Useful tips on using WhatsApp

Last year, WhatsApp became the most popular instant messenger in Russia: 69% of smartphone owners installed this application. Want to know how to get the most out of WhatsApp? Keep a few life hacks for working with the messenger.

WhatsApp developer - Jan Kum, an emigrant of Ukrainian descent - did not plan to make him a messenger. Initially, the application showed the status of those in the contact list, and then became one of the most popular instant messengers in the world. Although WhatsApp is used by more than a billion people, not everyone knows about its interesting features.

WhatsApp is a pun, in English pronunciation it literally translates as “How are you?”, Although it is often used in a different meaning: “What's new?”.

KHow to format text

In the messages you send, you can use the usual formatting techniques, as if you are working in a text editor. The simplest thing is to change the style of the text by putting the following characters before and after the highlighted word:

• for bold writing - an asterisk (*);
• for italic writing - underscore (_);
• for strikethrough, the tilde symbol (~).

Why is this necessary? With bold highlighting, you can indicate the importance of a single word or phrase, and strike out to demonstrate that you are unhappy with something, but don’t want to talk about it directly

Word'e has another way to format it - underline. WhatsApp does not have this feature implemented by default, but you can always use third-party services (you can easily find them on Google or Yandex). In any of them, you enter text in one window, in the second you get it in a formatted form, with an underline. Then it remains to copy the final version to the messenger message set window. Transliteration, mirror text or its transformation into Morse code is done in a similar way.

KHow to display a contact shortcut on the main screen

This is convenient: you can start chatting or voice communication with a contact in one click, without going into the application in the usual way. To do this, go to the contact menu, at the bottom of the list, select "More" and the item "Add an icon to the screen." The second option: on the main screen of the application, highlight the contact you need, click the ellipsis in the upper right and select "Add chat icon to the screen." That's it, you activated the speed dialing feature for this contact.

Go toHow to comment on a post

It works like this: swipe (swipe left to right) on the message you want to comment on, and it will automatically attach to the response message. Use this technique when communicating in groups or if there are several storylines in correspondence with another. Then not to lose the thread of the conversation will be much easier.

Most of all, WhatsApp users exchange traffic between 5:00 p.m. and 6:00 p.m., and application servers record the most visits to the Internet on Friday night.

KHow to send any dialogue to the mail

This life hack will appeal to those who sometimes need to print correspondence - for example, freelancers and businessmen who want to re-read the text of communication with the client in a convenient format. In WhatsApp, you can’t get the full details of conversations with all contacts, but you can archive and send a dialogue with a specific person to your mail. For this:

• go to "Settings" - "Chats" - "Chat History" - "Export Chat";
• select the mail service from the list and specify the recipient (your e-mail).

Send the message in the usual way, open, unzip and print, or leave the document in electronic form for viewing on a computer screen. To save the document, the application uses the txt format, which does not support formatting.

KHow to save mobile traffic

You are running out of megabytes, there is no way to top up your account, or are you roaming? In WhatsApp, you can turn off the automatic upload of photos and videos, leaving only text messages. Go to “Settings” - “Data and storage” and select your preferred options for working with media on a mobile network, Wi-Fi and in roaming (for each case there is a separate section). In all operating modes, the following data transfer formats are available: photo, audio, video, documents. Check the boxes for those that you want to leave enabled. For example, if in the “Roaming” section there is a checkmark opposite “Documents”, only friends can send them to you while you are abroad.

Another way to save money is to enable the slider next to “Save data during a WhatsApp call when connected to mobile Internet” in the same menu in the “Call Settings” section.

And the third option is to use third-party tools to save traffic. For Android smartphones, for example, this is the Datally app developed by Google. It allows you to track and block the use of traffic in any application, and also alerts you to available Wi-Fi points nearby.

KHow to send a document from cloud storage

In WhatsApp, without leaving the application, you can send the interlocutor a link to a document from Google Drive and iCloud cloud storage. How to do it:

• in the text input window, click on the paper clip icon;
• select “Documents” in the window that appears;
• click “View other documents”;
• Open the document in Google Drive or iCloud.

KHow to find out who read a message in a group

If more than two people participate in the correspondence, it is difficult to understand who reads the messages and who ignores them. To find out, select the message you want to receive information on and hold it pressed until the top menu with three dots appears. Click on them, select "Info" - there will be a list of those who viewed the message.

Go toHow to see blocked users

These are the users whom it was you who blocked, since it is impossible to view other people's locks in the messenger. Go to "Settings" - "Account" - "Privacy". The last item in this section will be “Blocked”. Open it to see the entire list of blocked contacts. If you don’t have one, it will be written under the name of the item.

KHow to correspond with yourself

This advice is not for those who suffer from a split personality, but for ordinary people who use WhatsApp alternately on their smartphone and computer. It’s convenient to transfer the text or send the file to yourself to view it later on another device. To do this, create a group with any contact from the list, and then delete it. The group will remain, and you will be the only member in it. Now you can freely use it to send text, audio, graphics and videos.

KHow to make a message unread

Previously, third-party applications were needed for this purpose, but now it is easy to implement through the settings of WhatsApp itself. To do this, go to the menu "Settings" - "Accounts" - "Privacy". Here you can change the visibility of private data - for example, hide the time of the last visit to the program, configure the parameters of profile visibility, detailed information and status, but the main thing is to disable read reports. If someone sends a message, you can read it, but the interlocutor will not see two blue checkmarks that confirm reading. The rule works the other way: you also won’t know if your message has been read. The function applies only to dialogs with two participants, in group chats it is not available.

Since 2014, WhatsApp has been owned by Facebook company of Mark Zuckerberg. The $ 19 billion deal was the largest in the startup industry.

KHow to save a message in the "Favorites"

With regular communication, a lot of messages accumulate in the application’s memory, and then it’s hard to find the desired one replica in the text stream. Of course, there is a search, but it’s easier to use the Chosen. Messages marked with an asterisk are stored in this category. To see them, go to the WhatsApp main menu and open the “Favorite Messages” item.

KHow to personalize contacts

For each contact in WhatsApp, you can select an individual ringtone, notification of an incoming message, configure vibration parameters and the importance of notifications - in which order they will pop up at the top of the screen. For this:

• Go to the contact page;
• in the upper right corner, open the contact menu;
• open the “Individual notifications” menu;
• check the box "Use";
• adjust the settings as you like.

You can assign a ringtone and message notification tone to each contact. Now, without looking at the screen of the smartphone, you can easily find out who is writing or calling. Open the user card, go to the "Notifications" section and make the appropriate settings.

We hope that these simple life hacks will simplify your work with the most popular messenger in Russia.