WhatsApp has become a daily used and almost essential app. Everyone knows how to use it as it is simple and intuitive to use, but there is much more behind it.
Here we are going to show you some tricks that will make it easier for you to use WhatsApp on your day-to-day use. We will not go into how to mute chats or groups, as that is a matter for its own article.
We will divide the tricks into 2 different categories, the more technical tricks, designed to improve the use of the application and the more aesthetic tricks, designed to customize WhatsApp.
WhatsApp technical tricks
We start with a selection of WhatsApp technical tricks to speed up the use of the app.
1 – Mark as unread
Sometimes, especially in large groups, we find that there are dozens of unread messages. Perhaps we enter the chat but we cannot read everything at that moment, so they remain as «read», without really being read.
With this trick, we will restore certain messages as «unread» and in this way we will see the classic dot that reminds us that someone messaged us. This way we will remember that we have unread messages in the future.
To change the status of a message from «read» to «unread», we will have different steps according to the version of our operating system:
- Android: In the list of chats, without entering the conversation, hold the chosen chat for a few seconds. A menu will appear at the top right (three dots), click on it to mark it as read.
- iOS: If you have an iPhone or iOS device, swipe the chat to the right and in the menu check the «unread» option.
Now you can remember to come back later to reply to that conversation.
2 – Create a shortcut to a contact
If you are constantly talking to a certain contact or in a group chat, it might be a good idea to create a shortcut in your phone’s home screen. This way you can access the chat directly without having to navigate through WhatsApp.
To do this, simply create a shortcut. Open the chat you want to create a shortcut for. Click on the menu in the upper right corner (three dots). Choose «More» from the menu options, then «Create shortcut».
You should now have the shortcut on your home screen.
3 – Answer using a voice assistant
A feature that few people know, is that you can reply to a message directly with Siri or Google Now. To do this, simply activate Siri or say «Ok Google» and then say: «Send WhatsApp to XXXXX» a screen will appear for you to dictate the message speaking out loud.
It will then ask you for confirmation before sending it, so you avoid taking your hands off the wheel.
4 – Create a gif directly from WhatsApp
A feature unknown to most, is that you can create an animated gif directly from a video you have on your device.
To make a gif from WhatsApp, simply choose a video you have stored or just recorded. At the top right you will see a button where you can choose the video format or an animated gif. By choosing gif you will have that animated gif you want.
5 – Remove the blue check mark
The blue check mark is very useful to know who has seen your message but it creates a lot of anxiety if they do not see it. That is why we may want to remove the blue check mark, to avoid worrying about these situations.
Go to «WhatsApp settings» then «account» and finally «privacy» and you can enable or disable whether to see read confirmations.
Additionally, your contacts will not be able to know if you have read their messages.
6 – Find out who read your message within a group
This option is only valid if you do not have the previous option active.
To check who in a group has read your WhatsApp message, you just need to hold your message. After a second, an information icon will appear at the top of the screen. When you click on it, you will see who has received it, at what time and who has read it.
In group chats you will not see a double blue check mark unless ALL group members have read the message. So if you want to see who received your messages, this is the best way to do it.
7 – Send a message to large groups of people
An option to distribute the same message to many people, is the «Broadcast» option, instead of sending messages contact by contact.
If you want to send the same message to everyone, without the notorious «forwarded» appearing on top, this is the best option. Messages such as a Christmas greeting or a project in which you participate, may be an example of messages that are best «broadcast».
To send a broadcast message, enter the app and click on options. There you can find the option «new broadcast». Then choose all the people you want to contact directly from your address book.
Finally, a single conversation will appear with the message sent to all the desired contacts. In this screen we will write our message. Remember that it is the same for everyone, so you will not be able to customize it by adding their name, for example.
With this feature, you will also verify who has your phone number saved, since only those who have you in their address book will receive your broadcast messages, for security reasons.
WhatsApp customization tricks
As previously explained, we are now going to reveal some tricks that you probably don’t know. These tricks will allow you to give more emphasis to your messages and to customize the way you convey your ideas.
8 – Bold text
Imagine a message that is a bit long, something that when read in one go is monotonous. Imagine also that in the middle of this message there is a IMPRESCINDIBLE piece of information… How would you highlight it? In bold, of course.
To make a word or phrase bold, just put a * in front of and after what you want to make bold (don’t worry, asterisks will not be displayed). For example, if we type: «*Hello* Manuel», WhatsApp will display «Hello Manuel».
9 – Italicize text
As with the bold text, sometimes we want to use italic to give more emphasis to the word, or simply put some textual words from another speaker.
To add cursive in the text, simply put an underscore «_» in front and another one behind the text to make it italicized.
For example, if we type: «_I like bread_», the result will be «I like bread«.
10 – Strikethrough Text
Finally, if you want to cross out a text to autocorrect in the same message, you can do it easily by adding a «tilde» which is the little symbol that appears over; (~) at the beginning and at the end of the text.
For example, if we type: «This is a ~great~ good trick», we will get output «This is a great good trick».
This is it, don’t forget to check out our other posts for even more information on how to configure your WhatsApp or to protect it from external threats.
