Whatsapp has some cool features which a lot of people has no idea of, if you are one of those fast finger Typers, and always looking for short cut codes to quickly migrate from one option to the other on WhatsApp, here are some short cut keys you can use, and the amazing part is, it works on Android, MacBook and Windows,
If you are an Android user, and you want to check profile of members of the group you joined on whatsapp,
• Open your WhatsApp and select the group, long press and hold V+@ and it’s done
• To make text bold: *text*
• To change text font to Italic: _text_
• Strike through: ~text~
• Monospace: ```text```
WhatsApp also has a web app that syncs everything from your phone and there's a desktop app too. Go to https://web.whatsapp.com/ or download the desktop app from whatsapp.com/download/
You'll then need to open WhatsApp on your phone ≫ Settings ≫ WhatsApp Web/Desktop ≫ Scan the QR code on the browser or Desktop app ≫ Follow the instructions.
Both the web and desktop app will serve up chats and alerts on your computer, allowing you to reply quickly and easily. Your phone will need to be connected for it to work though, so if you lose your connection, the web app will stop syncing until you get your phone connection back
Windows Browser Shortcut Codes
Mark unread ≫ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + U
Archive chat ≫ Ctrl + Alt + E
Pin/unpin ≫ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + P
Search in chat ≫ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + F
New chat ≫ Ctrl + Alt + N
Settings ≫ Ctrl +Alt + ,
Mute chat ≫ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + M
Delete chat ≫ Ctrl + Alt + Backspace
Search in chat list ≫ Ctrl + Alt + /
New group ≫ Ctrl + Alt + Shift + N
Open profile ≫ Ctrl + Alt + P
Return space ≫ Shift + Enter
you can opt for Share Live Location, which allows your contact to see your Live Location for the duration you choose so they can track you. Duration times are set at 15 minutes, 1 hour or 8 hours.
iOS: Chat ≫ Specific chat ≫ Tap on "+" to the left of the message box ≫ Location ≫ Share Live Location ≫ Select time frame.
Android: Chat ≫ Specific chat ≫ Tap on the paperclip to the right of the message box ≫ Location ≫ Share Live Location ≫ Select time frame.
You can see everyone you are sharing your live location with by opening Settings ≫ Account ≫ Privacy ≫ Live Location.
Search all your chats
Someone might have sent you their address or you might remember talking about a specific programme or film but you don't want to scroll through all your messages to try and find what you're looking for. At the top of all your chats on iOS there is a search bar. On Android, there's a search icon.
You can type anything into the search bar, from the start of a town name if you're looking for an address to a specific word and all the chats with that word will appear below as specific messages. When you tap on the Search bar, you will also see a list of options, from Photos to Audio, allowing you to minimise your search.
Clicking on a respective result will take you to that part of the chat conversation you had.
Search a specific chat
If you want to search a specific chat rather than all of your chats, this is possible too. Maybe you had a conversation about a specific meeting place, or they sent you their other contact number or their address for example.
iOS: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Tap on contact info at the top ≫ Chat Search ≫ Type in the search bar that appears at the top of that specific chat.
Android: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Open the menu top right ≫ Search ≫ Type in the search bar that appears at the top of that specific chat.
Find who you talk to most
There is a way to find the people you send the most messages to and how much storage each person takes up, among other things.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Storage and Data ≫ Manage Storage ≫ You'll see a list of contacts at the bottom in order of which is using the most storage.
Quickly delete all photos, GIFs, videos, messages or stickers from a certain chat
It's possible to delete all the messages, photos, or videos, GIFs, contacts, locations, voice messages, documents and stickers in one chat. For example, you can delete all the messages in a specific chat or group chat, but leave all the photos.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Storage and Data ≫ Manage Storage ≫ Select Contact ≫ Manage ≫ Select ≫ Tick the boxes next to what you want to delete (videos or images) ≫ Tap on the bin to delete.
It's possible to sort by which files are taking up the most room, the newest and the oldest if you tap the circle in the bottom left corner after you tap on the contact.
