This approach works with WhatsApp Business app as well!
Change package name as sendIntent.setPackage("com.whatsapp.w4b"); for WhatsApp Business.
Great hack Rishabh, thanks a lot, I was looking for this solution since last 3 years.
As per the Rishabh Maurya's answer above, I have implemented this code which is working fine for both text and image sharing on WhatsApp.
Note that in both the cases it opens a whatsapp conversation (if toNumber exists in users whatsapp contact list), but user have to click send button to complete the action. That means it helps in skipping contact selection step.
For text messages
String toNumber = "+91 98765 43210"; // contains spaces.
toNumber = toNumber.replace("+", "").replace(" ", "");
Intent sendIntent = new Intent("android.intent.action.MAIN");
sendIntent.putExtra("jid", toNumber + "@s.whatsapp.net");
sendIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, message);
sendIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
sendIntent.setPackage("com.whatsapp");
sendIntent.setType("text/plain");
startActivity(sendIntent);
For sharing images
String toNumber = "+91 98765 43210"; // contains spaces.
toNumber = toNumber.replace("+", "").replace(" ", "");
Intent sendIntent = new Intent("android.intent.action.MAIN");
sendIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_STREAM, Uri.fromFile(imageFile));
sendIntent.putExtra("jid", toNumber + "@s.whatsapp.net");
sendIntent.putExtra(Intent.EXTRA_TEXT, message);
sendIntent.setAction(Intent.ACTION_SEND);
sendIntent.setPackage("com.whatsapp");
sendIntent.setType("image/png");
context.startActivity(sendIntent);
Enjoy WhatsApping!