Table of Contents
Introduction
WhatsApp is among the ten most popular apps in the world. It makes communication easier and more affordable in over a hundred countries.
The basics of this app are extremely easy to grasp. As soon as you install it, you can start texting and calling your WhatsApp contacts.
This app also comes with some fascinating hidden features. These let you improve your WhatsApp experience and customize your messages and notifications.
Five Things You Can Do on WhatsApp
1. Delete Your Most Recent Message
Ever sent a message you immediately regretted or simply messaged the wrong person by mistake?
WhatsApp has a solution to that problem. As long as you react within an hour, you can remove the message from your recipient’s chat. This works in group chats as well as individual conversations.
Here is how you can delete a message:
- Tap on the Messages You Want to Remove
- Tap Delete on the Top of the Screen
- Select “Delete for Everyone”
- Tap on the Messages You Want to Remove
Note that your recipient will know that you sent and deleted a message. Unfortunately, this feature might not work if your recipient is using an outdated version of the app.
2. Get Control Over Your Group Chats
The WhatsApp group chat option is popular for a reason. It’s intuitively designed, and a group can consist of up to 256 people.
Even with a smaller member count, group chats can be exhausting. Here are some of the ways that WhatsApp lets you keep control of the situation.
Assign New Admins
When you create a group chat, you become the administrator. But you can easily assign new admins who can keep an eye on things for you. This option is available on the Group Info screen, under the People tab.
Change the Subject or the Icon of Your Group
Any participant can make these changes. The option is available under Group Info. For your new icon, you can select an image from your gallery or use the camera to take a snapshot.
Mute Group Chat Notifications
If you’re tired of receiving notifications every time someone speaks in your group chat, you can select Options > Mute. Then choose how long the notifications should stay muted.
3. Change our Message Font and Font Style
Online communication is easier if you can alter the way you type. You may want to bold, italicize, or cross out parts of your messages. Changing the font is a good way to put emphasis on something important.
Here is how you can change your font as you type.
Bold Text
To achieve bolded text, use *asterisks*.
Italics
Put _underscores_ around a phrase to italicize it.
Strikethrough
If you want to strike through a part of your sentence, use ~tildes~.
Change Font
WhatsApp gives you one alternative font option. You can type “`three backticks“` on each side of the phrase to make it monospaced.
Try a Third-Party App
If you want to spice things up, there are apps that let you send WhatsApp messages in a variety of fonts or colors.
4. Hide the Pics and Videos Your Receive
This app makes it easy to share your photos and videos with friends. Media file sharing happens quickly, even if you have an unstable internet connection.
But sometimes it can feel that you’re receiving too many unimportant videos and photos. They may start cluttering up your phone’s gallery. What can you do about it?
All the media files you receive get saved to your gallery. But if you like, you can hide them from view. To do this, you need to use a file explorer of your choice.
- Open the File Explorer
- Find WhatsApp/Media/WhatsApp Images/
- Create the File “.nomedia”
The photos and videos will still be present on your phone, but when you browse your gallery, they won’t show up. Neither will any new media downloads that you make through WhatsApp.
If you ever want to view your downloads from the gallery, all you have to do is delete the .nomedia file.
5. Make Use of Starred Messages
Chats move quickly and it’s a bore having to search them for specific information. If you know you’re going to revisit a message soon, you should star it. This is basically a way to bookmark important messages.
To create a bookmark, tap and hold the message and then select the star icon. You can use the same process to un-star a message. This simply removes it from your bookmarks; it doesn’t delete or alter the message in any way.
To view your starred messages, select the Menu option in the top-right corner of your screen. Then tap on “Starred messages”.
conclusion
WhatsApp offers many more interesting features that are designed for your convenience. For example, location sharing can make meet-ups significantly easier. Android users can add chat shortcuts to their home screens.
The good news is that it’s not too difficult to discover these features. The official WhatsApp website is informative and easy to navigate. You should always keep an eye out for improvements and new options.