Quickly review and delete items to help clear storage
WhatsApp has made it easier to manage what is taking up storage on your device. Not only can you see which chats consume most storage, but you can also see which files are larger than 5MB and which files have been forwarded multiple times.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Storage and Data ≫ Manage Storage. Under the Review and Delete Items section you can click on either the larger than 5MB tab or the forwarded multiple times tab and then select the ones you want to delete. As with the individual chats, you can sort by tapping on the circle in the bottom left corner.
Save your data allowance
If you've got a limited data allowance, you don't want WhatsApp munching it all away. Thankfully, you can customise when media is allowed to download, as well as ensure calls use as little data as possible.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Storage and Data ≫ Media Auto-Download ≫ Switch to Wi-Fi only for each option to save your data.
Find out how much data you're using
If you're worried about your data usage, you can find out exactly how much you are using. You'll get a breakdown of total number of sent and received messages, as well as data sent and received.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Storage and Data ≫ Network Usage.
Change the wallpaper on your WhatsApp chat screen
WhatsApp has a standard wallpaper, which will appear as a background on all of your chats. You can change this wallpaper though, with options including solid colours, your own photos as well as a collection of images from WhatsApp itself.
iOS: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Chat Wallpaper ≫ Choose Wallpaper Library, Solid Colours or Photos.
Android: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Chat Wallpaper ≫ Choose Wallpaper Library, Solid Colours, Gallery, Default or No Wallpaper.
WhatsApp privacy tips and tricks
Turn on Disappearing Messages
Turning on Disappearing Messages will make any new messages in a chat disappear after seven days. Remember the messages can still be saved elsewhere though.
iOS & Android: Specific chat ≫ Click on the person's name at the top of chat ≫ Disppearing Messages > On.
Require Face ID or Touch ID to unlock WhatsApp
If you want double security on your WhatsApp chats, it's possible for iOS users to set their WhatsApp account to require Face ID or Touch ID authentication when opening WhatsApp, even when your device is already unlocked.
You'll still be able to reply to messages from notifications and answer calls if WhatsApp is locked. It's also possible to set the duration of time you want the Screen Lock feature to kick in.
iOS: Settings ≫ Account ≫ Privacy ≫ Screen Lock ≫ Toggle on Require Face ID / Require Touch ID ≫ Select the time duration (Immediately, after a minute, after 15 minutes or after an hour).
Meanwhile for Android users, you can use pin to protect your WhatsApp from unauthorised login even when your mobile phone is unlocked, which periodically request for the pin to log in.
Android: Settings ≫ Account ≫ Two-step verification ≫ Create pin.
How to turn off last seen
WhatsApp's last seen feature allows you to see when someone last checked WhatsApp, as well as allow users to see when you last checked. If a contact hasn't disabled last seen, it will appear under their name at the top of an open chat. To disable last seen:
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Account ≫ Privacy ≫ Last Seen ≫ Switch to Nobody.
Stop people seeing your messages from notification bar
iOS: Settings ≫ Notifications ≫ Toggle off Show Preview / Settings ≫ Notifications ≫ Toggle off Show Notifications.
Android offers a range of notification controls. Within the WhatsApp app itself, you can turn off high priority notifications - those that will pop-up at the top of the screen. Or you can control the notifications at a system level to keep details private or remove them completely.
Android: Settings ≫ Notifications ≫ Toggle off Use high priority notifications.
Hide your profile picture
If you don’t want everyone to see your profile picture, you can choose if everyone, no-one, or only your contacts see your picture.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Account ≫ Privacy ≫ Profile Photo.
How to block a WhatsApp contact
There are so many reasons why you might want to block a contact, you won't be able to send or receive messages, or make or receive calls from them and even if you unblock them, you won't see any messages sent to you whilst they were blocked.
iOS & Android: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Tap on contact subject at the top ≫ Scroll down to the bottom ≫ Block Contact.
Stop images and video appearing in your gallery
Sharing photos and video on WhatsApp is great, but you might not want it added to your phone's gallery. On Android, a folder is created in the gallery by default, while on iOS, it saves to your camera roll. If you don't want that, you can turn it off.
iOS: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Toggle off Save to Camera Roll.
Android: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Toggle off Show Media in Gallery.
