Even if you see yourself as a bit of a whizz, you can never be sure you're fully up-to-date
WhatsApp may be one of the world's most popular messaging apps, but it has a load of handy hidden features you may never have come across before.
It's constantly adding more and more functionality too, so even if you see yourself as a bit of a WhatsApp whizz, you can never be sure you're fully clued-up.
Naturally, the even app's lesser-known features are designed to make your life easier, but some are more useful than others.
We’ve rounded up a selection of the best. Click on the gallery below to start browsing.
11 USEFUL WHATSAPP FEATURES YOU DIDN’T KNOW EXISTED
Type hands-free
You can get Siri or Google Assistant to type your WhatsApp messages out for you by saying either “Hey Siri” or “Okay Google”, followed by the name of the person you want to message and the actual contents of the message
Mark chats as unread
When you’ve read a message but can’t reply to it straight away, you can set a visual reminder by marking it as unread. On Android, long-press the conversation, and on iOS, swipe from left to right on a chat.
Dodge the blue ticks
WhatsApp’s blue ticks show when sent messages have been read, but you can disable them buy going to Settings > Account > Privacy > Read Receipts. However, bear in mind that, by doing so, you’ll lose the ability to see when your own sent messages have been read. Another, more fiddly way of reading your messages without triggering the blue ticks, is enabling Aeroplane Mode before opening your messages - just remember to close the app before switching Aeroplane Mode off again.
Hide your 'last seen' time
Prevent your friends from finding out when you were last online by hiding your last seen time. Go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Last Seen. As is the case with disabling read receipts, hiding your ‘last seen’ time will also stop you from seeing anybody else’s.
Limit data usage
You can control how much data you munch through on WhatsApp by limiting the types of media you automatically download on a mobile connection. Go to Settings > Data Usage and choose the best option for you.
Customise notifications
If you’re expecting an important WhatsApp message from someone, set a custom notification for them by opening the chat, tapping their name at the top and hitting Custom Notifications.
Format your messages
To jazz up any of your messages, simply highlight it by tapping and holding it, hit the More Options key on the pop-up menu and tap the formatting option you want - bold, italic, strikethrough or monospace.
Email entire conversations
You almost certainly won’t do this on a regular basis, but it’s a handy option to have. You can export entire conversations - complete with emoji and media attachments - by hitting More inside a chat a selecting Email Chat.
Mass-message contacts
You can send the same message to lots of your contacts without lumping them all into one group, much like the BCC option on email, by hitting the New Broadcast option on the app’s main menu.
Pin conversations
You pin up to three contacts and groups to the top of your WhatsApp conversation list by tapping and holding a chat, then hitting the pin icon.
