Learn Whatsapp in more efficient ways, and stay back to know some of the best tricks.
1. Send Disappearing Messages
Disappearing messages automatically delete themselves after a certain period of time. That way, you won’t have to worry about your message being saved or forwarded without your knowledge.
WhatsApp gives you the option of having messages disappear after 24 hours, 7 days or 90 days. You can turn it on for specific conversations with anyone you choose. Keep in mind though that the preview of the message will remain viewable in the notifications panel until you open the app, even if the time lapses for the message period.
To turn on disappearing messages, follow these steps:
- Open the WhatsApp chat you want to use disappearing messages on.
- Click on the contact’s name.
- Click on “disappearing messages.”
- Select your preferred duration.
Alternatively, if you want to enable disappearing messages for all your contacts, you can do this:
- Open Settings.
- Tap Account, then go to Privacy.
- Select the Default message timer and then select your preferred duration.
Once enabled, WhatsApp will notify you directly in the chat that the disappearing messages are turned on.
2. Audio or Video Call Your Friends
One of WhatsApp’s most popular features is the free audio and video calls it offers its users. You can call your friends one-on-one or even have group calls of up to 32 participants on WhatsApp.
To do this, open the contact or group you wish to call. In the top-right corner of the action bar, you will see a video call button and an audio call button. Choose which you prefer.
With a video call, as shown on the left of the picture above, your camera will be on by default and you won’t be able to turn it off. However, you do have the option to reverse the camera should you wish to. With audio calls, the standard WhatsApp wallpaper will be displayed.
You can toggle your mic on and off with both.
3. Customize Your Chat Wallpaper
Are you looking to add a prettier aesthetic to your WhatsApp chats? You can change the wallpaper for all your chats, or set specific wallpapers for chats with different people.
You can also choose between dark or light-mode wallpapers. On dark mode, you have the option to dim your wallpaper too, so it’s easier on the eyes.
To change the wallpaper across all chats, follow these steps:
- Tap the three vertical dots that indicate more options and click on “settings.”
- Then click on “chats” and then “wallpaper.”
- Here, you can alter the wallpaper dimming level to your preference.
- To change the wallpaper altogether, click “change.”
- You can choose from WhatsApp’s templates of bright, dark or solid colors or choose one from your photos. You can also opt for WhatsApp’s default wallpaper.
- Click “set wallpaper.”
If you want to change the wallpaper for a specific chat, these are the instructions:
- Open the chat you want to customize the wallpaper for.
- Tap the three vertical dots that indicate more options and then click on ”wallpaper.”
- Alter the wallpaper dimming level to your preference.
- Click “change” to update the wallpaper picture and choose from WhatsApp’s categories or your own image.
- Tap “set wallpaper.”
4. Change Your Privacy Settings
When you first install the app, WhatsApp’s default settings allow any user to see when you were last online, your about information and profile picture, and whether you have read receipts enabled. Only your contacts will be able to see your status updates, but anyone can add you to groups.
To change these privacy options, go to your settings page. This may vary depending on the device.
- On Android, tap the three vertical dots that indicate more options. Then click on “settings,” then “account,” then “privacy.”
- On iPhone, you can directly tap “settings,” “account,” then “privacy.”
- On desktop devices, you have to tap the menu symbol, “settings,” then “privacy.”
From this menu, you can directly update:
- Your “last seen,” which displays when you were last on the app
- Your profile photo
- Your “about” information
- Your status
- Disappearing messages default timer
- Who can add you to groups
- Your live location sharing
You can also manage your blocked contacts, enable fingerprint lock, and enable or disable read receipts.
Keep in mind that:
- You won’t be able to view others’ “last seen” unless yours is enabled.
- You can’t view read receipts for messages you send if either you or the other party has read receipts turned off.
- The status of ‘online’ and ‘typing’ is always visible and cannot be changed.
5. Keep Track of Your Data and Storage Usage
Keeping track of how much data you’re consuming can be useful, especially if you’re using WhatsApp as part of a limited mobile data plan.
You may also find your phone filling up and want to reduce the amount of storage WhatsApp takes up. The WhatsApp data report can show you how much data the app is consuming at a glance.
All you have to do is go to settings and click “storage and data.” From here, you’ll have the option to:
- Manage storage
- View your network usage
- Toggle the “use less data for calls” option on and off
- Change your media auto-download settings
- Choose media to upload quality
If you click on the “network usage” option, you can view a detailed breakdown of your data usage.
6. Delete Your WhatsApp Media
If you want to delete WhatsApp media without deleting the entire app, you can directly go to your phone’s file manager or gallery.
From there, locate your WhatsApp images and WhatsApp video folder and clear out the files you don’t need. For example, on a OnePlus phone, you would see this listed under the app collections in your gallery.
7. Turn Off Automatic Media Download
WhatsApp automatically downloads pictures and clips from your chats.
If you open your photo gallery and find it filled with videos and images from WhatsApp that take up a lot of space, manually deleting each one can be a time-consuming chore. A simple hack is to turn off media auto-download and keep WhatsApp media from your gallery altogether.
To do this, navigate to settings and then storage and data. Under the media auto-download section, you’ll be able to change the settings for three modes:
- When using mobile data
- When connected on WiFi
- When roaming
For all three, you can specify which content you want to download automatically. You can choose to enable this for photos, audio files, videos, and documents.
8. Bookmark Messages With the Star Icon
If you’re navigating several conversations, you might find yourself easily lost in the sea of text. Thankfully, WhatsApp has a useful feature for starring messages you want to reference or come back to later.
Here are the steps to take:
- Navigate to the conversation and find the particular message you want to bookmark.
- Tap and hold the specific message box and then select any other messages you want to star as well by simply tapping on them.
- From the action bar on the top, select the star icon.
You can view your starred messages with a contact anytime by clicking on their contact name and then selecting starred messages.
From here, you can navigate through the whole archive, or use the search bar feature to find the message you want. If you wish to unstar a message, hover over the message, click on the Menu bar and then Unstar the message.
9. Delete Messages for Everyone
Whether you’re looking to get over some painful memories or simply cleaning up a long line of extensive chats, you can delete all the texts or media you’ve exchanged with someone on your contact list.
There are two approaches to this. You can delete messages for everyone involved in the chat, or delete it just for yourself. For the former, you must delete the message within an hour of sending it. To do this:
- Select the message you want to delete.
- Click on “options,” then “delete” and “delete for everyone.”
You can delete records of your own chats on your phone at any time. This won’t impact the recipient’s chat history. To do this, open the chat in question and:
- Select the message you want to delete.
- Click on “options,” then “delete” and “delete for me.”
If you don’t want to manually select and clear a whole conversation, you can directly select the contact’s name from your recent chats list, then click the trash icon on the action bar.
10. Search Your Chat History
If you’re ever looking for a specific message from a chat but can’t remember which one and you don’t have it starred, the WhatsApp search feature should be your go-to tool. As long as you can remember a few words from your conversation, it should be relatively easy to find.
You can also find media and documents with this feature.
To search your chat history using a keyword, follow these steps:
- Open WhatsApp.
- While on the chats screen, click on the search icon.
- Insert the keyword(s) you’re looking for.
- Tap on the relevant results that show up.
If you want to search for media linked to the keyword, you just have to click on the relevant filter for that. This will streamline the results.
Source: cloudwards.net
Rituraj