When it comes to instant messaging apps, WhatsApp is truly the reigning champion. It not only pretty much killed SMS but also took out several rising messaging clients such as skype. Its unique way of using phone numbers for personal identification was far more accessible than hard to remember user ids. Moreover, WhatsApp allowed users to easily share images, videos with ease as compared to the horrendously unreliable MMS.
Yes, we all know how great this IM client is but did you know that there are various secret settings and features that most users don’t know about? Most users don’t go beyond the usual texting and sharing media on WhatsApp. But for the inquisitive readers, here are some WhatsApp tricks & tips you probably didn’t realize yet.
-
Disabling Read Scripts (Blue Ticks)
Remember the time when you got anxious every time you texted a girl and she didn’t reply? Most users don’t complain but it seems that the blue ticks to signify that your message has been read by the recipient aren’t liked a lot. So for those users who want to keep guessing and dwelling whether their messages are read or can now disable these blue ticks. Simply go to settings>privacy>disable read scripts and enjoy the blissful ignorance. WhatsApp tricks are certainly bizarre in nature.
-
Know the Exact Time Your Messages are Read
Sometimes, simply knowing that your voice has been heard by the listener isn’t enough to calm your anxieties. WhatsApp allows you to take your curiosity further by telling you the exact time when your message was read. To do this tap and hold any message you’ve sent on WhatsApp and choose info, from the dropdown that appears. There you can see the exact time the recipient read your message so you know when they’re lying. Sorry couples, but honest technology is honest.
-
Knowing Your Friend’s Actual Location
It’s official now, WhatsApp is secretly a spying and surveillance application. Don’t believe it? Well, it can tell you the location of your contacts. Whenever you’re suspicious of a person’s location, you can ask them to share their location with you, so you know they’re lying or not. We know this is a bummer for boyfriends and husbands who just can’t seem to find the right lie anymore. Hell, let’s hope your boss doesn’t know this feature.
-
Using Typewriter Font (for iOS only)
There’s a high chance that you’d never use this, but for some reasons the app developers thought it would be cool to put a secret font for iOS users. Using “` on either side of the word or sentence would display the message in a font similar to a typewriter. Not very practical but yeah, it’s a secret setting.
-
Lower Group Chat Notifications
Maybe it’s just us, but do you find those group chats annoying especially when you’ve no clue about the conversation? If you too find those perennial notifications from group chat annoying, then thankfully WhatsApp allows you to keep them on a down low. You can do this by accessing settings>privacy and making changes to whom you share your contact data with. This means you don’t have to leave any groups to maintain your sanity with this useful WhatsApp trick.
-
Private Broadcasts
If you’re the kind of person who wants to say something to more than one person but privately? Well, thankfully WhatsApp allows you to maintain that ‘informational anonymity’ though private broadcasts. It means you can send the same message to multiple contacts at the same time like a group message. But unlike a chat group, messages are sent in private windows to each recipient without making it a group conversation. Simply go to broadcast lists and add the recipients you wish to share a message with, and send your broadcast to all added contacts in private messages.
-
Backup Chat History
Unlike several others mentioned above, this WhatsApp trick might be the most useful and practical. Have you ever found your lack of evidence to be a major weakness in arguments with your significant other? Or have forgotten that cruel joke made by your friend last week cos you deleted the chat? Well now you can preserve all those bad chat moments (and good ones) by backing up WhatsApp chat history. Android users can simply setup a google drive account in ‘Chat Backup Options’ found in the settings menu. Once this is done, you can backup or restore any chats or conversations to any device.
-
Bookmark Messages
Another great and very practical feature, WhatsApp allows you to bookmark important conversations, so they can be easily looked up instead of going through the complete chat. So the next time you receive an important address or name, you can simply long press (double tap for android users) the message and star it. This would help you identify the message more easily in a long chat. You can also un-star it by long pressing and selecting ‘unstar’.
-
WhatsApp Portable
‘You must install an app to use it’ is a thing of past with WhatsApp Web. This allows you to access your WhatsApp account even if you do not have the app installed on your device or computer. Simply go to chat menu and select WhatsApp web to open the QR scanner. Then visit the WhatsApp web homepage (search on google for webpage) and scan the QR code that appears with your phone. You can now use your WhatsApp account safely on your computer without hassle or installation.
The above mentioned WhatsApp tricks and secrets are not openly publicized by the developers, forcing the users to do a bit of exploring. Although most people view WhatsApp as a straightforward messaging app, these secret settings and features prove that there’s definitely more than what meets the eye.