The best tips and tricks to use WhatsApp effectively

Millions of people around the world have adopted WhatsApp as their communication system. instant messaging. Created in 2009 by a Ukrainian developer, since 2014 it has belonged to Meta, which also operates Facebook, Instagram and even one of its competitors, Facebook Messenger.

THE WhatsApp features They include sending written messages, audio, photos, documents and videos. Furthermore, it allows you to make calls and video calls between two or more people. And, as if that wasn’t enough, it works almost like a social network thanks to its groups of up to half a thousand participants.

But like many other apps, users generally use only a portion of its myriad features. Therefore it is good to know how to get the most out of this program almost essential when communicating.

The best tips and tricks to use WhatsApp effectively

• Disable the double blue check mark. The appearance of this symbol in a chat indicates that the recipient read the message that they sent him. But, many times, it is made clear that there was no response, because the sender was “stuck in the eye”. To deactivate this function you need to press on the three dots located at the top right, and then on Settings and Privacy. There, go to Read Receipts to turn them off. Whatsapp warns that “read receipts will always be sent in group chats.”

• Temporary messages. This feature makes the messages sent to disappear after a certain period (24 hours, 7 or 90 days). To activate it, press the three dots, go to Settings and then to Privacy. Once there, go down to Temporary messagesenable the feature and choose one of these three periods (the feature is disabled by default).

• Silence unknown calls. Anyone with a person’s cell phone number can call them Whatsapp (in Argentina it is necessary to prefix +54 and the area code, for example 911). But the user can block numbers unknown. For this reason, inside Privacyyou have to go to Calls and activate the function Mute calls from unknown numbers.

• Block a contact. There are people who can be annoying, pushy or who are no longer worth reading or listening to. So it would be better to block it. Always inside Privacygoing Blocked contacts and click on the icon Add. Then, select the contact in question.

• Two-step verification. This security function screen appears after registering your phone number, but can also be activated later. For this reason, inside Settingsgoing Accounts and then to check in two steps. The app will ask for a file Six-digit PIN which will be required when re-registering a phone number.

• Edit and color texts. Simply insert a pair of symbols for the text to be read bold (*text*) or italic (_text_). From Google Play you can download the Blue Word app so that the text appears in color. You need to install it as default and open WhatsApp so that a keyboard with blue letters appears.

• Single view messages. They are photos or videos that disappear after being viewed by the recipient, who will be unable to save or share them. To use this super private function, open WhatsApp and enter the chat you want to send the message to. Take a photo or record a video with the camera, or choose an image from the gallery. In the screen that appears under the photo or video, to the right of “add a comment”, click on the number 1, which will turn green. Click on the green arrow on the right to send.