Discuss WhatsApp tips at http://www.facebook.com/webusermagazine 13 - 26 November 2019^49
Secret Tips for WhatsApp
documents, photos and contacts). Allow
location access, then select ‘Share live
location’ and choose how long they can
track you for. You can tap ‘Stop sharing’
in the chat to shut down the tracking
once you’ve succeeded in meeting up.
See who you chat to most
WhatsApp’s ‘Storage usage’ screen is
designed to reveal how much space
you’re using, but it’s also a handy way to
monitoryourchathabits.Tap‘Dataand
storageusage’in Settings,then‘Storage
usage’toseeallyourchatsandhow
muchspaceeachoneis takingup,with
thelargestatthetop.Tapa personfor
a megabyte-by-megabytebreakdown
ofthetypesofmediatheyuseto
communicatewithyou.
Deletespace-hoggingchats
(except the best bits)
You don’t have to delete entire chats to
free up storage space. Tap a chat under
‘Storage usage’, then Free Up Space and
tick the stuff you want to clear. For
example, just GIFs and videos or
everything except text. Alternatively,
delete everything except ‘starred’
messages (add a star by long-pressing
a favourite message). Open a chat’s
menu and tap More, ‘Clear chat’. Make
sure that ‘Delete starred messages’ is
unticked and then tap Clear Messages.
Backupandrestore
yourWhatsAppchats
WhatsAppchatsaren’tstoredin your
accountso,if you’reswitchingtoa new
device,you’llneedtoimporta backup
fromGoogleDriveoriCloud.Tosavea
regularautomaticbackup,gotoChats,
‘Chatbackup’in Settings,thendecide
thebackupfrequencyandwhetherto
includevideosandusemobiledata.
Beawarethatchatsareonlyencrypted
in WhatsApp,notafterthey’rebacked
upin thecloud.
Toimporta backup,installWhatsApp
ona newdeviceandfollowtheprompts.
Sadly,youcan’tdothisacrossplatforms
sochatsbackedupfromAndroidcan
onlyberestoredonAndroidandthe
samerestrictionappliestoiOS.Downloada wholechat
asa textfile
WhatsAppletsyouexportentire
messagethreadsasplaintextfiles,
completewithtimestamps.Openthe
chat’s menu and tap More, ‘Export chat’,
then choose email and enter a recipient
(such as yourself), then Send. You’ll seeplenty of other export options,
depending on your devices and apps.
Ours included Bluetooth, messaging
service Telegram and even nearby
devices including our neighbour’s Fire
Stick, which we discreetly ignored!Messagemultiplepeople
withoutusinggroups
WhatsAppgroup-notificationnightmare
season(morecommonlyknownas
Christmas)is almostuponus.Happily,
thereis a waytomessagemultiple
contactsin onegowithouttriggeringa
notificationpile-on:addthemtoa
‘broadcast’– WhatsApp’sversionof
email’sBCC(blindcopy).
OpenthemainmenufromtheChats
tab,tap‘Newbroadcast’,selectyour
contactsandtaptheticktocreateyour
message.Therecipientswon’tseeeach
otherandthey’llonlygetyourmessage
if you’rein theircontacts.
Annoyingly,youcan’tstoppeople
addingyoutoWhatsAppgroups– this
featureis currentlyonlyavailablein
India.Whilewewaitforthenewopt-out,
we suggest muting a group chat until
it’s less active, by selecting ‘Mute
notifications’ in the chat’s menu.WhatsAppsupportsthird-party
extensionsbutthere’snobuilt-inway
toaddthem,sowe’vetrawledapp
storesanddevelopers’sitestoround
upthebest– andthey’reallfree.- Transcriber(Android:bit.ly/
transc488); AudiotoText(iOS:bit.ly/
audiotext488): Automaticallyconvert
WhatsAppvoicemessagestotext. - WhatsAppBusiness(Android,iOS:
whatsapp.com/business): Usetwo
numbersononephone,addchat
labelsandcreateauto-responses. - WikiBot(Android,iOS:bit.ly/
wikibot488): Sendit anywordand
it’llreplywitha Wikipediadefinition. - WAToolkit(Chrome:bit.ly/wat488):
ConfiguretextsizeinWhatsAppWeb
(web.whatsapp.com) andget
IMPROVE WHATSAPP WITH EXTENSIONS
notifications, even when you close
the page.- Hide Media (Chrome: bit.ly/
hidem488): Hide photos and
videos in WhatsApp Web –
useful for slow connections
and privacy from passers-by
Keep this box empty to clear out all (see screenshot, above).
messages except your favourites
Find out whose chats take up most space
- and what data types are responsible
WhatsApp lets you export chats via email- or even to other chat apps
Automatically back up your chats to carry
on where you left off on a new deviceNEXT
ISSUE:^
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