Hidden WhatsApp features you probably didn’t know about – including changing your font and finding your ‘bestie’

OVER two billion people use WhatsApp but many don’t know about all the hidden features it has to offer.

From new fonts to finding out your WhatsApp ‘best friend’, we’ve rounded up some of the best WhatsApp features you should be using.

Change your WhatsApp font

This image shows what a monospaced text looks likeCredit: The Sun

It’s possible to make your WhatsApp messages bold or italics, add a strikethrough effect and even change the font to a secret monospace style.

A monospaced font is one where every letter and character occupies exactly the same amount of horizontal space.

First, you’ll need to locate the backtick icon, which looks like a reverse apostrophe.

On your phone, just hold down on the apostrophe icon and it’ll show up.

WhatsApp has several 'hidden' features — WhatsApp has several ‘hidden’ featuresCredit: Alamy

Then, place three of those before and after your message, like this: “`text goes here“`

That will monospace your message, which will definitely confuse your friends.

Use “Disappearing Messages”

WhatsApp has a “self-destructing” messages feature if you don’t want your conversations to stick around.

To turn it on, go into the chat in question and click on the name at the top.

Then click on “Disappearing Messages” and you can choose to turn it on or off.

Messages should disappear after seven days if they’re sent to a chat that has the feature turned on.

Remember people could still screenshot or forward your messages within this time.

Pin your favourite chats

If you’d rather have your favourite chats permanently at the top of your WhatsApp then this is the trick for you.

On an Android phone, tap and hold the chat you want to pin and then tap the Pin icon that appears at the top of the screen.

To unpin the chat, tap and hold it, then tap the Remove Pin icon.

On an iPhone, swipe right on the chat you want to pin.

Then tap Pin, which will lock the chat to the top of your app.

To unpin a chat, swipe right on the pinned chat and then tap Unpin.

If you’re using WhatsApp for desktop, click the down arrow at the right side of a chat.

Then choose Pin to pin the chat.

Alternatively, to unpin a chat, follow the same steps but press Unpin Chat.

You can only pin up to three specific chats to the top of your chat list.

Find your WhatsApp bestie

You can check which of your friends you send the most WhatsApp messages to, and track the exact number of texts you’ve sent.

You can find the number of texts you’ve sent and received in a chat, and how many times you’ve shared locations.

This trick also shows how many photos, GIFs, videos, voice messages, documents and stickers have been sent – and the amount of storage space they’re taking up.

Finally, you can even see exactly how much storage space your chat with a person is clogging up overall.

You can find the message counter under Storage UsageCredit: The Sun

To check your message counter simply open the WhatsApp app and click on the Settings tab.

Next, open the Data and Storage Usage panel, then click Storage Usage at the bottom.

Here you’ll be presented with a big list of your chats, ordered in terms of storage space taken up.

The people at the top of the list will be sucking up the most storage, and can take up significant amounts if you trade lots of pictures or videos.

To see how many texts you’ve sent with a person, click on any of the chats and you’ll get a breakdown of stats.

Mark a chat as “unread”

This is good if you think you’re going to forget to reply to someone.

To mark a WhatsApp chat as unread, go to your Chats screen and then hold a finger down over the chat of your choice.

After a few seconds, the chat should open bigger and you’ll see the option to “Mark as Unread” appear.

Lock out snoopers

It’s possible to make your WhatsApp super safe even if someone has unlocked your phone.

You just need to make use of a feature that requires you to open WhatsApp with Face ID or Touch ID.

To set this up you need to head to your WhatsApp settings.

Then click “Account” and then “Privacy”.

From here, you can switch on “Screen Lock” with either Touch ID or Face ID.

You’ll also be able to pick a duration time for when the ID is required again.

Now whenever you go to open the app, it’ll ask you for your prints or a picture of your face to check it’s really you reading your private chats.

You can still read and quick reply to messages in your notification window, so the tool isn’t foolproof.

You’ll also be able to answer WhatsApp calls without Touch or Face ID.

Turn off “Last Seen”

If you don’t want people to know what time you were last on WhatsApp then turn the feature off.

Just open Settings and then click “Account” and then “Privacy”.

Select “Last Seen” and then select “Nobody”.

WhatsApp – a quick history

Here’s what you need to know…

WhatsApp was created in 2009 by computer programmers Brian Acton and Jan Koum – former employees of Yahoo
It’s one of the most popular messaging services in the world
Koum came up with the name WhatsApp because it sounded like “what’s up”
After a number of tweaks the app was released with a messaging component in June 2009, with 250,000 active users
It was originally free but switched to a paid service to avoid growing too fast. Then in 2016, it became free again for all users
Facebook bought WhatsApp Inc in February 2014 for $19.3billion (£14.64bn)
The app is particularly popular because all messages are encrypted during transit, shutting out snoopers
As of 2020, WhatsApp has over 2billion users globally

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