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A customer saved my number from my contact QR but it does not work for them from outside Saudi Arabia. What went wrong?

The number was saved in local form. The tool writes the phone number into the contact card as you entered it, removing only spaces, dashes and brackets, so if you typed 0501234567 it was stored that way, and that form cannot be dialled from outside Saudi Arabia. Type it as +966 50 123 4567 and make a new code.

Published · 2 min read

The difference inside the card

This is what the tool stored as vCard 3.0 for a card in the name of Sara Alotaibi, once with the local number and once with the international one. The line that matters is the phone line:

TEL;TYPE=CELL:0501234567 TEL;TYPE=CELL:+966501234567

The first works while the customer is in Saudi Arabia on a Saudi SIM. A customer living in Dubai, or a visitor on a foreign SIM, will dial a number starting with zero inside their own country's network, and the call goes nowhere. The second carries the country code, so it works from anywhere. The size difference is only three bytes, 119 against 122, and the symbol is the same width, 45 modules.

Why the number also goes missing in WhatsApp

WhatsApp matches contacts by their international number. When a number is saved in local form on a phone set to another country, WhatsApp may not recognise it and your account will not show up in the customer's list. The international form usually fixes this along with the calling problem.

The fix, step by step

  1. Open the QR code generator and choose 'Contact'.
  2. In the phone field type +966 and then the number without its leading zero, such as +966 50 123 4567. Spaces are fine and will be removed.
  3. Check the TEL line in the stored-content box and make sure it starts with a +.
  4. Download the new code and replace the old one on your card or sticker.
  5. Ask past customers you still deal with to delete the old contact and scan the new code.

Note also that the tool rejects a number containing letters or words such as 'ext', and accepts 3 to 20 digits with an optional + at the start. Put an extension in the note field instead of the phone field.

Common questions

Should a 9200 unified number use the international form too?

Unified numbers are usually dialled from inside the country only, so write it as you advertise it, and add an international mobile number if you have customers abroad.

Does the tool add the country code automatically?

No. It keeps the number as you typed it, which is why you need to type +966 yourself.