With over a billion WhatsApp users worldwide. the instant messaging service has many secret tips you probably don’t know about.
From disabling its ‘last seen’ feature to bookmarking messages you don’t want to forget about, there are loads of tricks to make your favourite messenger app more useful than ever. You just have to be in the know.
Fortunately for you? we’ve researched every inch of WhatsApp to gather up its most useful features. Read these top tips and you’ll be a whatsapp pro in no time at all.
1. Keep your messages marked as unread()
We know how it is. You’re busy, your phone buzzes, and you glance through the message briefly.
Clearly, you’ve not got time to respond immediately. But at the same time, you don’t want the sender to realise that you’ve already looked at the message, lest they think you’re ignoring them when you fail to reply for two more hours. That’s the privilege the blue ticks take away.
Recently though, the chat app has realised the error of its ways and silently come up with a workaround. The liberty of message-mulling is ours again.
How: In the Settings menu, go to Account, then Privacy and turn off Read Receipts. The only snag is you’ll no longer get them for other people either.
2. The typewriter font:
Most of you already know about the bold, italics and strike-through fonts that are easily accessible with a couple of commands on your chats but the typewriter font is one hard to find feature. It needs a little more effort but it is worth it if you like the font and get everyone on your chat list curious about your new find.
To change the font of your WhatsApp messages, use the ` symbol three times either side of the word. For example, “`Hello“`. The symbol should not be mistaken with ‘ and it is available on both Android and iOS keyboards.
3. No profile picture
Keep your audience in awe with an air of mystique. WhatsApp profile pics set to private.
How: Head to Settings > Privacy > Profile Photo > Nobody.
4. Mute chat notifications
WhatsApp groups with more than 50 participants, can sometimes get pretty busy. Prevent yourself from being woken up by incessant messages by muting particular groups or chats.
How: Tap on the group chat of your choice, then the name to bring up Group Info where you will find the option to Mute the chat for either eight hours, one week or a year. Although if you’re choosing the latter, you might as well leave altogether.
5. Create shortcut to chat on home screen
If you’re on Android you can create shortcuts to popular chats and let them live on your homescreen: useful if there are certain people you chat to more often.
How: Tap and hold on the chat (group or individual) of your choice and a tab will pop up. Select the Add Conversation Shortcut option and the chat in question will appear as the person’s profile photo on your mobile desktop.
More…
If you’re trying to give directions to your mates on where to meet and getting nowhere, you can sling them a pin of your current location and get them to make their way to you using maps. If you’re not there yet, you can also send them a pin of where you’re heading to, or alternatively, share your ‘live location’ to let them track your movements en route.
This will broadcast your location to them for a choice of 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. Changed your mind about wanting your whereabouts known? You can end it whenever you want by clicking the “stop sharing” option in the chat.
How: On iOS, click the + icon to the left of the chat box, and choose Location. This will bring up all of your options for the above, though you will need to approve Whatsapp to know your location at all times if you want to use Live Location (it will prompt you to do this if you haven’t already). On Android ios, head to the Attach menu and choose Location in the same way – you’ll need to approve the app for similar location permissions here too.
0 Comments