WhatsApp, boasts over two billion users worldwide and is the world’s largest messaging app. People using the Meta-owned app can send messages, make calls, and video chat with anyone, on any device, for free. In many ways, it’s more powerful than Google Messages, even though Google’s messaging app is pre-installed on most Android phones.
However, the sheer number of features available on WhatsApp can overwhelm new users, and even veteran users might miss out on useful tools. Here are 10 tips and tricks to help you get the most out of the messaging app, whether you’re just starting out or have been using it for years.
WhatsApp doubled its group chat features in 2022, and with the December 2022 update, you can now video chat with up to 32 of your closest friends or family members. If you plan to chat with 32 people at once, it’s recommended that you set up a call link, but you can also initiate a video call from your existing groups on WhatsApp:
- Launch WhatsApp
- Tap the WhatsApp group chat you want to video call.
If your group has fewer than 32 members, you can simply tap the video call icon (camera) in the top right corner.
If you have more than 32 people in your group, tap the Group Call icon (phone with plus symbol), select the people you want to include, and tap the Video Call icon.
- Any invitee can join at any time as long as the video call is active, and you can add more people to your meeting by swiping up from the bottom of your call screen.
Alternatively, you can manually create a group by taking the following steps:
- Open WhatsApp and select a chat with one of the people who will be joining the video call.
- Tap the video call icon in the top-right corner of the app screen.
- After starting a video call, tap the expand icon (circumflex), followed by Add participant.
- Find the contacts you want to add to the video call and tap ADD.
Creating a poll is a practical way to ask a group chat a question without filling up the conversation with hard-to-track answers. Each poll can have 12 potential answers, allowing you to ask anything from options for a movie night to the name of a favorite cat.
- Tap the paperclip button in the message window.
- Tap Poll.
- Enter a question and at least two options.
- Tap Send in the bottom-right corner of the screen.
- Tap View votes on an existing poll to see a breakdown of the votes.
Google Maps is integrated into WhatsApp, so you can share your real-time and current location without leaving the messaging app. You can also share the location of a place using this method. If WhatsApp’s integration doesn’t have all the functionality you’d like, share your Google Maps location instead.
- Tap the paperclip button in the message window.
- Tap Location.
- Tap one of the location options.
- Choose how long you want to share your live location. Options are 15 minutes, 1 hour, or 8 hours.
- Tap the Send button.
Sharing videos and photos can quickly fill up the storage space on WhatsApp. To delete them, back up your media to Google Photos and follow these steps to delete them in bulk from WhatsApp.
- Tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Storage and data.
- Tap Manage storage.
- Tap one of your contacts under the Chat heading. Contacts are sorted by storage used.
- Tap Select all or tap individual photos and videos.
- Tap Delete in the top-right corner of the screen.
If you don’t have an unlimited data plan, you’ll want to keep an eye on how much data you’re using. While your smartphone can show your usage across all apps, WhatsApp provides you with a detailed breakdown of where your data usage is coming from.
- Tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Storage and data.
- Tap Network usage.
There are two ways to bold, italicize, strikethrough, or monospace text in WhatsApp.
Method 1:
- Highlight a message.
- Tap the appropriate button to apply the formatting.
Method 2:
Add a symbol to either side of a message in HTML style. The formatting for this is as follows:
- Bold: Add an asterisk (*)
- Italic: Add an underscore (_)
- Strikethrough: Add a tilde (~)
- Monospace: Add three backticks (“`)
WhatsApp indicates if someone has read your message by displaying two blue checkmarks next to it. But this symbol only appears in a group chat after everyone has read it. You can check who has read it and who hasn’t by following these steps:
- Tap and hold a message.
- Tap the i button at the top of the screen.
- Here you can see who read your message and when they read it.
Backing up your WhatsApp messages is essential to prevent your conversations from getting lost into the void. Even if you set up a backup when creating your WhatsApp account, it’s a good idea to check your backup settings regularly.
- Tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Chats.
- Scroll down and tap Chat backup.
- Tap Back up now to create a backup immediately.
- Tap Back up to Google Drive to change your backup schedule.
There are other useful settings here, such as end-to-end encrypted backups and the option to back up over a data and Wi-Fi connection.
WhatsApp’s Last Seen feature allows your contacts to see when you were last online. But you can disable it for some or all of your contacts.
- Tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Settings.
- Tap Account.
- Tap Privacy.
- Tap Last seen.
- Tap one of the radio buttons to choose who can see your Last seen status.
WhatsApp’s features aren’t all tedious things like backups and privacy settings. Adding a custom wallpaper can liven up your conversations in seconds. This wallpaper will not be visible to your recipient.
- Within a conversation, tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Wallpaper.
- Tap a category and select a wallpaper.
- Preview the wallpaper, then tap Set wallpaper.
- Apply it to multiple chats or just the current one.
WhatsApp isn’t just a mobile app. There’s a web app so you can type messages from your desktop computer. It has all the features of the mobile app, and there’s a downloadable desktop app for Mac and Windows. All your messages sync instantly between devices, so you can switch seamlessly from desktop to mobile.
- From the mobile app, tap the three-dot button in the top-right corner of the screen.
- Tap Linked devices.
- Tap Link a device.
- Go to web.whatsapp.com.
- Scan the QR code on the web app.
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