WhatsApp is working hard to make its messaging platform more user-friendly and has rolled out multiple features in the past one year as part of this process. Some of them are still unknown to a lot of users. These features give users unimaginable power. The application has over 1.5 billion monthly active users and the number is growing at a significant speed.
Here are the top WhatsApp tricks:
Read messages without the sender knowing:
You must have come across a blue tick when you send a message to someone. What does it mean? The blue tick on the Facebook-owned app means that the message which was sent has been read by the recipient. However, users can disable the blue tick. For this, users need to visit the WhatsApp Settings > Account > Privacy > Read Receipts. The thing to note here for users is that they will also lose the ability to check if their message has been read. Interestingly, there is a way around it. Users can simply switch their phone to ‘Aeroplane Mode’ and then read the message.
‘Delete’ or ‘unsend’ a message:
WhatsApp last year rolled out a big feature for its users called ‘Delete for Everyone’. By using this feature, users can delete a message which they may have sent accidentally. However, the message can be deleted within 4,096 seconds, which is roughly 68 minutes. To do this, hold the desired message and then hit the Delete for Everyone option.
How to use starred messages:
This is one of the most underrated yet useful features on WhatsApp. Using this feature, users can bookmark a specific message and can always refer to it later. To star a message, users need to hold the message and then press the star icon that appears on the screen.
Share your ‘live location’:
WhatsApp now lets its users share their location in real-time with contacts/groups. To do this, users need to open the chat they are planning to send their location to and then choose ‘Share Live Location’. The real-time location of the users will be valid for 15 minutes, one hour and eight hours. Users can add comments and also cancel “location-sharing” anytime.
Know what data WhatsApp has collected from you:
Users can now request their ‘Account Info Report’ to know which data is being collected by WhatsApp. For this, users need to visit Setting > Account > Request account Info. Though it doesn’t contain conversations, it shows all other details like their account information and settings.