11 Best WhatsApp Tricks and Tips in 2021

[RYAN]

Whatsapp is a simple messaging programme to use, but there’s a lot more going on beneath the surface than just allowing you to communicate your friends and send GIFs. There are numerous entertaining WhatsApp techniques to learn, ranging from hidden WhatsApp chatting capabilities to simple methods to customise your experience so that it looks and functions better for you.

All of the following tips and tricks are terrific ways to get even more out of WhatsApp, and they’re all completely free.

The Handiest Trick: Replying to a Specific Message

You might be wondering how to like in WhatsApp–hitting a button and simply showing you like a message is a common feature on other social networking apps. You can’t do that on WhatsApp but you can easily reply to a specific message instead. That works kind of like demonstrating that you ‘like’ a certain message.

To reply to a specific message so it features as a quote in your reply, long press on the message then tap Reply on the new menu that shows up.

An Uncommon Gem: Pin a Chat to the Top

Is there someone you message who’s most important to you? A close friend or loved one? You can pin their conversation to the top of your chat window so you never have to look around among your other chats to find them.

• On iOS, simply swipe left to right then tap Pin Chat .
• On Android, long press on the chat display then tap the pin at the top of the screen.

The Coolest Tip: Change Your WhatsApp Wallpaper Background

You don’t have to stick with the default background for your chats. You can change your WhatsApp background to a favorite photo or fun wallpaper. Best of all, you can choose a photo from your phone’s photo gallery so it looks even more personal than usual.Head to Settings > Chats > Chat Wallpaper > Choose Wallpaper Library , and you can choose from a variety of different backgrounds or a change of color.

The Most Practical Tip: Searching Chat

It’s easy to get carried away while chatting on WhatsApp so that messages build up fast. If you’ve realised a little too late that you wanted to save something for later, you can go back and search through your chats.

All you need to do is either tap the search icon or type in the search bar to look up anything. It’ll search across all your WhatsApp conversations and quickly show you all the results. Just tap the message you need to go straight there.

The Safest Advice: Send Your Location to a Friend

If you’re meeting up with a friend, or you want to make sure they know where you are, you can easily share your location with someone at the tap of a button.

Simply tap on the + sign or paperclip next to the message box, then tap Location followed by Share Live Location . WhatsApp will then send the other person your location so they know where you are. It’s a really useful safety feature for if you’re somewhere a little unusual or potentially if you’re on a first date with a stranger and you want to let a friend know where you are.

The Most Interesting Tip: Find Who You Chat to Most

Ever wondered who you chat to the most on a daily basis through WhatsApp? This free WhatsApp trick makes it easy to find out. Simply go to Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Storage Usage and select a contact to see how you converse with them.

The list is organised according to the person you send the most data to so if there’s one friend you send lots of GIFs to but not much else, they could beat another friend who you send text based messages to. Either way, it’s great insight into who gets your attention the most. Statistics are narrowed down to messages, photos, GIFs, videos, voice messages, and documents.

Fanciest Tip: Add Emphasis to Your Words

You’re not restricted to just typing messages in the basic WhatsApp font. You can also add emphasis through bold, italic or strikethrough.

If you want to make a word bold, simply add an asterisk on either side of the word you’re typing. For italics, add an underscore on either side, while a tilde on either side places a strikethrough across the word.

The Sneakiest Tip: Archive Your Chats

In the past, you could use a special app called Kibo to enable a form of WhatsApp secret chatting. That method of secret message app no longer exists which means keeping your chats private is a little trickier. Your best method is to archive your chats regularly. When you archive a chat, it doesn’t delete it forever but it hides it from your main chat window making it more difficult for someone to see at a glance.

• To archive a chat in iOS, swipe right to left on a chat window than tap Archive .
• On Android, long press on the chat then tap on the archive folder to send it that way.

Most Private Tip: Reply to a Group Chat Message Privately

Prasit Photo, Getty Images

Part of a group chat with all the family or a bunch of friends? You’ve no doubt had times where you’d rather talk to someone privately. Obviously, you can dig out your private one to one chat, or create a new one, but there are easier ways of doing this. Working kind of like replying to a specific message in an individual chat, it’s simple.

• On iOS, press and hold a message in a group chat then tap More and tap Reply Privately . A private chat opens up with the text box below so you can easily add on what you wanted to say.
• For Android owners, you need to press and hold the message then tap the three dots in the top right hand corner and tap Reply Privately .

Money Saving Tip: Save Your Data Allowance

Does your cell phone provider only offer a limited data allowance each month? WhatsApp has many ways in which you can keep an eye on how it’s using your data. Go to Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Media Auto-Download > Switch to Wi-Fi only so that it only downloads media when you’re connected to a Wi-Fi network.

To see how much data you’ve used so far, you can go to Settings > Account > Data Usage > Network Usage to see what’s going on.

For the Big Fan: Be Always Online

Want to always be seen as ‘online’ on WhatsApp? You can’t do that on your phone but you can set it that way if you sign up to the WhatsApp web app. It syncs everything from your phone and makes it look like you’re always available. For certain users, this can be pretty useful. Plus it means you can use WhatsApp on your iPad too.