WhatsApp is one of the social media platforms mostly used by people for sending messages, videos etc. There are about 11 important hidden features of WhatsApp that you need to know. Some of these features are well-known by users. Some of the important hidden features of WhatsApp are very useful and may be required in certain conditions and situations that may arise while using the app. That they are referred to as hidden features do not mean they are actually hidden or secret from people but the real situation is that the users do not know how to use them and this is the reason why w came up with this topic.
List Of 11 Important Hidden Features Of WhatsApp You Need To Know
As has been stated above, there are important hidden features of WhatsApp that every user needs to know. The features are as follows:
Share Your Location
One of the important hidden features of WhatsApp is that it supports sharing of users’ locations. It is very important that you share your location with other users when you are in certain situations that require that. In case you are in a situation where you need to describe your location to someone but you don’t know how to do that, you can easily share your location through your WhatsApp app.
The app will help the other user at the other end to locate you with ease. The WhatsApp hidden feature will help you to share your current location or share your live location within a specified period. You should note that the WhatsApp user you shared your live location with will know your live location for the specified period even when your WhatsApp app is closed. You can also decide to stop sharing your live location at any time. That feature of WhatsApp known as Share your Location can only work on mobile WhatsApp apps. This means it does not work on WhatsApp web and on WhatsApp app downloaded on computers.
Steps To Share Your Live Location On WhatsApp Using Android Devices
The following are the steps to share these important hidden features of WhatsApp via Android devices. See the steps below:
- Open the Whatsapp app on your Android device.
- Identify and click on the Whatsapp user you want to share your live location with.
- Click on the attach icon/paperclip icon to the right of the message box
- Click on the location icon
- Click on Send your current location or Share live location
- If you clicked on share live location, then click on continue
- Select the duration of the share live location from the time options that have already been provided. (15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours)
- Add a comment in the comment box if want and click on send. You can click stop sharing the live location at any time you want to stop sharing your location.
Steps To Share Your Live Location On WhatsApp Using iPhone Devices
The following are the steps to share these important features of WhatsApp via iPhone devices. See the steps below:
- Open your Whatsapp on an iPhone device
- Identify and click on the Whatsapp user you want to share your live location with
- Click on the “+” icon on the left-hand side of the message box
- Click on location
- Click on Send your current location or Share live location
- Select the specific duration you want to share the live location from the time options already provided. (15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours)
- Add a comment in the comment box if you want and click on send. You can click stop sharing the live location at any time you want to stop sharing your location.
How To See Who You Are Sharing Your Live Location On WhatsApp With.
The following are the steps you need to follow if you want to find out the people you are sharing your live location with on WhatsApp.
- Open Whatsapp on your device
- Click on Settings
- Click on PrivacyClick on Live Location and you will see the people you are sharing your live location with.
Search Your Chat History
One of the major aims, why people use WhatsApp most, is because of the messaging/ chatting feature. Most times, your WhatsApp will continue keeping a history of your chats with different WhatsApp users or WhatsApp groups. You might be in a situation where you need to retrieve particular information from your WhatsApp chat history. Scrolling through your chat history to retrieve such information may be very tedious or cumbersome especially when the chat you are looking for is not among the most recent chats.
In order to make it easy to retrieve chat history, WhatsApp supports a hidden WhatsApp feature that enables you to search your chat history with relative ease.
How To Search For Specific Chat History On Your WhatsApp Using Android
WhatsApp has made the task of searching through your chat history easy in such a way that all you need to do is to type a particular keyword, name or sentence relating to your search on the search box or search icon on the top of your WhatsApp home page. Follow the steps below to search for the specific chat on your Android:
- Open Whatsapp on your Android device
- Click on chats
- Go through and click on the specific chat
- Click on the vertical three menu button on the right top border of your screen, then click on View contact/contact info or alternatively click on the chat page name (person’s name).
- Click on the search icon and type in the search bar. Alternatively, you can click on the more icon “>” to search Media, Links or Docs.
How To Search For Specific Chat History On Your WhatsApp Using iOS
- Open Whatsapp on your iPhone device
- Click on chats
- Go through and click on the specific chat
- Click on contact info at the top of your screen
- Click on the search icon/button and type in the search bar. Alternatively, you can also click on the more icon “>” to search Media, Links or Docs
Send Voice Message
One of the important hidden features of WhatsApp is that it has real live audio and video calls. But sometimes it may not be convenient to communicate in real-time. When such is the case, a voice message may be used as an alternative to real live audio/video calls. Voice messaging is one of the features that enable the recording and sending of voice/audio messages to others.
Steps To Send A Voice Message On WhatsApp
The following are the steps you need to take to enable you to send a voice message on WhatsApp:
- Open your WhatsApp app
- Identify and click on the Whatsapp user or group you want to send a voice message to
- Press and Hold the microphone icon on the right side of the message box. Your device will start recording the voice/audio message
- Remove your finger from the microphone icon when you are done with the audio message recording and the audio message will be delivered to the recipient immediately.
Use WhatsApp On Computer
Do you know you can also use your Whatsapp app on your Computer? Using WhatsApp on your computer is one of the important hidden features of WhatsApp. Although WhatsApp was originally designed to be used on mobile apps, with the recent updates on the app, you can now use WhatsApp on desktops or on the web ( WhatsApp Web).
