Beckonbird Chat Button
Why the country code is needed
A national number, such as 12 34 56 78 or 020 7946 0958, is only meaningful inside its own country. In a link that anyone in the world can click, it would reach a stranger. So Beckonbird never guesses: a number written the national way, with a single 0 in front, is refused and the reason is written on the Settings page.
What is accepted
Anything that is clearly international: +45 12 34 56 78, 0045 1234 5678, +44 (0)20 7946 0958 and 0044 (0)20 7946 0958, where the bracketed zero is dropped, and a pasted wa.me or api.whatsapp.com link, or a tel:, sms: or viber:// link, from which the number is taken. A WhatsApp Business short link, wa.me/message/…, is kept as it is. The number must have 7 to 15 digits. Invisible marks that a phone adds when you copy a contact are removed first. An extension, as in +1 201-555-0123 ext. 45, is cut off, because a link can only dial the main number; you are told when that happens.
Build the link and see what the plugin saves
Pick a channel, paste a number, a name or an address, and see exactly what Beckonbird would save and which link it would draw. Nothing you type leaves this page.
The refusals and the warnings
- Starts with a 0: a national number. Add the country code.
- A 0 right after the country code:
+44 020 7946 0958is refused. In most countries that 0 is the prefix for calls inside the country and is not dialled from abroad; write+44 20 7946 0958. The plugin refuses it only for countries where it is sure: in Italy, for example, the 0 is part of the number and stays. - Not a number: a web address, a name or anything else with letters in it. A WhatsApp channel or group link has digits in it, but they are not a phone number, so it is refused.
- Plus needed: digits with spaces or dashes and no plus look like a national number, so it is refused rather than guessed.
- Length: fewer than 7 or more than 15 digits is not a phone number.
- Saved, but look again: plain digits with no plus at all are accepted, and flagged, because they might have no country code.
- Saved, but look again: a number cut at its extension, and a WhatsApp number in Argentina written without the 9 after the country code. WhatsApp reaches an Argentinian mobile only as
+54 9 11 …; the plugin saves what you typed and says so rather than guess.
What ends up on your site
The number is saved once, with its plus, and the link is built from it when the page is drawn, with your message after ?text= if you wrote one. The message guide covers that part.