WhatsApp tips and tricks: Amazing features you never knew about
There’s always a bit of a learning curve when it comes to mastering fresh apps and WhatsApp is no different. It’s wickedly popular (it recently hit a billion users) and enormously effortless to get began using right away, but the messenger does have a few quirks that aren’t instantly visible at very first. There are also a few hidden features that aren’t the simplest to enable.
If you have some patience and the preparedness to tinker however, we’re sure that anybody can figure out WhatsApp in no time but we thought we’d make it a little lighter.
We’ve gone over everything you could possibly want to know about WhatsApp, from how exactly the app works to tips and tricks every user should keep at their disposition.
What is WhatsApp and how does it work?
WhatsApp is an instant messaging app that Facebook acquired in 2014. You’d typically use the app to send things like text messages, photos, movie, audio messages – or even to place a Wi-Fi call to a friend.
It’s recently taken the crown for the world’s most popular messaging app after hitting one billion active users, treating a whopping forty two billion messages a day and two hundred fifty million movies.
Setup
The very first thing you need to know is that WhatsApp has no adverts and it is now entirely free after a latest scrap of the £0.79 yearly subscription charge. The app is available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices.
Once installed, you’ll be asked to come in your mobile phone number. WhatsApp needs your actual number because it routes files and messages inbetween you and your contacts similar to how an SMS system would.
Navigation
WhatsApp has a menu bar that runs along the bottom of all the screens within the app. It has the following five tabs: Favourites, Recents, Contacts, Talks, and Settings. Tap on any tab in order to access a fresh screen and its related features and settings.
The Favourites screen should pre-load any of your phone contacts who have installed WhatsApp, but you can tap the "+" symbol in the upper right-hand corner to add more contacts. Alternatively, you can tap "Edit" in the left corner to begin deleting contacts from Favourites.
The Recents tab displays all your placed and missed WhatsApp calls, as well as permit you to clear them. The next tab on the menu bar is for Contacts, and it’s where you should go to browse through your phone contacts and maybe invite them to join WhatsApp.
The fourth tab is for Talks. This is a running log of all your active messages. Tap the draft symbol in the upper right-hand corner to commence a fresh talk with a single friend, or you can tap "Fresh Group" to begin a group talk with up to one hundred people at once. Every group has one or more admins.
You might also notice a feature called Broadcast Lists under Talks. Broadcasting messaging lets you send a message to many people at once, without exposing the recipients. It’s kinda like bcc (blind carbon copy) from email, and each recipient can react to you individually.
The capability to create Broadcast Lists enables you to preserve a saved list of contacts to whom you send Broadcast Messages. To send a Broadcast Message to a specific contact, that person must have your phone number saved in their address book.
The fifth and final tab is Settings. Under this screen, you’ll find privacy options, ways to switch your notification alerts, network usage stats, a contraption for archiving talks, and a place to connect your Facebook account, among many other things.
Messaging
While in a talk window with a friend or group, you can send anything from photos to audio files. Tap in the text field at the bottom of the talk to bring up a keyboard and come in a message, or tap the arrow symbol on the left for more options.
The arrow should bring up options to take a photo/movie or send one from your library, as well as share a location or a contact. You can also send or take a photo by tapping the camera symbol found on the right side of the text field in talk.
There is also a mic symbol on the right side of the text field that you can tap in order to record and send an audio message.
Wi-Fi Calling
Eventually, in the top right-hand corner of any talk window, you’ll see a dialer symbol. Simply click it to phone the contact you’re talking with, or don’t. WhatsApp Calling uses your phone’s internet connection rather than your cellular plan’s voice minutes (so data charges may apply).
WhatsApp tips and tricks
There are of course slew of tips and tricks on WhatsApp that are undoubtedly worth checking out. Whether it is simply deleting a talk, which is not as evident as you might think, to stopping the ticks turning blue even if you’ve read a message, here are a few WhatsApp tips and tricks worth checking out.
Use WhatsApp on the web
WhatsApp isn’t limited to your mobile phone. There’s a web app that syncs everything from your phone. If you have the Chrome browser installed on your computer, go to the WhatsApp Web page, scan the QR code, and go after the instructions for your phone.
It’ll serve up talks and alerts on your computer, permitting you to reply quickly and lightly. Your phone will need to be connected for it to work however so if you lose your connection, the web app will stop syncing until you get your phone connection back.
Use WhatsApp on your desktop
Along with WhatsApp Web, there is also a desktop app for Windows eight and above users and Mac OS X Ten.9 and above. You can download it from whatsapp.com/download/ and again, it will mirror your smartphone like the web platform does.
