The 20 best tips and tricks for WhatsApp for using the app

• WhatsApp has many little known features that make the popular messaging app much easier to use.
• Many of the best features of WhatsApp hide themselves from plain sight, from the ability to store mobile data and export chats to view messages without sending a proof of reading and checking how much storage chats take over.
• Here are 20 of the best WhatsApp tips and tricks for getting the most out of the platform.
• Visit the Tech Insider Library Business Reference for more stories.

WhatsApp is the little messaging app that could. Despite competitors like Facebook Messenger and Apple iMessage, WhatsApp is the most popular messaging app used today.

This is true, without a doubt, because it’s a cross-platform app that makes it easy to vote, video calls, and text messages, no matter what phone you’re using. Because of its broad functionality, there are many ways to get more out of your WhatsApp experience.

Here is a collection of the best tips and tricks for using the messaging tool.

Check out the products mentioned in this article:

iPhone 11 (Starting at $ 699.99 at Apple)

Samsung Galaxy S10 (Starting at $ 699.99 at Walmart)

Transfer your WhatsApp account to another phone

To transfer your WhatsApp account, just install WhatsApp on the new phone and follow the installation instructions. Your account can only be active on one phone at a time, but you can switch it between phones at any time with the setup process.

Dave Johnson / Business Insider

Change your WhatsApp wallpaper

Do not like the default background in your chat window? Go to Settings and then tap on “Chats.” Select “Chat background” to choose any image, pattern or color you want.

Quote one in your answer

You can easily include someone’s previous message as a quote in your reply. All you have to do is swipe the text to the right, and it will be inserted in your comment as a quote.

See an example of your conversation

Want a quick look at your most recent conversation with someone? Tap and hold the visible message window until the preview appears. To chat, tap again to open it, or tap anywhere else on your phone screen to close it.

Dave Johnson / Business Insider

Delete recent messages from the recipient’s WhatsApp

WhatsApp lets you delete messages that you sent by mistake. Plus, if you sent it recently, you can delete it yourself from the other person’s phone. Just tap and hold the message you want to delete and select “Delete”. Then select the Trash for Trash and select “Delete for Everyone.”

Pin important conversations to find them easily

No more searching for a recent conversation. If you want quick access to a conversation, swipe it to the right on an iPhone before tapping the pin. However, Android users need to tap and hold the conversation, and then select the pin.

Star messages for quick reference

If you need to quickly find a piece of conversation, you can pin the star instead of the whole discussion. To do this, you have to type and hold the text you want to die before selecting the “Star” option that appears. You can find all your star messages at the top of the WhatsApp settings page.

Dave Johnson / Business Insider

Secrets read messages

If you do not want the recipient to know that you have read their message, here is a solution. Before opening the message to read it, put your phone in airplane mode. When you are ready, it will remain marked as unread even after you have turned off the airplane mode.

Disable all read receipts

If you do not want to use the plane mode trick to hide when viewing WhatsApp, you should consider disabling read receipts completely. All you have to do is go to Settings. Then tap “Accounts” before selecting “Privacy”. You will then turn off “Read Received” by swiping that button to the left.

As a reminder, this is a two-way street. If you disable read receipts, you will not know if someone has read your messages.

Add emphasis to your lyrics

If you want to record bold or italic text, you can do so with a quick text snippet. Begin and end a sentence with an asterisk to make * bold *, or use (_) underscores (_) to make italics.

Share your location with another WhatsApp user

Want to know where you are at the moment? Tap the conversation, on the “+” icon to the left of the text field and select “Location”. Select the “Send your current location” option, and the recipient will immediately receive a map with a pin showing where you are. Submit your live location for a specified period by tapping “Share live location” instead.

Dave Johnson / Business Insider

Edit a photo before sending it

Some cool tricks are hidden in plain sight, such as editing photos and annotating them before sending them. Before tapping “Send” on a message, you can use any of the tools at the top of the image to rotate, crop, draw, and add text to an image.

Create a custom tone for specific contacts

Do you want to make it easier to identify when a message from a favorite person arrives? Swipe a conversation to the left, then tap “More.” In the popup menu that appears, choose “Contact Info.” Find “Custom Tone” and select the sound you want to hear from the list of options.

Mark a message as unread

If you want to mark a message as unread, remember to reply later, then start by tapping and holding. Then select “Mark as unread.” The recipient will still see the message as read, but you will now have a blue dot on your message as a reminder to process it later.

Dave Johnson / Business Insider

Hide when using WhatsApp

By default, anyone can see the last time you were on the app, but there’s a quick and easy way to turn it off. Under Settings, click “Account,” then “Privacy.” Here you can set “Last seen” on only your contacts if none at all.

Let Siri or Google read your messages aloud

You can use your phone’s AI assistant to access your messages mostly hands-free. It’s as easy as saying “Hey Siri” or “Hey Google,” and then “reading my WhatsApp messages.” Your voice assistant will read new, unread messages aloud.

See where all your storage space is going

You can see which conversations use the most memory and other details like how many texts, photos and GIFs you have shared. Go to Settings and tap “Data and storage usage.” Then select “Save Use” to see all the people you are chatting with, along with how much total memory those conversations are consuming. Choose a contact to see specific details about how many posts and files you have shared.

Dave Johnson / Business Insider

Export a chat to your PC

WhatsApp lets you share a complete record of a conversation. If you want, it can be text only, or with all the media you have sent and received. Plus, you can send it to your PC, a text message, or an online storage service. Just open the conversation and tap on the name of the contact at the top of the screen. Scroll down the Contacts info page and select “Export Chat.” Then choose whether or not you want to record your media and decide how you want to send it. Save mobile data

Save valuable mobile data by preventing WhatsApp from downloading large files like photos and videos when you use them. To do this, go to Settings and then tap on “Data & Storage Usage.” For each type of media – photos, audio, videos and documents – you have to choose what kind of network it will download.

In general, you should set them all to “Wi-Fi.” You can also enable “use of empty data” to save data when making voice calls, which will reduce the voice quality.

Enable two-step verification for added security

It is a good idea to enable two-step verification for each app and service it offers. This makes it much harder for someone to take advantage of your account. Use two-factor authentication in WhatsApp, go to Settings and tap “Account”, then select “Two-step verification.” If prompted, add a PIN to your account.