WhatsApp: Seven Secret Features You Should to Know About
- Tuesday, March 13, 2018
- By Tobi
- 0 Comments
WhatsApp has
Quietly grown and come a long way — from a small start-up to one of the most
popular messaging apps in the world, with over 1.5 billion monthly active
users. The company keeps providing new features and updates to the users. Some of the key features added
this year include 'Delete for Everyone' message, 'WhatsApp Status' and 'Share
your Live Location.' While there are several WhatsApp features that you might
have already used or aware of but here are some of the features hiding in the
app that you should know about.
1. Watch
YouTube videos within WhatsApp :
WhatsApp recently added a
new feature in its app that allows user' to watch YouTube videos within the
app. Users can now play YouTube videos directly inside the messaging app, in
picture-in-picture mode. With this feature, you will not get kicked out of
WhatsApp and forced into the YouTube app. All you have to do is tap on a
YouTube link in a conversation and the video clip will launch in a floating
window. Apart from this, this feature lets you navigate the app without
interrupting the video. Additionally, the video would continue to play even if
you change chats.
2. Send
or Receive money on WhatsApp:
WhatsApp recently rolled
out the UPI-based payments feature in India. The rollout comes after a beta
trial of the new peer-to-peer payment system, tested over one million WhatsApp
users. The benefit of UPI-based WhatsApp Payments service is that the money is
directly credited to the recipient’s bank account. This new feature can be
accessed in a chat window and can be found alongside other options such as
Video, Gallery, Documents and others in the Attachments menu. After clicking on
Payments option, a disclaimer window will show up a list of banks. From there,
users can select their preferred bank account to connect with UPI. Then they
have to create an authentication pin if you haven't yet used the UPI payments
program. If you don't have a UPI account then you have to create one through
the UPI app or your respective bank's website/ app. Furthermore, both the
sender and receiver need to have the WhatsApp Payments feature to successfully
transact on the app.
3. Hide
the blue ticks or read messages without the sender knowing it:
The blue ticks on WhatsApp
show when a sent message has been read, but you can disable them. You just need
to go to Settings > Account > Privacy > Read Receipts. However, by
doing so, you will lose the ability to check when your own sent messages have
been read by your friends. Besides, there is another way to read messages
without triggering the blue ticks by enabling Aeroplane Mode before opening
your chat window to read the message. You just have to remember to close the
app before switching Aeroplane Mode off again.
4. 'Unsend'
or 'Delete' a message:
WhatsApp lately introduced
a feature that allows users to delete a message sent accidentally to the wrong
person within a span of seven minutes after the message is being sent. In
addition to this, WhatsApp might soon extend the time limit of deleting an
accidental message to 4,096 seconds, which is roughly 68 minutes. To delete a
message on WhatsApp, tap and hold the message box and hit the trash icon from
the menu. Then you have to tap on “Delete for everyone” to recall the message.
After tapping on that option, the message will disappear on your device and the
recipient's phone.
5. WhatsApp
Live Location sharing:
The instant messaging
service rolled out this feature, allowing its users to share their location in
real time. With this cool feature, the location is dynamic and updates in real
time, even after you leave the WhatsApp app. You can also manually stop sharing
location data within a chat at any time.
When you try to share your
location in a WhatsApp chat by tapping the attach icon, you will be prompted to
select the duration of time for which your location will be active to others.
You can only choose from one of the preset options — 15 min, 1 hour (default),
and 8 hours and optionally, add a comment.
6. How
to use Starred messages on WhatsApp:
With this feature, users
can bookmark specific messages so that can be referred later. To star a
message, tap and hold the message you want to star and then tap the Star icon
that appears on top of the screen. Moreover, users can access the list of
Starred messages by tapping the Menu button.
7. Use
WhatsApp on your computer:
Users can send or receive
WhatsApp messages on their PC too. The company offers two different ways of
using its service on a computer — WhatsApp Web and desktop apps. Notably, the
two browser version of the app will only work if your smartphone remains
switched on and near the computer.
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