You’ll need to scan the QR code again but after that, you’ll get all your talks and conversations on your computer screen, making it nice and ordinary to reply. For more information on the WhatsApp desktop app, you can read our separate feature.
Protect your talks with a passcode
WhatsApp doesn’t let you protect talks from snoopers, but third-party apps on Android will let you enable a password or PIN.
Attempt Messenger and Talk Block, AppLock, or Clever AppLock if you are an Android user. On Windows Phone, there’s WhatsApp Locker, and on BlackBerry, you can attempt Lock for Whats Messenger.
Hide timestamps, read receipts, and more
When you look at a talk window or even a contact within WhatsApp, you’ll often see a "Last Seen" timestamp under his or her name. It’s a handy little indicator for when the contact last checked WhatsApp. If you don’t want people to see when exactly you’re using WhatsApp, you can hide your Last Seen timestamp. Just go to Settings, then Account, and Privacy.
Be sure to toggle Last Seen to "Nobody", but doing so will also prevent you from being able to see everybody’s last seen time. Under this section, you will also see that you can hide your profile photo, status, and read receipts. You can even manage your list of blocked contacts.
Trick of the blue ticks
If you want to keep read receipts on but stop the someone eyeing when you have actually read a message, there is a trick for that too. Before you open the specific message, put your smartphone into airplane mode. Open the message when airplane mode is still on and then come out of it and turn it off.
The ticks shouldn’t turn blue so the sender won’t know you’ve read it.
Archive your talks
Archive Talk permits you to hide a conversation from your Talks screen. It does not delete the talk nor does it back up the talk to your SD card. It simply organises your conversations. You can archive groups or individual talks, and they will vanish until you pull down from the top of the Talks display and tap the Archived Talks tab.
To archive all talks, go to Settings, then scroll down, and select Archive All Talks. You can also clear all talks from this same section.
Determine when your sent message was read
Check marks emerge next to each message you send. One grey check mark indicates to you that the message was successfully sent to the recipient, while two grey check marks indicate when the message was successfully delivered to the recipient’s phone. Two blue check marks alerts you when the recipient has read your message.
You can find out a little extra detail about your sent messages too however. Just tap and hold on the message, and then tap the Info option in order to get message details like the precise time it was delivered and read. In iOS, you can also just tap and haul the message to the left.
Stop incoming media from automatically saving
By default, for whatever reason, WhatsApp automatically saves pics and movies from recipients to the Camera Roll on iOS devices or in Gallery or Photos app on Android. You can stop this on iOS by going to Settings and then Talk Settings. From there, toggle off "Saving Incoming Media".
Mute group notifications
Group conversations can be the worst. You might not be able to leave the conversation, but you can mute notifications so you aren’t awakened every time someone throws in their two cents. If you’re using an iPhone, just open the group talk, tap the subject to get the Group Info screen, and then tap Mute. In Android, open the talk, then tap the Menu button, and tap Mute.
You can specify a time period or turn off notifications permanently.
Find particular messages lighter
Some messages are more titillating or more significant than others. Rather than having to scroll back through the entire talk tho’, you can starlet a message. To do this, hold the message that you want to starlet until the options come up and then tap on the starlet. Each message you starlet can then be found in the Starred Messages tab in Settings.
Find out who you talk to the most
If you want to know who you send the most messages to, or which contact is using up a chunk of storage, head to Settings then Account and then Storage Usage. You might be astonished how many messages you send to certain people.
Find out how much data you’re using
If you’re worried about your data usage, you can find out exactly how much you are using by heading to Settings, Account, Data Usage and then Network Usage. You’ll get a breakdown of total number of sent and received messages, as well as data sent and received.
Backup your talks
When you switch to a fresh phone, you can take your WhatsApp talk history with you. Just go to Settings within the iPhone app, then tap Talk Settings, and select Talk Backup. From there, back up the talk now or turn on Auto Backup to iCloud. You can restore your talks when you reinstall WhatsApp on the fresh phone.
If you use a microSD card with an Android, go to Menu, then Settings, and Talk Settings. From there, select Backup conversations, and then be sure to stir the microSD card over to the fresh phone. You’ll also need to reinstall WhatsApp and Restore when prompted.
If the backup is on internal storage, you can use a file explorer to find and by hand budge contents in the /sdcard/WhatsApp/ folder. Simples.
