Find any contact from the inbox search
The inbox search now reaches your whole contact book and the words inside your messages, not just the chats on screen — and a pasted phone number finds its chat however it is formatted.
Released 6 October 2026
Looking for someone you haven't chatted with lately? The inbox search can now look through your whole contact book, and open their chat in one click.
What's new
- Chats, Contacts or Messages. Start typing in the inbox search and three chips appear under it. Chats filters the chats already in your list, instantly. Contacts searches every contact you have, including people you have never messaged. Click one to open their chat, or an empty chat ready for your first message.
- Find a chat by what was said. Pick Messages to search the words inside your messages from the last 30 days, on every channel in your inbox. Each result shows who it was with, when, and a short excerpt with your words highlighted. Click it to open the chat.
- No more "no conversations yet" by mistake. When a search or filter finds nothing, the inbox now says so plainly and offers to search all contacts, load more chats, or clear your filters.
- Paste a number any way you like.
+91 98765-43210,98765 43210or(98765) 43210all find the same chat. - "Load more" behaves. Newly loaded chats stay put, and the button no longer gets stuck on "Loading…" while you search.
Worth knowing
- Message search looks back 30 days. It needs at least three characters, and searches text, captions, file names, email subjects and button replies. A very broad search may stop early and ask for a more specific phrase.
- Masked numbers stay masked. If your role hides customer numbers, you can still find a chat by typing the complete number, but never by part of it.
- Contacts search needs permission to view contacts. Without it, the Contacts chip isn't shown.