Credit: Dhruv Bhutani / Android Authority
If you want to talk to a new contact on WhatsApp, you will need their phone number. There’s no other way around it. WhatsApp doesn’t have a central online directory of usernames as Skype does. You can’t search for a complete stranger in your WhatsApp app. You need to already have their phone number to start a conversation (and even then, they may not even be WhatsApp users.)
So, assuming you have their phone number, how do you start a new conversation with them? Or how can you persuade someone to give you their number and/or become a new WhatsApp user?