WhatsApp tips and tricks: Amazing features you never knew about
WhatsApp tips and tricks: Amazing features you never knew about
There’s always a bit of a learning curve when it comes to mastering fresh apps and WhatsApp is no different. It’s wickedly popular (it recently hit a billion users) and enormously effortless to get began using right away, but the messenger does have a few quirks that aren’t instantaneously visible at very first. There are also a few hidden features that aren’t the simplest to enable.
If you have some patience and the preparedness to tinker however, we’re sure that anybody can figure out WhatsApp in no time but we thought we’d make it a little lighter.
We’ve gone over everything you could possibly want to know about WhatsApp, from how exactly the app works to tips and tricks every user should keep at their disposition.
What is WhatsApp and how does it work?
WhatsApp is an instant messaging app that Facebook acquired in 2014. You’d typically use the app to send things like text messages, pics, movie, audio messages – or even to place a Wi-Fi call to a friend.
It’s recently taken the crown for the world’s most popular messaging app after hitting one billion active users, treating a whopping forty two billion messages a day and two hundred fifty million movies.
Setup
The very first thing you need to know is that WhatsApp has no adverts and it is now entirely free after a latest scrap of the £0.79 yearly subscription charge. The app is available for iPhone, Android, BlackBerry and Windows devices.
Once installed, you’ll be asked to come in your mobile phone number. WhatsApp needs your actual number because it routes files and messages inbetween you and your contacts similar to how an SMS system would.
Navigation
WhatsApp has a menu bar that runs along the bottom of all the screens within the app. It has the following five tabs: Favourites, Recents, Contacts, Talks, and Settings. Tap on any tab in order to access a fresh screen and its related features and settings.
The Favourites screen should pre-load any of your phone contacts who have installed WhatsApp, but you can tap the "+" symbol in the upper right-hand corner to add more contacts. Alternatively, you can tap "Edit" in the left corner to begin deleting contacts from Favourites.
The Recents tab displays all your placed and missed WhatsApp calls, as well as permit you to clear them. The next tab on the menu bar is for Contacts, and it’s where you should go to browse through your phone contacts and maybe invite them to join WhatsApp.
The fourth tab is for Talks. This is a running log of all your active messages. Tap the draft symbol in the upper right-hand corner to embark a fresh talk with a single friend, or you can tap "Fresh Group" to commence a group talk with up to one hundred people at once. Every group has one or more admins.
You might also notice a feature called Broadcast Lists under Talks. Broadcasting messaging lets you send a message to many people at once, without exposing the recipients. It’s kinda like bcc (blind carbon copy) from email, and each recipient can react to you individually.
The capability to create Broadcast Lists enables you to preserve a saved list of contacts to whom you send Broadcast Messages. To send a Broadcast Message to a specific contact, that person must have your phone number saved in their address book.
The fifth and final tab is Settings. Under this screen, you’ll find privacy options, ways to switch your notification alerts, network usage stats, a contraption for archiving talks, and a place to connect your Facebook account, among many other things.
Messaging
While in a talk window with a friend or group, you can send anything from photos to audio files. Tap in the text field at the bottom of the talk to bring up a keyboard and come in a message, or tap the arrow symbol on the left for more options.
The arrow should bring up options to take a photo/movie or send one from your library, as well as share a location or a contact. You can also send or take a photo by tapping the camera symbol found on the right side of the text field in talk.
There is also a mic symbol on the right side of the text field that you can tap in order to record and send an audio message.
Wi-Fi Calling
Eventually, in the top right-hand corner of any talk window, you’ll see a dialer symbol. Simply click it to phone the contact you’re talking with, or don’t. WhatsApp Calling uses your phone’s internet connection rather than your cellular plan’s voice minutes (so data charges may apply).
WhatsApp tips and tricks
There are of course slew of tips and tricks on WhatsApp that are certainly worth checking out. Whether it is simply deleting a talk, which is not as evident as you might think, to stopping the ticks turning blue even if you’ve read a message, here are a few WhatsApp tips and tricks worth checking out.
Use WhatsApp on the web
WhatsApp isn’t limited to your mobile phone. There’s a web app that syncs everything from your phone. If you have the Chrome browser installed on your computer, go to the WhatsApp Web page, scan the QR code, and go after the instructions for your phone.
It’ll serve up talks and alerts on your computer, permitting you to reply quickly and lightly. Your phone will need to be connected for it to work however so if you lose your connection, the web app will stop syncing until you get your phone connection back.
