1) Begone, blue ticks of misery
Clearly, you've not got time to respond immediately. But at the same time, you don't want the sender to realise that you've already looked at the message, lest they think you're ignoring them when you fail to reply for two more hours. That's the privilege the blue ticks take away.
Recently though, the chat app has realised the error of its ways and silently come up with a workaround. The liberty of message-mulling is ours again.
How: In the Settings menu, go to Account, then Privacy and turn off Read Receipts. The only snag is you’ll no longer get them for other people either.
Want to get sneaky? If you need to read something on the downlow without giving up read receipt privileges, simply put your phone in Airplane Mode before reading the message and you'll dodge a blue tick. Just make sure you've closed the app before you turn your data back on. We won't tell anyone.
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2) Figure out your BFFs
In the year 2017, friendships aren’t measured on loyalty or time, it’s all about how much data you’ve shared. WhatsApp
has that info - and you can use it to make your own ranked list of your
favourite friends. No, there's nothing weird about that at all. What's
more, if you click through you can mass delete stuff that’s taking up too much space.
How: Head to Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Storage Usage and you’ll see a list of your most important groups and contacts ranked according to the data you’ve expended on them. Ah, the romance of modern living.
How: Head to Settings > Data and Storage Usage > Storage Usage and you’ll see a list of your most important groups and contacts ranked according to the data you’ve expended on them. Ah, the romance of modern living.
3) See when your messages are read
In group chats, those
grey ticks only turn blue when every member of the group has read your
message. But there lurks within WhatsApp a handy way to find out who’s
neglecting you...
How: On Android, hold down
on a message you've sent and select Info, or on iOS, simply swipe left
on the message you want the details on. It'll show you who it's been
delivered to, who's read it and when. This also works with individual
chats.
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4) Hide your profile pic
Batman. David Bowie. Pepe
the Prawn. All people who have built their much-vaunted careers on an
air of mystique and otherness. You can bet they’d have their WhatsApp
profile pics set to private, instead of treating the world to a
bedraggled photo of them and a bottle of Lambrini. So, as the saying
goes, always be yourself unless you can be like Batman.
How: Head to Settings > Privacy > Profile Photo > Nobody.
How: Head to Settings > Privacy > Profile Photo > Nobody.
5) Mute group chats
With WhatsApp
groups only capped at 50 participants, they can sometimes get pretty
busy. Prevent yourself from being woken up by incessant messages by
muting particular groups.
How: Tap on the group chat of your choice, then the name to bring up Group Info where you will find the option to Mute the chat for either eight hours, one week or a year. Although if you're choosing the latter, you might as well leave altogether.
How: Tap on the group chat of your choice, then the name to bring up Group Info where you will find the option to Mute the chat for either eight hours, one week or a year. Although if you're choosing the latter, you might as well leave altogether.
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6) Get shortcuts to conversations
If you’re on Android you can create shortcuts to popular chats and let them live on your homescreen: useful if there are certain people you chat to more often.
How: Tap and hold on the chat (group or individual) of your choice and a tab will pop up. Select the Add Conversation Shortcut option and the chat in question will appear as the person's profile photo on your mobile desktop.
How: Tap and hold on the chat (group or individual) of your choice and a tab will pop up. Select the Add Conversation Shortcut option and the chat in question will appear as the person's profile photo on your mobile desktop.
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7) Send your mates your location
If you're trying to give
directions to your mates on where to meet and getting nowhere, you can
sling them a drop pin of your current location and get them to make
their way to you using maps. If you're not there yet, you can also send
them a pin of where you're heading to, or alternatively, use a newer
feature to share your 'live location' to let them track your movements
en route.
This will broadcast your location to them for a choice of 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. Changed your mind about wanting your whereabouts known? You can end it whenever you want by clicking the "stop sharing" option in the chat.
How: On iOS, click the + icon to the left of the chat box, and choose Location. This will bring up all of your options for the above, though you will need to approve Whatsapp to know your location at all times if you want to use Live Location (it will prompt you to do this if you haven't already). On Android, head to the Attach menu and choose Location in the same way - you'll need to approve the app for similar location permissions here too.
This will broadcast your location to them for a choice of 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours. Changed your mind about wanting your whereabouts known? You can end it whenever you want by clicking the "stop sharing" option in the chat.
How: On iOS, click the + icon to the left of the chat box, and choose Location. This will bring up all of your options for the above, though you will need to approve Whatsapp to know your location at all times if you want to use Live Location (it will prompt you to do this if you haven't already). On Android, head to the Attach menu and choose Location in the same way - you'll need to approve the app for similar location permissions here too.
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