12 hidden functions of WhatsApp

March
29, 2021

5 min read

WhatsApp was born in 2009 and today, it is the most used instant messaging service in the world. Over the years, the Facebook-owned platform has evolved to integrate more tools to connect its millions of users around the world, however, not all of them are well known.

Telcel published on its blog a list of 12 hidden WhatsApp functions that you can use right now.

12 hidden functions of WhatsApp

1. Change the text format in WhatsApp

You can add a different intention to your messages through bold, italics or strikethrough. You just have to add a couple of characters before and after the text: * bold * , _cursive_ and ~ crossed out ~ .

2. Temporary messages

These “self-destructing” messages serve to protect valuable information as they disappear after a while. To use this function, one of the newest in the application, you must:

• Touch the name of the contact within the chat
• Select the Messages option
• Turn on the Temporary Messages switch.

^{Image: Via Telcel}

3. Highlight messages

Do you want to leave a message at hand and not get lost in the sea of conversations? With the function “Highlight messages” you can mark them with a star by pressing on them and leave them as favorites to locate them.

4. How to know what time a message was read

Do you need to know what time your message was read? All you have to do is press on it and slide your finger to the left. You can also select the Info option from the three-dot menu. In both cases, you will see what time a message was sent, received and read.

^{Image: Via Telcel}

5. Do not save photos and videos

If you are tired of your cell phone memory being saturated with the photos and videos they send you, you can prevent them from being downloaded automatically from WhatsApp. You just have to go to the Settings menu of the app and select Chats . There you just have to deactivate the option Visibility of multimedia files .

^{Image: Via Telcel}

6. Disappear your last WhatsApp connection

If you don’t want people to know what time you last connected, WhatsApp offers you the option to deactivate this information. For that you must open the Settings menu, select Account and then Privacy , to deactivate the Last Seen . You can also choose from all your contacts or select just a few. Remember that it is always good to have at least one contact who knows when your last connection was for security reasons.

^{Image: Via Telcel}

7. Mark a conversation as “unread”

If you don’t want to forget to answer someone, you just have to click on the chat for a few seconds and select the option “Mark as unread” . The conversation will look like when you receive a new message.

^{Image: Via Telcel}

8. Know who your favorite contact is

With this tool you will be able to know with which contacts you interact the most. It also allows you to manage your internal storage. You just have to enter Settings , then Storage data and finally Storage use.

9. Listen to audios before sending them

If you are not comfortable with your voice, you can review the audios before sending them. This trick is achieved when you start recording the audio and when you want to stop it, immediately exit the app while pressing the record button. When you re-enter the conversation you will see that the audio is maintained and that you can listen to it, send it or delete it.

10. Personalized notifications

This is a great option to know exactly who is sending you WhatsApp messages thanks to the personalized tones. What you have to do is go to the chat in question, click on its name and look for the option “Personalized tone” and select the one you like the most.

11. Custom backgrounds

Also the funds to adjust one to each chat. It can be with a special image or with the ones that WhatsApp has included for the dark or light mode.

To do this, you just go to the Settings menu, then to Chats and select the Wallpaper option. Here you will find all the available images and you can adjust the brightness of your screen.

^{Image: Via Telcel}

12. Become a WhatsApp beta tester

You may be interested in being a beta tester to be one of the first to test the new functions released by the app. You just have to click on this link and follow all the instructions.