are a user of Mac You don't need any external application, just use Terminal by typing the following commands (hit Enter after each command):

cd ~ / Desktop

sqlite3 Contacts.sqlite

.headers on

.Fashion csv

.output whatsapp_addressbook.csv

select ZFULLNAME, ZABUSERID from ZWACONTACT order by ZFULLNAME;