Fix · Pages, phones and Arabic

The WhatsApp button does not open the right chat

Kuwait and Gulf

What you may see

The WhatsApp link shows an error or an empty chat
The number has a plus or zeros

Most likely cause

The link needs the number in international form with digits only (country code first, no plus, no leading zeros, no spaces).

Check first (about two minutes)

Open the link on a phone with WhatsApp installed: what happens?

The fix prompt

What you type here never leaves your browser. The search runs on this page, and nothing is sent to a server or to an AI.

The exact error or what you see

What you did before it happened

Kept only in this browser, on this device. Keys and passwords are removed before anything is saved.

Prompt language

You are a senior front-end engineer who knows HTML, CSS, React, phones and Arabic right-to-left pages, and explains things to people who are not developers. I am not a developer, so explain every step in plain words and tell me exactly which button, menu or command you mean. If you are not sure about something, say so; do not guess.

I am in Kuwait. If the service has a Kuwait or Gulf rule or option that matters here (for example KNET, Arabic right-to-left text or local time), take it into account.

THE PROBLEM
The WhatsApp button does not open the right chat

THE EXACT ERROR OR WHAT I SEE
[paste the exact error here]

WHAT I DID BEFORE IT HAPPENED
[write in a few words what you did before it happened]

MOST LIKELY CAUSE
The link needs the number in international form with digits only (country code first, no plus, no leading zeros, no spaces).

DO THESE STEPS, IN THIS ORDER
1. Build the link as https://wa.me/<digits only> with the country code, for example 965 followed by the local number (use the owner's real number from settings; never invent a number).
2. Encode any prefilled message with URL encoding, including Arabic text.
3. Keep the number in one place (settings), and show a visible phone number as plain text next to the button for people without WhatsApp.
Stop and tell me if what you see does not match a step. Do not skip ahead.

CHECK THAT IT WORKED
- The link opens a chat with the right number on iPhone and Android, with the Arabic message intact.
Tell me exactly what I should see on the screen when it works.

DO NOT CHANGE
- Do not put a demo or invented phone number in a real site.
- Anything I did not ask about: the design, the text, other pages, other settings or the data.
- Do not delete files, data or branches, do not reset or force-push, and do not rewrite history, unless you first show me exactly what would be lost and I say yes.
- Do not paste, print or ask me to paste a password or secret key into this chat. If one is needed, tell me which settings page of the right service to store it in.

WHEN YOU FINISH
Explain in simple words what you changed (file by file or setting by setting), why you changed it, and how I can undo it.

Paste it into Claude, ChatGPT, Gemini or Cursor, then follow what it says.

After you tried it, did it work?

Steps

Build the link as https://wa.me/<digits only> with the country code, for example 965 followed by the local number (use the owner's real number from settings; never invent a number).
Encode any prefilled message with URL encoding, including Arabic text.
Keep the number in one place (settings), and show a visible phone number as plain text next to the button for people without WhatsApp.

Do not do this

Do not write the number with +, spaces or dashes in the link.
Do not put a demo or invented phone number in a real site.

Try another entry