Despite some flocking to Signal and Telegram due to WhatsApp’s controversial privacy update, the fact remains that the Facebook-owned messaging app still dominates the market. WhatsApp has more than 2 billion users worldwide, making it by far the most popular messaging app. Although many have jumped to rival chat apps in recent months, experts say it’s likely to have a major impact on WhatsApp’s overall popularity. The chat app remains the best messaging platform to send texts, share photos and even make video calls.
We’ve tracked down some of the least widely known WhatsApp tips and tricks to help you get more out of the popular messaging app.
Hide the blue ticks:
The blue ticks you see next to messages are useful as it alerts a user when messages are sent through and read. Those blue ticks can prove to be troublesome when you don’t reply to a person instantly. The solution: turn off your read receipts. Here’s how to do it: Go to Settings -> Account -> Privacy and then untick the “Read Receipts” box. There is, however, a limitation. Keep in mind that the feature won’t disable the read receipts for the group chat.
Hide your profile picture:
There have been times when you don’t want everyone to see your profile picture, especially when you are a part of annoying family groups. The good news is that there is a way to hide your profile picture on WhatsApp from those who don’t know you personally. To do this, open WhatsApp and go to Settings. Click on Account and then click on Privacy. Now, tap on Profile photo. You will get three options: ‘Everyone’, ‘My Contacts’, ‘Nobody’. In case you want your profile photo to be visible to people whose numbers are saved in your contacts, then simply select ‘My Contacts’. If you want no one sees your profile picture, choose ‘No One‘.
Reply to a group message privately:
Did you know you can send private messages in group chats? WhatsApp lets you send private messages to members in group chats, meaning it is possible to reply to specific group members — keeping the conversation invisible to everyone else. If you an iPhone, all you need to Press and hold a message in a group chat. Tap the “… More” option, and then tap “Reply Privately”. If you’re using an Android smartphone, the menu will appear at the top of the screen. You’ll need to tap the three dots in the top right-hand corner to access the “Reply Privately” option.
Stop images and video appearing in your gallery:
WhatsApp automatically downloads photos and videos on your phone’s gallery. Some users find it annoying as it consumers storage and data, but there is a way to stop WhatsApp from saving photos and videos on your phone. Open WhatsApp and then select Settings. Head to Media Auto-Download, where you will find three options: When Using Cellular Data, When Connected on Wi-Fi and When Roaming. Disable auto-downloads by unchecking all three options, Images, Audio and Video.
How to block a WhatsApp contact:
While WhatsApp allows you to get in touch with friends and family, there are times when you feel you don’t want want to get in touch with someone. Thankfully, it is simple to block a contact on WhatsApp. To be clear, blocked contacts will not be able to call or send messages to you, and your status updates will not be visible to them. If you block the contacts on the messaging platform, WhatsApp will no inform them that they have been blocked. You can anytime, unblock them. Here how to do it:
1.) Open WhatsApp.
2.) Go to Settings> Specific chat>Tap on contact info at the top>Scroll down to the bottom > Block Contact.
