Overview: You didn't know these 19 WhatsApp functions yet

WhatsApp is the most popular app for chatting with friends for many people. But while you use the service pretty much every day, you probably haven’t heard of these 19 features.

Lesser Known WhatsApp Features

The basic functions of WhatsApp are probably familiar to most users, but do you know the more hidden possibilities of the chat service? We list the 17 slightly less known functions of WhatsApp.

1. Shield WhatsApp with Face ID or Touch ID

Be it work-related or private, there are plenty of reasons to protect your WhatsApp account from others. Fortunately, you can easily secure the app with Touch ID or Face ID, depending on the iPhone you’re using. You do this as follows.

Open WhatsApp and go to the settings;
Tap Account;
Go to Privacy and tap Screen lock;
Set the switch to green.

Overview: You didn’t know these 19 WhatsApp functions yet

You can also set here how long it takes for the app to ask for your face or the tip of your finger again. You can set this in the same screen and range from immediate to an hour.

2. Turn off notification preview

On the iPhone, WhatsApp messages arrive as a preview on your home screen. This way you can see at a glance what someone is writing. If you want to turn off the preview but receive a notification, so that others cannot read along, you can.

Go to WhatsApp settings;
choose ‘Notifications’;
Turn off the slider behind ‘Show preview’.

3. Change number and transfer data

If you have a new number, you can use WhatsApp to transfer your account information, groups and settings to your new phone number. From there, it will show itself by following the steps on the screen.

Go to WhatsApp settings;
Choose ‘Account’;
Then go to ‘Change number’;
Follow the steps on the screen.

4. Using Mailing Lists

If you want to send the same message to different people who are not in one group, for example when you are throwing a party or during New Year’s Eve, WhatsApp has a handy function for that. Mailings, located at the top left of the Chats page, allow you to create a new list.

You can then choose people from your contact list (who have your number) and message them all at once. They can then respond, but only you can view that message.

5. Email Conversation

If you want to save the chat history with a specific person, you can do so by making a backup or by emailing the complete history to yourself (or someone else) as a txt file.

To do this, go to the Contacts window in WhatsApp, tap the person and choose ‘Email chat’. You can then choose whether to send the history with or without media attachments.

6. Backup

If you don’t want to lose your chat history if you lose or replace your iPhone, it’s best to make a backup. It is stored in iCloud, so that you can easily retrieve the copy with another device.

You can make backups manually or have them do it automatically on a regular basis. You can choose whether or not to add media. To make a backup, go to WhatsApp settings. Choose ‘Chats’ and tap ‘Backup’.

7. Saving data on media

If you are in WhatsApp conversations where videos and photos are often shared, your data bundle can go fast. Go to ‘Data usage’ via WhatsApp’s settings to do something about it. Here you can choose different types of media to download them via WiFi or mobile data. By choosing WiFi here, you save data.

In addition, you can set whether or not you want received media to automatically save to your Camera Roll album. You do this in the ‘Chats’ window from the settings. It says ‘Save received media’. Normally it is green, but you can also turn it off.

8. Make appointments from WhatsApp

If someone uses a timing in chats, those words in WhatsApp turn blue, like urls. Tap it to immediately create an appointment in your calendar.

9. Privacy for strangers

Everyone can see your profile picture and status on WhatsApp. But if you don’t want strangers to know about you, you can adjust that. Via ‘Account’ in the settings of WhatsApp you choose ‘Privacy’. Here you can set who can see when you were last online, what your profile picture looks like and what your status is. It is even possible to keep these things secret from everyone.

10. Customize Blue Checks

Via the check marks on WhatsApp you can check with others whether they have received a message and whether they have seen it. The latter is indicated by blue check marks, with only a receipt they appear gray. You can turn off these read receipts so that others do not know about you when you have read something. However, if you disable it, you won’t know that from others either.

Open WhatsApp settings;
Go to Privacy;
Turn off Read receipts.

11. Bypass Blue Checks

To secretly read a message without passing a blue tick, you can also use a trick. Once you receive a notification of a WhatsApp message, wait to unlock your iPhone.

Put your finger on the Touch ID button or have your face scanned with Face ID so that the contents of these notifications can be read. You can now read a message without passing a blue tick. However, as soon as you want to respond to a message, you will have to open WhatsApp.

12. Mark chat as unread

Do you read a message that you have to reply to later and you don’t want to forget that? WhatsApp lets you mark chats as unread. You do that in the Chats overview. Swipe the respective conversation to the right. A blue box will appear on the left with the word ‘Unread’ in it. Tap that and a blue dot will appear next to the conversation.

13. (Live) Location Sharing

If you have told someone that you are on your way and you want to share your current location, you can. In a conversation, tap the arrow icon to the left of the input field and choose ‘Share location’. You can then pass it on via GPS. It’s also an easier way to tell if you’re close to each other.

14. Add message to favorites

If you want to read a message again later without scrolling very far back, you can add a star to it. You do this by holding your finger on a message and tapping the star icon in the menu.

You can then find the messages by selecting ‘Starred messages’ in the settings. They are stored there by date. From here you can tap on to the relevant conversation.

15. Respond to messages quickly with Quick Reply

If you get a WhatsApp message while using another app, it can sometimes be inconvenient to open WhatsApp all the way. In that case, you can use the Quick Reply function.

You do this by sliding a notification down, so that a text bar appears. Here you can immediately fill in the response and send it, so that you do not have to open WhatsApp.

16. Use WhatsApp on your iPad

Although WhatsApp does not yet have an iPad version, you can still use the service on your tablet via WhatsApp Web. By installing this correctly, you can even put an icon on your iPad home screen. In our tip about WhatsApp on your iPad you can read exactly how this works and you can also watch a video with explanation.

17. Mute certain conversations (group chats)

If you are in multiple group conversations, an abundance of messages can sometimes cause quite a bit of irritation. However, don’t just leave that group, because you can also just mute it without the other group members knowing about it. With this position, you have the choice of silencing a group conversation for eight hours, a week, or a year.

Open the group conversation you want to mute;
Tap the name of the group to open the settings;
Choose Silent and select how long you want to silence the call.

18. Share files Microsoft Office files

WhatsApp supports Microsoft Office and that is quite handy. This allows you to share Word, PowerPoint and Excel files stored on your iPhone in no time. You no longer need to transfer these to a PDF first. Keep in mind that the recipient can open the files in WhatsApp, but needs separate (Office) apps to edit them.

Open WhatsApp and choose a chat where you want to send an Office file;
Tap the circle with the arrow in it to open the share menu;
Choose ‘Share document’;
Select the app where you saved the document. iCloud Drive or Dropbox for example;
Find the document and tap ‘Send’;
The file is sent and appears with a small icon in the chat window.

19. Make Text Bold, Italic, or Bold

If you want to make your text messages in WhatsApp look a bit more impressive, you can decorate them with bold, italic, or strikethrough text. By using the correct characters on your keyboard and placing them at the beginning and end of the word, you change the look of the text.

*iPhoned* makes the text bold
_iPhoned_ makes the word italic
~iPhoned~ a tilde causes crossed out words

Overview: You didn’t know these 19 WhatsApp functions yet