WhatsApp is the world’s most popular messaging app, used on smartphones and as well as on the web. Here we have compiled some of the known and unknown WhatsApp tips and tricks which will surely help the readers
With WhatsApp you can send a text message, photo, video, audio, and even documents like PDF, word, excel, or presentation file. New features are constantly being added as per WhatsApp beta version. In a sense, you can send anything as an attachment via WhatsApp. The only requirement is a stable data connection.
How to install
WhatsApp downloading is very easy. On your mobile, you can get from Playstore or AppStore. Just search and tap on it. On Android mobile phone you can even install by downloading WhatsApp apk. Apk is an installation file for Android mobile apps. You can download WhatsApp apk from any apk download website or from WhatsApp website.
Apk
Android package kit
Send a message.
- Tap on the green Chat icon on the right side of the screen.
- Select a contact from the list or find a contact from the search icon.
- Type message and tap the send button on the right.
- If you want to send any media file like photo, video or document, tap the pin icon and select file and tap the send button.
- You can send animated stickers instead of emojis. There are many sticker packs available when you select stickers from emoji menu on the left side of the text box. There are three options available, emojis, GIF and stickers.
- If you want to send a photo or video quickly, just tap on that camera icon. Take a photo or video and just send to a contact where you want.
- How to share photos in WhatsApp, without loss of Quality
WhatsApp calling
This app is not limited to only sending messages. We can make an audio call or video call too with a group of people. To make an audio or video call, select a contact and Tap on the video camera icon or Telephone icon.
Remember, for WhatsApp group video call, maximum participant size is 8 person.
Also Read: Best free video calling apps
Interface
When you open WhatsApp on your phone, you will see three tabs on the screen.
- First is “CHATS” where you will see all your messages and groups.
- Second is “STATUS” where you will see WhatsApp statuses of all your contacts who use WhatsApp.
To post a status, tap on the Pen icon and type your status message. To add picture or video as a status tap on the camera icon on the right lower corner. If you want to upload video as a status, the maximum duration of a video clip is 30 seconds.
Remember a “Status” remains for 24 Hours. After that, it gets deleted.
- The third TAB is “CALLS” where you will find the history of all your calls made using WhatsApp.
Now we will see special features of WhatsApp which are extremely useful to a user.
Voice message
If you are in a hurry and do not want to waste your time typing a message, you can send a voice message.
Tap and hold the microphone icon to record the voice message and release the microphone icon to send it automatically.
Make message text bold, italic or strikethrough
Bold
To make a word or paragraph Bold, add asterisk * on start and at the end.
Bold > *Bold* > Bold
Italic
To make a word or paragraph italic, add underscore _ on start and at the end.
italic > _italic_ > italic
Strikethrough
To make a word or paragraph in strikethrough, add tilde ~ on start and at the end.
strikethrough > ~strikethrough~ > strikethrough
Send your location
Imagine you are somewhere in a market or at a place and you want to share your current location to others. Even if you are in trouble, sending your location to the relative or friends can save you from an unwanted incident.
This is very useful to summon someone to your exact position.
You can share Live Location or your current location.
“Live Location” is a tracking location where a user’s live location is continuously shared as per the scheduled time interval like 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours.
When you send “Send your current location” your current location is sent once.
How to protect yourself online
Android: CHATS > Specific chat > Tap on the paperclip to the right of the message box > Location > Share Live Location > Select time period.
iPhone: hat > Specific chat > Tap on “+” to the left of the message box > Location > Share Live Location > Select time frame.
To send you the exact location once, select “Send your current location.”
Find message read info
If you want to know when your sent message got delivered and when it was read, follow this step.
Select your message. An “i” icon appears on the top bar, if not tap on the three-dot menu. Upon tapping on “i” or “Info” you will find a message delivered and read time.
Message Ticks ✓✓
When you send a message and if it is sent, WhatsApp shows one ✓. If a message is received by the recipient then ✓✓ is displayed with a message. If your message is read by the recipient, then two blue ✓✓ appeared in messages. You can turn this off by the following method.
Android: Open Settings > Account > Privacy > Read receipts
Uncheck it.
iPhone: Settings > Account > Privacy > Toggle off Read Receipts
Remember in group messages read receipts are always shown.
One thing should be kept in mind that once you turn ticks off, you can not see others message status or read receipts.
If a message is read from Notifications or by Siri (in iPhone users) the blue ticks won’t appear. This is a hack to read a message without the sender knowing you have!
Turn off last seen
When a user is online his/her online presence is seen under his name. If a user is not online then the time, when he/she was last online, is shown under the name in chat. This is called “Last Seen.” If you do not want to let others know about your online status you can disable it as shown below.
Open Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen > Switch to Nobody.
If you enable “Switch to Nobody” you can not see others online status too.
Hide your profile picture
If you want to hide your profile picture follow this step.
Open Settings > Account > Privacy > Profile Photo
In this, a menu will pop up with three options, Everyone, My contacts, Nobody.
