(pocket-lint) - There are heaps of messaging services around now, but WhatsApp has a plethora of features and is widely used - The Facebook-owned app claims to have over two billion users worldwide, which is very surprising.
So here are some secret tips you might not have known about, mixed in with some standard tips for those new to WhatsApp.
WhatsApp General Tips and Tricks
send your location to a contact
WhatsApp allows you to share contacts or documents as well as send photos and videos to contacts, but you can also send your location. If you're meeting up with a friend somewhere, this is handy, especially if you opt in to Share Live Location, which allows your contact to see your live location for a period of time, so they can track you. Can do The duration time is set to 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours.
iOS: Chats > Specific Chats > Tap the "+" on the left side of the message box > Locations > Share live location > Select a time limit.
Android: Chats > Specific Chats > Tap the paperclip to the right of the message box > Location > Share Live Location > Select Time Limit.
You can see everyone you're sharing your Live Location with by going to Settings > Account > Privacy > Live Location.
Search all your chats
Maybe someone sent you their address, or you remember talking about a specific event or movie, but you don't want to scroll through all your messages to try and find what you're looking for. All your chats on iOS have a search bar at the top if you drag down. On Android, there is a search icon.
If you're looking for the address of a specific word and all chats with that word will appear at the bottom as specific messages, you can type anything in the search bar, starting with a city name. When you tap the search bar, you'll see a list of options ranging from photos to audios, so you can narrow down your search.
Clicking on the corresponding result will take you to the part of the chat conversation that you had.
Find a specific chat
If you want to search for a specific chat instead of all your chats, that is also possible. Maybe you chatted about a specific meeting place, or they sent you their other contact number or your address, for example.
iOS: Chats > Specific Chat > Tap on Contact Info at the top > Chat Search > Type in the search bar that appears at the top of that specific chat.
Android: Chats > Specific Chat > Open the menu in the top right > Search > Type in the search bar that appears at the top of that specific chat.
Make video or voice calls using WhatsApp
WhatsApp is not just for instant messages, you can use it to make video and voice calls as well. WhatsApp calling uses your internet connection and not your plan ministers.
iOS and Android: Chats > Specific chats > Tap the call icon or the video icon in the upper-right corner.
Find out whom you talk "to the" most
Who is really your favorite person? It may not be what you think it is. There's a way to find the people you message the most and, among other things, how much storage each person takes up.
iOS and Android: Settings > Storage & data > Manage storage > You'll see a list of contacts at the bottom, in order of what's using the most storage.
Quickly delete all photos, GIFs, videos, messages or stickers from a certain chat
It is possible to delete all messages, photos or videos, GIFs, contacts, locations, voice messages, documents and stickers in one chat. For example, you can delete all messages in a specific chat or group chat, but leave all photos.
iOS and Android: Settings > Storage & data > Manage storage > Select a contact > Manage > Select > Tick the box next to what you want to delete (video or image) > Tap on bin to delete do it.
If you tap the circle in the lower left corner after tapping Contacts, it's possible to sort by which files are taking up the most space, newest and oldest.
Quickly review and delete items to help clear storage
WhatsApp has made it easy to manage the storage on your device. Not only can you see which chats are the most collectible as above, but you can also see which files are larger than 5 MB and which files have been forwarded multiple times.
iOS and Android: Settings > Storage & data > Manage storage. Under the Review and Delete Items section, you can click on Tabs larger than 5 MB or the Forward multiple times tab and then select the ones you want to delete. Like individual chats, you can sort by tapping on the circle in the lower left corner.
Save your data allowance
If you have a limited data allowance, you don't want WhatsApp to eliminate it completely. Thankfully, you can optimize when media is allowed to download, as well as ensure that calls use as little data as possible.
iOS and Android: Settings > Storage & data > Media auto-download > Switch on Wi-Fi only for each option to save your data.
Find out how much data you're using
If you are concerned about your data usage, you can find out how much you are using. You'll get an analysis of the data sent and received, along with the total number of messages sent and received.
iOS and Android: Settings > Storage & data > Network usage.
Use WhatsApp on Web and Desktop
WhatsApp is not limited to your mobile phone, There's a web app that syncs everything from your phone and there's a desktop app as well. Visit https://web.whatsapp.com/ or download the desktop app from whatsapp.com/download/.
Then you have to open WhatsApp on your phone, > Settings > WhatsApp Web/Desktop > Scan QR code on browser or desktop app > Follow the instructions.
Both the web and desktop apps will offer chat and alerts on your computer, so you can respond quickly and easily. Read more about how it works in our separate feature.
Change wallpaper on your WhatsApp chat screen
WhatsApp has a standard wallpaper, which will appear as the background on all your chats. However, you can change this wallpaper, which includes solid colors, to your own photos as well as a collection of images from WhatsApp.
iOS: Settings > Chats > Chat Wallpapers > Wallpaper Library, choose Solid Colors or Photos.