Use WhatsApp on your desktop
Along with WhatsApp Web, there is also a desktop app for Windows eight and above users and Mac OS X Ten.9 and above. You can download it from whatsapp.com/download/ and again, it will mirror your smartphone like the web platform does.
You’ll need to scan the QR code again but after that, you’ll get all your talks and conversations on your computer screen, making it nice and ordinary to reply. For more information on the WhatsApp desktop app, you can read our separate feature.
Protect your talks with a passcode
WhatsApp doesn’t let you protect talks from snoopers, but third-party apps on Android will let you enable a password or PIN.
Attempt Messenger and Talk Block, AppLock, or Clever AppLock if you are an Android user. On Windows Phone, there’s WhatsApp Locker, and on BlackBerry, you can attempt Lock for Whats Messenger.
Hide timestamps, read receipts, and more
When you look at a talk window or even a contact within WhatsApp, you’ll often see a "Last Seen" timestamp under his or her name. It’s a handy little indicator for when the contact last checked WhatsApp. If you don’t want people to see when exactly you’re using WhatsApp, you can hide your Last Seen timestamp. Just go to Settings, then Account, and Privacy.
Be sure to toggle Last Seen to "Nobody", but doing so will also prevent you from being able to see everybody’s last seen time. Under this section, you will also see that you can hide your profile photo, status, and read receipts. You can even manage your list of blocked contacts.
Trick of the blue ticks
If you want to keep read receipts on but stop the someone witnessing when you have actually read a message, there is a trick for that too. Before you open the specific message, put your smartphone into airplane mode. Open the message when airplane mode is still on and then come out of it and turn it off.
The ticks shouldn’t turn blue so the sender won’t know you’ve read it.
Archive your talks
Archive Talk permits you to hide a conversation from your Talks screen. It does not delete the talk nor does it back up the talk to your SD card. It simply organises your conversations. You can archive groups or individual talks, and they will vanish until you pull down from the top of the Talks display and tap the Archived Talks tab.
To archive all talks, go to Settings, then scroll down, and select Archive All Talks. You can also clear all talks from this same section.
Determine when your sent message was read
Check marks show up next to each message you send. One grey check mark indicates to you that the message was successfully sent to the recipient, while two grey check marks indicate when the message was successfully delivered to the recipient’s phone. Two blue check marks alerts you when the recipient has read your message.
You can find out a little extra detail about your sent messages too tho’. Just tap and hold on the message, and then tap the Info option in order to get message details like the precise time it was delivered and read. In iOS, you can also just tap and haul the message to the left.
Stop incoming media from automatically saving
By default, for whatever reason, WhatsApp automatically saves pics and movies from recipients to the Camera Roll on iOS devices or in Gallery or Photos app on Android. You can stop this on iOS by going to Settings and then Talk Settings. From there, toggle off "Saving Incoming Media".
Mute group notifications
Group conversations can be the worst. You might not be able to leave the conversation, but you can mute notifications so you aren’t awakened every time someone throws in their two cents. If you’re using an iPhone, just open the group talk, tap the subject to get the Group Info screen, and then tap Mute. In Android, open the talk, then tap the Menu button, and tap Mute.
You can specify a time period or turn off notifications permanently.
Find particular messages lighter
Some messages are more titillating or more significant than others. Rather than having to scroll back through the entire talk however, you can starlet a message. To do this, hold the message that you want to starlet until the options come up and then tap on the starlet. Each message you starlet can then be found in the Starred Messages tab in Settings.
Find out who you talk to the most
If you want to know who you send the most messages to, or which contact is using up a chunk of storage, head to Settings then Account and then Storage Usage. You might be astonished how many messages you send to certain people.
Find out how much data you’re using
If you’re worried about your data usage, you can find out exactly how much you are using by heading to Settings, Account, Data Usage and then Network Usage. You’ll get a breakdown of total number of sent and received messages, as well as data sent and received.
Backup your talks
When you switch to a fresh phone, you can take your WhatsApp talk history with you. Just go to Settings within the iPhone app, then tap Talk Settings, and select Talk Backup. From there, back up the talk now or turn on Auto Backup to iCloud. You can restore your talks when you reinstall WhatsApp on the fresh phone.
If you use a microSD card with an Android, go to Menu, then Settings, and Talk Settings. From there, select Backup conversations, and then be sure to budge the microSD card over to the fresh phone. You’ll also need to reinstall WhatsApp and Restore when prompted.
If the backup is on internal storage, you can use a file explorer to find and by hand stir contents in the /sdcard/WhatsApp/ folder. Simples.