- “Everyone” = everyone can see your profile picture.
- “My contacts” = your contacts can see your profile picture.
- “Nobody” = no one can see your profile picture.
Hide WhatsApp in your Gallery
If you want to hide photos & videos from appearing in Gallery, follow this.
Android: Open Settings > Chats > Chat settings > uncheck Media visibility.
Your Photo or Videos from WhatsApp will not appear in your Gallery.
iPhone: Settings > Chats > Toggle off Save to Camera Roll.
Block a contact
If you want to block someone from sending a message to you or calling you on WhatsApp, follow this.
If some unknown person has sent a message and you want to block that person, open that message and scroll down. There you will find three options: Report, Block and “Add to contacts.” Select Block.
If the message sender is from contact, open that message. Tap on the three-dot menu on the upper left corner. Select “Block” from “More.”
Pin important chat
We receive many messages every day. Some important messages like messages from the office or family members may end at the bottom as newer messages are shown on top. To avoid this you can pin some contact or even a group on top. Every time you open WhatsApp you always see those pinned contacts or groups on top.
Android: Long press chat > Press the pin at the top of the screen
iOS: Chats > Swipe left to right > Pin Chat.
Remember, you can only pin up to 3 chats.
Search messages
If you want to search a specific word like name number or anything just tap on the search icon (search bar in iPhone) on top.
This saves your specious time as you do not need to scroll through all your chats just to find a word or reference.
Moreover, just like above, you can search for a specific chat or group. All you have to do is to select a particular chat or group.
Android: Chats > Specific chat > Open the menu top right > Search > Type in the search bar that appears at the top of that specific chat.
iPhone: Chats > Specific chat > Tap on contact info at the top > Chat Search > Type in the search bar.
Reply to a specific message
If you want to reply to a specific message from a chat or group message, select that message by long pressing on that message. Upon this, you will see options for that message. From there tap on `↶` and send a reply to that particular message.
On the iPhone, this is a little different. You will have to swipe left on that message to reply to that particular message.
Reply to a group message privately
If you want to reply to a group member in a message sent in a group so that others can not see.
To do this select a message by long-pressing it. Now tap on the three-button menu on the upper left corner and select “Reply privately.” This will open chat with that person privately so that others can not see your conversation.
Mute chat or group
We receive so many messages daily and our mobile phone alerts us with every new message. You can mute chats or groups so that only an important message alerts you.
Android: Chats > Open chat > Menu button > Mute notifications
In another way, select a chat. On the upper bar, you will find a speaker icon. Tap on that bar and you will find mute options such as 8 hours, 1 week, 1 year. Select as you desired. You can even enable disable notifications from the same options menu.
iOS: Chats > Open a chat > Tap the subject to get the Group Info / Contact Info screen > Mute > Select how long you want to mute it for.
Delete or clear a specific chat
Follow this step to clear or delete messages inside a specific chat.
Android: Open a chat > Tap the menu top right > More > Clear Chat
iPhone: Chats > Specific chat > Swipe right to left > Tap the three dots > Clear Chat / Delete Chat.
Delete a sent message
If you have or mistakenly sent a message and you want to delete that message, you can do that. Just select that message and tap on the delete icon on the top bar. A menu pops up with three options. First Delete for me, Second Cancel, and the third option Delete for everyone. Select the third option, and your sent message gets deleted from the recipient’s screen. This option is only available for 1 hour and 8 minutes and 16 seconds from the time of message sent.
Mark a messages
You can Star a message to differentiate among all the messages. Just hold down that message and on the top bar, a symbol of the star appears. Select it, your message is starred.
Mark messages unread
You may receive a message and you open immediately. But without completely reading it, you close WhatsApp and start doing some other work. It may happen that something you miss some important messages to reply, as once you have opened messages they are considered read. To avoid this you can mark some conversation as unread so that later when you get some time you can reread and reply to those messages. So to mark messages unread there is an option.
On Android: Long press chat > Open Menu > Mark as Unread
On iPhone: Chats > Swipe left to right > Mark as Unread.
Once you mark messages as unread a green dot will appear against that chat.
Send a broadcast message
If you want to send a message to many people at once, send a broadcast message. This saves a lot of time. This is useful, particularly when sending a greetings message to many people.
Android: Chats > Menu > New Broadcast.
iPhone: Chats > Broadcast Lists > New List > Add contacts.
You can send a message to a maximum of 256 people at once.
Create a shortcut for a contact or group
If you want to create a shortcut on your mobile screen for a particular contact or group follow this.
Android: Specific chat > Menu > More > Add Shortcut or Press and hold individual chat > Menu > Add Chat Shortcut.
Archive messages
When you archive a chat, all the messages from that chat are hidden. This will help you to save some important messages.
Android: Chats > Long press on chat > Press the archive folder at the top right of the screen
When you want to unArchive a chat, just scroll down. There you will find an archive link. Upon tap, a list of archive chats appear. If you long-press a chat a unarchive button will appear on the top right side.
iPhone: Chats > Specific chat > Swipe right to left > Archive / Settings > Chats > Archive All Chats.
