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With more than two billion users worldwide, WhatsApp is the most popular mobile messaging service in the world, but many users don’t take advantage of the app’s hidden features.
WhatsApp launched in 2009 and was bought by Meta (then known as Facebook) for $19 billion in 2014, but the app continues to add new features.
For example, the ability to use WhatsApp on multiple phones was added in April 2023 in response to user demand, and HD photos were added in August 2023.
Below are some of WhatsApp’s best new tools and settings that you may not be familiar with – from tips for improving privacy to features like screen sharing.
Send photos in HD
The new HD feature was recently added (WhatsApp)
The downside to WhatsApp as a file sharing method has always been that your images arrived compressed, making them look worse – but that’s all changed this year.
Meta founder Mark Zuckerberg showed off a new HD photo feature on his Facebook account, and it’s now live on both Android and iOS.
Zuckerberg said, “You can now send photos in HD on WhatsApp!”
You can use the feature with new photos and existing photos: select a photo, then select the “HD” option from the editing tools at the top of the screen.
Tap that, select HD quality and then tap HD.
Your image will be delivered in a resolution of 3072 x 4080, compared to the previous compressed 1536 x 2040 used by WhatsApp.
It’s not quite perfect, as the photos are still compressed, but they are much more high resolution than before.
Use WhatsApp on two (or more) phones
You can now use the same WhatsApp account on multiple phones (WhatsApp)
Thanks to a recent update, you can use WhatsApp on two phones at the same time. You just need to pair the second device with your first.
Launched earlier this year, WhatsApp wrote: “Pairing phones as companion devices makes messaging easier. Now you can switch between phones without logging out and continue your chats where you left off.
“Or if you’re a small business owner, additional employees can now respond to customers directly from their phone under the same WhatsApp Business account.”
Companion mode, unveiled this year, allows you to link up to four additional devices to your account, including tablets and phones.
Tap the three dots (the Overflow menu), then go to Paired devices > Pair a device, then scan the QR code that appears with your secondary phone.
Use ‘Stealth Mode’ in WhatsApp
Stealth Mode Helps Hide You When You’re Online (WhatsApp)
It’s not widely known, but Stealth Mode lets you hide whether you’re online or not, or choose who can see if you’re online.
The tool was unveiled by Mark Zuckerberg, CEO of Meta, WhatsApp’s parent company in a 2022 update.
Zuckerberg said the tool is built to keep WhatsApp chat “as private and secure as face-to-face conversations.”
To enable this, go to ‘Privacy’ in the settings and choose ‘Who can see when I’m online’.
Set this to “Same as last seen” and adjust the “Last seen” settings to exclude the contacts you don’t want to see when you’re online.
That, or set it to ‘No one’ and then no one can see if you’re online or not.
Share your screen
Screen sharing used to be limited to more ‘pro-grade’ apps like Teams, but you can now show what’s on your screen with WhatsApp.
Just open the app, start a video call with a contact, then tap the screen share icon at the bottom of the screen.
Just confirm that you want to share the screen, then tap Stop sharing when you want to stop.
Make your messages disappear
You can add a timer to make messages disappear (WhatsApp)
If you’re concerned about messages being used against you, or if you’d just rather delete your Internet history, you can set a timer so that they disappear hours or days after you send them.
To activate this, go to Settings > Privacy and choose ‘Disappearing messages’.
It only affects chats after you change the setting, but you can set messages to disappear after 24 hours or up to 90 days later.
Find out which chats are taking up the most space
We all have “those” chats where people spam photos and videos every five minutes – but did you know you can see which ones are taking up the most space?
To find out, go to Settings > Storage & data > Manage storage. You will then see a list of which of your chats are taking up the most space.
Stop WhatsApp from using your data
You can control how much data WhatsApp uses (WhatsApp)
You can stop WhatsApp from downloading large files, and also control how much data it uses on calls.
Go to Settings > Storage & data and control which files WhatsApp downloads over the mobile network (by default it is set to download only photos).
You can also select an option to use less data for calls.
Turn off ‘last seen’
If you don’t want your friends (or colleagues) to know when you’re online, you can turn off the ‘last seen’ time on Whatsapp.
To do this, go to Settings > Privacy and set ‘Last seen’ to Everyone, No one, My contacts or ‘My contacts except…’, which allows you to exclude specific people.
Video calling up to 32 people at the same time
If you want your WhatsApp chats to turn into a Zoom-style video conference, you can call up to 32 people at once.
Just tap on a WhatsApp group chat and if your group has less than 32 members, tap on the video call icon in the top right corner.
If there are more than 32 people, tap the Group call icon and select the people you want to invite.
Search all your chats at once
If you know SOMEONE sent you information, but can’t remember who or what chat it was in, you can search all your messages at once.
On iOS, pull down to access the search bar: on Android, just tap the magnifying glass.