12 Amazing WhatsApp Tips and Tricks

WhatsApp is a simple messaging app, but there are plenty of cool WhatsApp tricks to learn, from secret messaging features to handy ways to customize the experience so the app looks better and works better for you.

All of the following tips and tricks are great ways to enjoy WhatsApp even more and they're completely free.

Table of Contents

• 1. Most practical tip: Search for chat
• 2. Safest advice: Send your location to a friend
• 3. Most Helpful Tip: Reply to Specific Messages
• 4. Rare Gem: Pin Conversations to Top
• 5. Top Tip: Add Emphasis to Words 
• 6. Best Tip: Change WhatsApp Wallpaper
• 7. Most Private Tip: Reply to Private Group Chat Messages
• 8. Coolest Tip: Find the person you talk to the most
• 9. Top Tip: Archive Conversations 
• 10. Money Saving Tip: Save on Data Allowance 
• 11. For the Die-hard Fan: Always Online
• 12. Tip for extra security: View messages once

1. Most practical tip: Search for chat

It's easy to get carried away when chatting on WhatsApp, so messages can quickly pile up. If you realize a little too late that you want to save something for later, you can go back and search through your chats.

All you have to do is tap the search icon or type in the search bar to look up anything. It will search through all your WhatsApp chats and quickly show you all the results. Tap on the message you need to jump straight to it.

2. Safest advice: Send your location to a friend

If you're meeting a friend or want to make sure they know where you are, you can easily share your location with someone with the tap of a button.

Tap the + sign or paperclip next to the message box, then tap Location > Share Live Location .

WhatsApp will then send your location to the other person. This is a really useful safety feature if you want to let your friends know where you are.

3. Most Helpful Tip: Reply to Specific Messages

Tapping a button to indicate you like a message is a common feature on other social media apps, so you might be wondering how to like in WhatsApp.

You can't do that on WhatsApp, but you can easily reply to a specific message. It works like saying you "like" a particular message.

To reply to a specific message so it appears as a quote in your reply, tap and hold the message and select Reply .

4. Rare Gem: Pin Conversations to Top

Are you messaging someone who is important to you? A close friend or loved one? You can pin their conversation to the top of your chat window so you never have to dig through your other conversations to find them.

• On iOS, swipe right on a message, then tap Pin Chat .
• On Android, press and hold the conversation, then select the pin icon at the top of the screen.

5. Top Tip: Add Emphasis to Words

You're not limited to typing messages in the basic WhatsApp font. You can also add emphasis to your WhatsApp messages through bold, italics, or strikethrough.

If you want to bold a word, add an asterisk on either side of the word you're typing. For italics, add an underscore on either side, while a tilde on either side will strikethrough the word.

6. Best Tip: Change WhatsApp Wallpaper

You don't have to use the default wallpaper for your chats. You can change your WhatsApp wallpaper to a favorite photo or a funny wallpaper. Best of all, you can choose a photo from your phone's photo gallery to make it more personal than usual.

Go to Settings > Chats > Wallpaper > Change to choose from a variety of wallpapers or change the color.

7. Most Private Tip: Reply to Private Group Chat Messages

Are you part of a group chat with all your family or a group of friends? There have probably been times when you wanted to talk to someone privately. You can find a private one-on-one chat or create a new one, but there are easier ways to do this.

• On iOS, press and hold a message in a group chat, then select More > Reply Privately . The private conversation will open with a text box below it.
• On Android, you need to press and hold the message, then tap the three dots in the top right corner and tap Reply Privately .

8. Coolest Tip: Find the person you talk to the most

Ever wondered who you chat with the most on WhatsApp every day? This free WhatsApp trick makes it easy to find out. Go to Settings > Storage and Data > Manage Storage and select a contact to see how you chat with them. The list is sorted by who you send the most data to.

Either way, this is great insight into who's getting your attention the most. The stats are narrowed down to messages, photos, GIFs, videos, voice messages, and documents.

9. Top Tip: Archive Conversations

The best way to keep your conversations private is to archive them regularly. When you archive a conversation, it doesn't delete it permanently, but it hides it from the main window, making it harder for others to see right away.

• To archive a conversation in iOS, swipe left on the chat window, then tap Archive .
• On Android, press and hold the conversation, then select a folder to archive it.

10. Money Saving Tip: Save on Data Allowance

Does your mobile provider only give you a limited amount of data each month? WhatsApp has a number of ways to keep track of your data usage. To see how much data you've used so far, go to Settings > Storage and Data > Network Usage .

To only download media when you're connected to Wi-Fi, go to Settings > Storage and Data > When using mobile data and uncheck all the boxes.

11. For the Die-hard Fan: Always Online

Want to always be seen as “online” on WhatsApp? You can't do that on your phone, but you can set it up that way if you sign up for the WhatsApp web app.

The app syncs everything from your phone and makes it appear as if you’re always online. For some users, this can be quite useful. Plus, it means you can use WhatsApp on your iPad too.

12. Tip for extra security: View messages once

For an extra level of privacy, you can set the images you send in WhatsApp to “view once.” Adding this designation before you hit Send will cause the photo or text to disappear as soon as the recipient reads it.

This optional feature is similar to how things work in Snapchat and is handy when sending things like passwords.

In a message, select a photo or video to send, then tap 1 in the message field to enable “see once” mode before sending.

You can refer to:

• Things to keep in mind when using WhatsApp on the Web
• Delete WhatsApp Account on Phone in 6 Steps