Tuesday, November 29, 2016

10 secret WhatsApp tricks

WhatsApp. Wonderful, wonderful, WhatsApp. The messaging service that made BBM look boring and text messages redundant.

Of course there are now heaps of messaging services around, but WhatsApp has had a massive head start on almost all of them, meaning it has tonnes of features.

You can read all about what it is and how it works in our WhatsApp feature, but for those who already know the beauty of the service, here are some secret tips you might not know about.

Hide the blue ticks

Those blue ticks can get you in a whole world of trouble, especially when you don't reply instantly and someone sees you have read their messages. You can turn them off, but it's worth noting that if you do, you won't get read receipts for your messages either.

iOS: Settings > Account > Privacy > Toggle off Read Receipts.

Android: Settings > Account > Privacy > Untick Read Receipts.

Turn words bold, italic or strikethrough

Sometimes certain words need more emphasis and shouty caps just isn't going to cut it. Don't worry, WhatsApp allows you to make whichever words or phrases you want bold, italic, or strikethrough them altogether.

iOS and Android: Add an asterisk either side of the word or phrase for *bold*. Add an underscore either side of the word or phrase for _italic_. Add a tildes to either side of the word or phase for ~strikethrough~.

Find who you talk to most

Who is really your favourite person? It might not be who you think. On iOS, there is a way to find the people you send the most messages to and how much storage each person takes up, among other things.

iOS: Settings > Account > Storage Usage > Select Contact

Add dates to your calendar automatically

If you're prone to forgetting dates mentioned in various chats, it's possible to automatically create an event directly from WhatsApp on iOS.

iOS: Press and hold date within chat > Create Event

Mark chats as unread

Ever been out and about, read a chat and then completely forgot to reply? We do it all the time. There is a way to mark important chats with dot to remind you to go back to it though.
iOS: Chats >  Swipe left to right > Mark as Unread

Android: Long press chat > Open Menu > Mark as Unread

Save your data allowance

If you've got a limited data allowance, you don't want WhatsApp munching it all away. Thankfully, you can customise when media is allowed to download, as well as ensure calls use as little data as possible.

iOS and Android: Settings > Data Usage

Stop people seeing your messages

Ever passed your phone to a friend and instantly panicked about the messages they might see come through? Yeah, we haven't either. For those that have, you can turn off message preview on iOS so only the contact's name will appear, rather than their life story.

In Android, it's not possible through the WhatsApp app but you can stop private information showing up on your lock screen in Android itself.

iOS: Settings > Notifications > Toggle off Show Preview

1 comment: