WhatsApp is one of the most popular and widely used instant messaging apps in the world with approximately 2 billion users. Day by day its developers have been incorporating more features and tools for its users to take full advantage of each of the potential of the application.
However, there are some tricks that most users do not know and that go beyond sending audios, videos, files, images and emojis. If you want to learn more things you didn’t know you could do with your WhatsApp, here we give you a set of functions that will allow you to get the most out of it.
Remove the double blue check
The double blue check is the WhatsApp feature that lets the sender of a message know when the receiver has received and read it. Although it can be useful, it is a function that has caused controversy, since not everyone likes to know when they read a message. For this reason, the App allows you to deactivate it in just a few steps.
- Go to the App’s settings.
- Access the account section.
- Choose the privacy options.
- Deactivate the “reading confirmations” tab.
Hide your last connection time
At the top of the chat tabs, right beneath the nam, it is possible to see the last time and day a contact was online. However, there are those who like their privacy and prefer to hide this information from their contacts. Doing so is very simple:
- Go to the App’s settings.
- Access the account section.
- Choose the privacy options.
- Select the “Last Time” tab.
- Select the “No one” option.
Muting group chats
WhatsApp groups sometimes have so many participants that when someone starts a conversation, notifications keep popping up every second, so much so that it can be overwhelming. Because of this, the app has the function to ignore group chats to prevent you from being bothered by the siege of group messages without leaving the group.
- Enter the group chat you want to ignore.
- Select the settings tab at the top right of the chat next to the group name.
- Choose the “mute notifications” option.
- Select whether you want to mute the chat for a few hours, several days or forever.
Hide the archived chats folder
The function to archive chats is available to place in a folder all the chats that are in your way, that you do not want to read, or that do not appear when you open the application. However, the folder in which all these conversations are stored is still displayed at the top of the app, so they are still accessible. To avoid seeing the archived chats folder, you can do the following:
- Select the settings menu at the top right of the application.
- Press the “settings” option and select “Chats”.
- Locate the “Keep archived chats” tab and disable it.
Change the color of the WhatsApp icon
If you are one of those who like to customize even the smallest detail on your smartphone, this feature will surprise you.
- Back up your WhatsApp conversations and files.
- Download WhatsApp Plus.
- Open the app and go to the options menu on the top right.
- Choose the “Customize Icons” tool.
- Select the design of your choice.
It is worth mentioning that WhatsApp Plus is an unofficial extension of the application and you will not be able to use both versions at the same time.
Listen to voice notes before sending them
Voice notes are the perfect alternative for those who want to tell something and save the time of typing it all out. Also, you may not know it, but it is possible to listen to your recording before sending it and check what you have said before sending it. Here’s how you can do it:
- Go into the chat of the contact you want to send the voice note to.
- Press the record button and swipe up to set the recording.
- Before sending the recording, exit the chat.
- Re-enter the conversation and listen to the audio.
- Send it if it is correct or delete it if you want to record a different one.
Send messages to yourself
If you need to make notes of something specific that you need to use or remember later and have it in a more accessible place, sending the message to yourself via WhatsApp can be a viable alternative. To do so, you simply have to save yourself in the contact agenda and then look for yourself in the application as any other contact. Once this is done, you will be able to write to yourself without any inconvenience.
Change the text formatting of your messages
For some time now WhatsApp has incorporated the ability to edit the formatting of the texts when you send. You can place the text in italics, bold, strikethrough or monospaces through very simple commands:
Italic: place underscore at the beginning and end of the text (_Text_).
Bold: place the text between asterisks (*Text*).
Strikethrough: places the hyphen at the beginning and at the end of the text (~Text~).
Monospaces: places the text between three inverted quotation marks at the beginning and at the end (”’text”’).
Creating your own GIF from a video
Many would think that to create a GIF you need a special software. However, WhatsApp allows you to create your own GIF with videos that you have in your gallery or that you want to record at the moment. Of course, you can only have a maximum of 6 seconds.
- Record a video from the WhatsApp chat or attach it from the gallery.
- Before sending it, use the application’s video trimming tool to make it 6 seconds long and choose a specific section of the video.
- Transform the video by selecting the “GIF” button at the top of the screen.
As you can tell, most of the features built into WhatsApp are easily accessible from the settings menu. You just need to be curious and explore each of its options from the chats, groups or main menu to discover all its potentialities from within. It is also important to keep an eye on their updates to see if they have incorporated new tools that you can take advantage of.