Probably the most controversial update that WhatsApp ever came out with was the blue ticks, which indicated whether the user has already seen the message or not. This created lots of controversies – reports of couples breaking up came out, and several friendships were supposedly ruined. That wasn’t the only update that was sneaky, there are several other features in WhatsApp that you probably have no idea about.
This article will reveal the top 11 secret features that you probably didn’t know existed in WhatsApp.
1. Last seen and blue ticks can be turned off.
After the update was released, reports of divorces, breaking up and ruined friendships were released in social media sites. WhatsApp understood that this could have serious repercussions and if they didn’t take any action, they could lose a huge portion of the user base. That is why, they added an option to turn that feature off.
Click on Privacy, and change “Last Seen” to “Nobody”. Also, uncheck the Read Receipts box. Now, no one will be able to see your last seen and whether you have read the messages or not. However, note that you also won’t be able to see other contacts’ last seen and blue ticks.
2. Shortcuts can be created for conversations to directly open your favourite conversations.
Most people usually converse with two or three people a lot more than they do with others. Now, every time you want to send them a message, you have to open the app and then go their messages section. This can be a bit frustrating since it wastes time.
Instead, you can easily create shortcuts for those contacts by long pressing on their names and clicking on the “Create Shortcut” option.
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3. You can check when someone read your messages.
Obviously, everyone using WhatsApp knows that the blue ticks means that someone has read your message. However, there’s another secret feature that most people are not aware of. You can just long press on the message and it will show the time when it has been read.
4. You can know the current location of your friends
When friends decide to meet somewhere, there are always some friends who will say that they are just a few minutes away from the destination while the reality is that they have just woken up from sleep. Now, you don’t need to worry about these friends anymore. Just ask them to send their location. Also, its easy to catch someone if he or she tries to fool someone by sending a custom location from a map. If the location is sent via WhatsApp the name of the address won’t be visible, but that’s not the case if it is sent from a map.
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5. Custom tones can be set for different chats
Custom tones can often be useful, since it helps in distinguishing one contact from another. Now you no longer to check the notification to see who has sent you a message, you can easily understand by the tone(if you have set a custom tone for that contact). These can also help in distinguishing between various groups and important contacts such as your parents, girlfriend or boss. Setting them is quite easy, just click on options and click on view contact info or group info and you can set the custom tones at the custom notifications.
6. Save precious mobile data
Most people nowadays are connected via Wifi or 3G, and since WhatsApp uses really low data you don’t really need any data optimisation. However, sometimes you might be connected to a slow network or maybe you are on 2G. In that case, you can go to Settings-> Data Usage. There you can make changes to save mobile data.
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7. Associate your number with the app
By doing so, your contacts will never be lost, they will be automatically restored when you choose a new phone number.
8. Star messages to check them later
Sometimes, we receive certain messages which can be important even in the future. For example, maybe a picture was posted in a group which you know is quite important and you might need to refer to it in the future. Since groups are usually quite active, that image will be extremely difficult after some time. So you can easily bookmark the message by long pressing it and clicking on star. You can find these messages in Settings-> Starred messages.
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9. Use WhatsApp on your internet browser or on your PC
Sometimes, when you need to type fast, it is difficult to do so on a mobile. That’s why there is a website called WhatsApp Web, which can be visited by going to web.whatsapp.com. You need to link it to your phone by scanning a QR code shown on the website. You will now receive messages on the website as well, but remember the phone must be connected to the Internet or else it won’t work. Recently, WhatsApp released standalone applications for Windows, Linux and Mac. So you no longer need to visit the website, just download the app and you are good to go.
10. Reply to messages instantly
It is extremely frustrating when people try to peek in to see your messages, especially in the public. You can now get rid of this problem due to instant reply. With the latest update, you can now directly reply to messages by clicking on the reply button in the notification drawer. You can also opt for popups which will show the message as a popup with the new message. There is a text box and send button as well for instant reply. Activate this option by going to Settings->Notifications.
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11. Bold, italics and strikethrough can be added to the messages
These have been added with the most recent update of WhatsApp. To make the text italic, add _, add * for bold and ~ for strikethrough. Lets give an example. Suppose the message is “hello”. For bold, the message has to be *hello*, for italics, it has to be _hello_, and for strikethrough, it has to be ~hello~.
Hopefully, these features will be helpful to you. Give them a try and definitely let us know about your experience.
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