Android: Settings > Chats > Chat Wallpapers > Wallpaper Library, choose Solid Colors, Gallery, Default or No Wallpaper.
WhatsApp Privacy Tips and Tricks
turn on disappearing messages
Turning on disappearing messages will cause any new messages in the chat to disappear after seven days. Remember that messages can still be saved elsewhere. You can read more about disappearing messages in our separate feature.
iOS and Android: Specific chats > Click the person's name at the top of the chat > Disappearing message > On.
Send a disappearing image or video
It is possible to send an image or video that disappears once viewed by the recipient. This is great for photos of passwords or bank details, for example, that contain sensitive information. When the recipient closes your photo, it will disappear, though remember, they can take a screenshot.
iOS: specific chat > tap the "+" next to the message input field > select 'Camera' to take a photo or 'Photos & Video Library' to select a photo > select a photo > tap the "1" next to blue Send Arrows > Press the blue arrow to send.
Android: specific chat > tap the paperclip next to the message input field > select 'Camera' to take a photo or 'Gallery' to select a photo > select a photo > tap the "1" next to the blue arrow > send Press the blue arrow for
Face ID or Touch ID is required to unlock WhatsApp.
If you want double security on your WhatsApp chats, it is possible for iOS users to set up their WhatsApp account to require Face ID or Touch ID authentication when opening WhatsApp, even if your device is already unlocked.
You will be able to reply to notification messages and answer calls even when WhatsApp is locked. It is also possible to set the length of time for the screen lock feature to kick in.
iOS: Settings > Account > Privacy > Screen Lock > Toggle on Require Face ID / Touch ID > Choose time duration (immediately, after one minute, after 15 minutes, or after one hour).
How to lock WhatsApp, on iPhone,
How to turn on and off Last Seen
WhatsApp's Last Seen feature allows you to see when someone last checked WhatsApp, as well as allows users to see when you last checked. If a contact hasn't been last seen disabled, it will appear at the top of an open chat under their name. To disable last seen:
iOS and Android: Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen > Switch to Nobody.
Hide blue tick
Those blue ticks can get you into trouble all over the world, especially when you don't respond right away and someone sees that you've read their messages. You can turn them off, but it's worth noting that if you do, you won't even get read receipts for your messages.
Apple users: If you get Siri to read the message, the blue tick won't appear, so this can be a good way to read a message without knowing the sender. Android users: If you read your messages in notifications, the sender will not get a blue tick.
iOS: Settings > Accounts > Privacy > Toggle off Read receipts.
Android: Settings > Account > Privacy > Uncheck Read receipts.
Stop people seeing your messages
Have you ever given your phone to a friend and immediately panicked at the messages they can see through? Yes, we don't have either. For those who have, you can turn off message previews on iOS so that only the contact's name appears instead of their life story, or you can turn off notifications altogether.
iOS: Settings > Notifications > Show Preview / Settings > Notifications > Show Notifications toggle off.
Android offers a range of notification controls. Within the WhatsApp app itself, you can turn off high priority notifications - the ones that will pop up at the top of the screen. Or you can control notifications at the system level to keep notifications private or remove them altogether.
Android: Settings > Notifications > toggle off Use high priority notifications.
Hide your background picture
Maybe you don't want everyone to see your profile picture, especially if you're part of multiple groups where you don't know everyone in the group. Or maybe you just want to be a little mysterious for the day. Either way, you can choose whether everyone, no one, or only your contacts see your picture.
iOS and Android: Settings > Account > Privacy > Profile photo.
How to block WhatsApp, contact
There are many reasons why you might want to block a contact, so we won't ask why. We will only let you know that if you block a contact, you will not be able to send or receive messages, or make or receive calls from them and send you messages even if you unblock them. Any messages sent will not show they have been blocked.
iOS and Android: Chats > Specific Chats > Tap the Contact topic at the top > Scroll down > Block Contacts.
Stop images and videos from appearing in your gallery
Sharing photos and videos on WhatsApp is great, but you might not want to add it to your phone's gallery. On Android, a folder is created by default in the Gallery, while on iOS, it saves to your Camera Roll. If you don't want that, you can turn it off.
iOS: Settings > Chats > Toggle off Save to Camera Roll.
Android: Settings > Chats > Toggle to Show media in Gallery.
Change automatic image/video saving preferences for specific chats
It is also possible to change the automatic image and video preferences for specific chats. For example, you might want to make sure that images are always saved from your family, whereas you might not want to have all images from group chats in your gallery or camera roll.
All chats are set to default (off) unless you change them individually, but there's an option to always save images and videos from a contact or never save them.
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