Use WhatsApp to its fullest potential with these 7 hacks

How many of these WhatsApp tips can you tick off?

There are over 1.6 billion WhatsApp users across the globe. And it’s astonishing that a lot of us still don’t know how to use the messaging app to its full potential.

Ever since Facebook acquired Whatsapp back in June of 2014, they’ve not only worked on integrating the apps but also revamping WhatsApp as a much better tool of communication as a whole. What started as a free internet texting app a decade ago now functions as a hyper-intelligent mode of instant smartphone communication. Be it privacy, ease-of-use or storage, here are a bunch of WhatsApp hacks you need to be aware of.

[All images courtesy of WhatsApp]

Share images without compromising on quality

For those who like sharing images over WhatsApp, the quality bar has been a real irk. It’s done in order to limit data usage but it does ruin a good image sometimes. However, there’s a way around it. All you need to do is select the image not from the gallery but from the file manager instead. You’ll have transferred the image over to a designated place. Once done and selected, it will appear as a document instead of an image file.

Make your smartphone’s assistant send messages

WhatsApp hacks can certainly make life a bit easier, here how. Take the instance where you’re probably cleaning or cooking or have your hands busy and need to send out an urgent message. All you have to do is say ‘Okay Google’ or ‘Hey Siri’ and continue with ‘Send them a WhatsApp message’ followed by your message. It will type it out for you, but you’ll still have manually to hit ‘Send’.

How to add layers of security

Thanks to the advancements of ‘IDs’ WhatsApp can now be unlocked exclusively by you. You can use ‘Face ID’, ‘Touch ID’ and two-layer authentication to secure your messages and keep them private. While the third method is also a great start against cyber-hackers as it asks for a personalised code every time one tries to log in. All these three features can be found in the app’s ‘Privacy’ setting.

Playing with fonts

We’re no longer limited to a standard. It isn’t much one of those fascinating WhatsApp hacks, but it certainly betters communication and polishes text. You can select Bold, Italic, Strike-Through, and Monospaced with these simple codes. Use these before and after typing each word or sentence – ‘*’ for Bold, ‘_’ for italic and ‘~’ for Strike-Through. If you’d like to use monospace, use three apostrophes itself. It is great for highlighting various parts of the text. Bold for headings and Italic for quotes and disclaimers, etc.

How to use two WhatsApps simultaneously

If you’re using a dual sim phone, this may have been a struggle for you. Not being able to access both numbers on WhatsApp. There’s a solution to this, and it isn’t exclusively a WhatsApp hack. You’ll need to word an app called ‘Parallel Space‘ which is available on both iOS and Android. It perfectly safe and verified by the apps developers itself, so there’s nothing fishy about it. Once given the required permissions, you can set up your secondary number and use the app like you normally would.

Using GPS to locate better and faster

It’s a known fact that we could share our location on WhatsApp, but little that we know, we could share our real-time location too. This is particularly useful when trying to locate a person in crowded and highly commuted places. On the other hand, if they share their location as well, the app merges the two maps, making the process easier. The button is right there next to the ‘Share Location’ option.

Having media auto-download preferences for specific chats

There are WhatsApp hacks and features that let you select which group chat to save images from and which ones not to. For example, you can select to save images from your university or work group-chat and opt the opposite for your family group-chat. All you have to do is go to the recipient’s profile and swipe to the bottom, where it states ‘Save to camera roll’. This way, you avoid the extra clutter and never miss out on important documents and data.

This article first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India.