Block WhatsApp Contact
One of the important hidden features of WhatsApp you may not know is that you can block some phone numbers you don’t want to contact again on WhatsApp. This is one of the features that people do not know.
How To Block A Contact On WhatsApp
The following are the steps you can use to block a contact on your WhatsApp:
- Open your WhatsApp app
- Look for the particular contact you want to block and click on it
- Click on the vertical three menu button on the top right corner of the screen
- Click on More,
- Then click on Block
Note that once a contact is blocked on your WhatsApp, the contact cannot call or send you a message.
Pin A Chat To The Top Of Your WhatsApp Home Page
Pinning a chat on your WhatsApp home page is one of the important hidden features of WhatsApp. This feature will help you prioritise how you reply to your chats. If you receive an important message that you don’t want to forget to respond to, you can easily pin it to the top of your chats above the new and unread chats.
How To Pin A Chat On Your WhatsApp Home Page Using Android
The following are the steps you need to follow in order to pin a chat on top of your WhatsApp home page if you are using an Android phone:
- Open your WhatsApp app on an Android device
- Click on the chats
- Identify and Long press on the specific chat, then click on the Pin icon on the top of the screen. You can only pin 3 chats at any point in time
How To Pin A Chat On Your WhatsApp Home Page Using iOS
The following are the steps you need to follow in order to pin a chat on top of your WhatsApp home page if you are using an iOS:
- Open your WhatsApp app on an iPhone device
- Click on the chats
- Swipe your device screen from left to right
- Click on Pin chat
Bookmark Important Messages/Chats
Bookmarking an important message or chat is one of the important hidden features of WhatsApp you need to know. If you have chats that are so important to you that you may want to make reference to them in future, you can bookmark them so that you can easily find them when you need them. If you don’t bookmark, it will be difficult to keep scrolling up and down in search of a particular message any time you want to use it. Bookmarking WhatsApp feature is the only thing that can help.
How To Bookmark Messages On WhatsApp Using Android or iOS
The following are the steps to bookmark messages on WhatsApp via an Android or iOS:
- Open your WhatsApp app
- Click on chats
- Click on the particular chat, Whatsapp user or whats app group
- Go to the specific chat, long press on the specific chat or message
- Click on the star icon on the pop-up that appeared on the top of your screen
Send Bulk Message
Sending bulk SMS is familiar to every user of mobile phones. One of the important hidden features of WhatsApp you need to know is that you can use it to send bulk messages to WhatsApp users. This feature is different from creating a WhatsApp group and dropping messages or chats on the group. For you to be able to send a bulk message on WhatsApp, you will need to send broadcast messages to a list of selected contacts.
How To Send A Bulk Message On WhatsApp
The following are the steps to send a bulk message on WhatsApp using any device of your choice.
- Open WhatsApp on your device
- Click on the vertical three menu icon on the top right corner of your screen
- Click on the New Broadcast
- Select the Whatsapp users you want to send bulk messages to from your Whatsapp contacts
- Click Done or the arrow sign at the bottom of your screen “->“
- Enter a group name or subject in the text box if needed and tap done
- By doing the above, a broadcast list has been created, type and send the message into the broadcast list and each selected contact will get the message privately
Restrict Others From Adding You To WhatsApp Groups
One of the important hidden features of WhatsApp you need to know is that you will be able to restrict others from adding you to WhatsApp groups. With WhatsApp, you can create groups where participants will be added. Most times, the participants will be added without their approval. But by using this restriction feature, you can prevent other WhatsApp users from adding you to unwanted groups without your approval. To achieve this, you can go through your WhatsApp privacy settings.
Format Your Text
Formatting your text is one of the important hidden features of WhatsApp. It allows WhatsApp users to format their messages/chats. You can do that by making your words or sentences to be bold or italics or strikethrough.
How To Format Your Text Messages On WhatsApp
You can use the guide or steps below to format your text message on WhatsApp:
On the Whatsapp message box, before you start typing your message, add an asterisk to either side of the word, phrase or sentence to make it bold. You can also add an underscore to either side of the word, phrase or sentence to make it italic. Add a tilde to either side of the word, phrase or sentence and put a strike ~strikethrough~.
Alternatively, you can highlight the word, phrase or sentence then click on the vertical three menu button and select Bold, Italic, Strikethrough and or Monospace as you want.
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Manage The Storage On Your Mobile Device
The media contents from individuals and WhatsApp groups occupy a lot of space/ megabits on your device storage thereby making the device storage to be full easily and unable to accept more media content. One of the important hidden features of WhatsApp is being able to manage the storage on your mobile device. In order to solve this problem, use this particular feature that will always allow you to delete some of the media content such as pictures and videos which you may not need anymore now or in the future.
Steps To Manage Your WhatsApp Storage
The following are the steps to delete WhatsApp chats and media content on your device.
- Start by downloading Whatsapp on your mobile device
- Click on the three dots menu button on the top right corner of your screen
- Click on settings
- Click on storage and data
- Click on Manage storage
- Click on WhatsApp media and or chats to select the contents to delete.