Change automatic image/video saving preferences for specific chats
It's also possible to change the automatic image and video preferences for specific chats. You might want to make sure images are always saved from your family for example, while you'd prefer not to have all images from a group chat in your gallery or camera roll.
All chats are set to default (off) unless you change them individually but there is the option to always save images and videos from a contact or never save them.
iOS: Chat ≫ Specific chat ≫ Tap on contact or subject at top of display ≫ Save to Camera Roll ≫ Set to Always or Never.
Download and view your WhatsApp data report
If you want to download and view the data Facebook-owned WhatsApp collects on you, you can download and view a data report.
iOS and Android: Settings ≫ Account ≫ Request Account Info ≫ Request Report.
Mark chats as unread
Ever been out and about, read a chat and then completely forgot to reply? We do it all the time. There is a way to mark important chats with dot to remind you to go back to it though.
iOS: Chats ≫ Swipe left to right ≫ Mark as Unread.
Android: Long press chat ≫ Open Menu ≫ Mark as Unread.
Pin a chat to the top
If you're prone to forgetting to reply to messages, you can also pin a chat so it appears at the top of all your chats, including above new and unread chats, rather than just marking it as unread. It's only possible to pin three chats though so don't get too complacent with your replying.
iOS: Chats ≫ Swipe left to right ≫ Pin Chat.
Android: Long press chat ≫ Press the pin at the top of the screen.
Mute a chat or group chat
Group chats can be the worst. You might not be able to leave the conversation, but you can mute notifications so you aren't awakened every time someone throws in their two cents.
iOS: Chats ≫ Open the group chat / chat ≫ Tap the subject to get the Group Info / Contact Info screen ≫ Mute ≫ Select how long you want to mute it for.
Android: Chats ≫ Open chat ≫ Menu button ≫ Mute.
Archive your chats
Archive Chat allows you to hide a conversation from your Chats screen. It does not delete the chat - it just allows you to remove it from your main chat screen without losing it, helping you organise your conversations.
You can archive groups or individual chats, and they will disappear until you pull down from the top of the Chats display and tap the Archived Chats tab. You can also archive all chats.
iOS: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Swipe right to left ≫ Archive / Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Archive All Chats.
Android: Chats ≫ Long press on chat ≫ Press the archive folder at top right of the screen
Back up your chats
To make sure you don't lose any of your chats if you lose your device or you switch devices, make sure you back up your chats to iCloud or Google Drive. Unfortunately if you are switching between iOS and Android and vice versa, there is no simple way to move your chats over so be prepared to lose them. Also, be aware that archived chats are no longer encrypted.
iOS & Android: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Chat Backup ≫ Back Up Now.
Clear all chats
If you want to keep all the contacts you are chatting with on your WhatsApp but you want to clear all your messages, WhatsApp gives you an easy option to do this.
iOS: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Clear All Chats.
Delete all chats
Want a clean WhatsApp slate? Start from scratch by deleting all of your chats. It means you'll get rid of everything though, not just the content of the chats but you'll have to start a new chat for every contact too.
iOS: Settings ≫ Chats ≫ Delete All Chats.
Delete or clear a specific chat
If you want to clear or delete a specific chat without losing all of your chats, then it's possible to do this too.
iOS: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Swipe right to left ≫ Tap the three dots ≫ Clear Chat / Delete Chat.
Android: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Tap the menu top right ≫ More ≫ Clear Chat
Bookmark important messages
Some messages are more important than others. Whether it's a date you need to remember, or a good restaurant you've been recommended. It's possible to bookmark these messages and find them all easily in the Starred Messages section.
iOS: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Specific message ≫ Double tap or hold down and press star.
Android: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Specific message ≫ Hold down and press star.
Delete a specific message within a chat
Just as you can star a specific message within a chat, you can also delete a specific message within a chat. You can also delete for everyone but you have to do this within 1 hour
Choosing delete for everyone will also result in a message appearing in the chat saying the message has been deleted which although looks suspicious, could be better than whatever message you sent in the first place.
iOS & Android: Chats ≫ Specific chat ≫ Press and hold on specific message you want to delete ≫ Press Delete.
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