Backup WhatsApp messages
Backup is very essential. If your device gets stolen or damaged, you can restore all your messages from backup. Chat backups are saved in either Google Drive or iCloud.
Open Settings > Chats > Chat Backup > Back Up Now.
Whatsapp provides backup interval options as Daily, Weekly, Monthly and even manual backup.
Save data
To save on a Data plan we can set when media to auto download or not. People blindly forward messages that are already sent. This uses our Data a lot and also reduces the battery of our mobile phone. Therefore set media to download when you click on them. This can be enabled as shown below.
Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Media Auto-Download
There are three option
When using mobile data, When connected on Wi-Fi and When roaming.
Each option has checkboxes i.e. Photos, Audio, Videos, & Documents.
When on mobile data uncheck all options so that when a message arrives no media get auto-downloaded.
Find out who you contacted most
You can find out whom you sent the most messages or know about the number of photos, videos sent, there is an option.
Open Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Storage Usage > Select Contact.
Here you can find out about storage used by particular chats, group or contact.
Also to find about Data usage i.e. how much data you used and to find the total number of send and received messages follow steps given below.
Open Settings > Account > Data Usage > Network Usage
Wallpaper for chat
WhatsApp has an option to set any image as Wallpaper which will display on chat background.
Android: Open Settings > Chats > Chat Wallpaper > Choose Wallpaper Library, Solid Colours, Gallery, Default or No Wallpaper.
iPhone: Open Settings > Chats > Chat Wallpaper > Choose Wallpaper Library, Solid Colours or Photos.
Send WhatsApp QR code
When you want to give your WhatsApp contact to someone, you can share with QR codes. This is very convenient and way to share contact.
When you open setting, you find a QR code sign to the right side of profile pic. When you tap on that sign a new menu will open with a QR code of your contact details in My code tab.
Similarly when you want to add a contact, just tap on Scan code tab. A scan window will open to scan a QR code which will easily add a contact.
Send or receive money on WhatsApp
Recently WhatsApp introduced payments via its app. This is based on Facebook Pay. Setting up WhatsApp Payment feature is very easy.
Tap on the three-dotted menu on the upper right corner of App. Then tap on “Payments” and add a payment method. Depending on the country of the user, various payment options like UPI, credit card, etc. are shown.
For example, I am setting up UPI as a payment method.
- Select your bank.
- A verification SMS will be sent to verify your account with the registered mobile number.
- Then the automated process will finalize setting.
- Tap on Done.
- Now you will find your newly setup UPI id for WhatsApp payment on the upper side of the menu.
Now whenever, you want to send money tap on “New Payment” select contact whom you want to send money. If receiving contact have setup WhatsApp Pay in his/her app, then the process will initiate.
Always remember, you have to take the utmost care while online transactions. Security PIN is required only for sending money. For receiving the money you do not have to enter a PIN.
Also Read: How to protect yourself online
Open WhatsApp with Fingerprint of FaceID
If you prefer to open your WhatsApp with a fingerprint or Face ID, follow this.
Android: Open Settings > Account > Privacy > Fingerprint lock > Unlock with fingerprint
When this is enabled, you’ll need to use a fingerprint to open WhatsApp. Although you can answer WhatsApp calls and see messages on notifications of your mobile phone.
iPhone: Settings > Account > Privacy > Screen Lock > Toggle on Require Face ID / Require Touch ID > Select the time duration (Immediately, after a minute, after 15 minutes or after an hour).
Customise notifications
You can set a custom notification tone or alert for a contact when they call or message you. You can set a custom notification alert to the group also.
Select specific chat > Tap on contact name at top > Custom Notifications.
Using WhatsApp online and on PC
You can use WhatsApp for web in the browser. To do this open web.whatsapp.com on your browser on PC or Mac. This will open a page displaying a WhatsApp QR code.
Now on your mobile phone open > Settings > WhatsApp Web and scan QR code appearing on your web browser. This will open exactly the same WhatsApp for website in the browser in laptop.
A desktop app is also available for Mac or for using WhatsApp on PC and the WhatsApp login process is the same as web WhatsApp.
When you are using WhatsApp on your browser or your PC or Mac, your phone will need to be connected. Otherwise, this will not work.
At last
WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app. There are many apps that are available free just as WhatsApp, but nothing is as popular as WhatsApp.
This app is owned by Facebook Inc. Facebook owns Messanger and yet it has not gathered more audience.
If we believe some tech sources Facebook is considering merging its own Messenger app with WhatsApp.
This app is very easy, yet I believe that users will benefit from the above-mentioned tips and tricks. This will surely make them breeze past some common task.
WhatsApp Beta
One more thing, WhatsApp is continuously updated and evolving in terms of features. To know more try searching about WhatsApp’s Beta. Therefore, some new feature may be added in future. And if you want to know more about that, just let me know in comments.
Take care.