The best WhatsApp tricks that you probably didn't know

From deactivating the read receipt to marking messages as favorites, there are dozens of tricks in the most famous messaging application in the world that are not as obvious as they seem. We tell you all about them and how to use them. If you don't have it yet, these are the steps to install WhatsApp.

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Disable Double Check (read confirmation)

Sometimes we cannot reply immediately once we have read the messages and we do so later. But the famous double check Next to the message sent, it tells our friends that we have read it and yet we are not responding to them.

If we wish, we can prevent the double check from being shown to our interlocutor, but if we do, we will automatically stop knowing if they have read our messages.

NOTE: This only works with personal chats, in group chats the confirmation is always sent.

As: Go to the drop-down menu > Settings > Account > Privacy > Confirm reading

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Know the exact reading time

In addition to being able to know if someone has read a message, you can know what time they did so. WhatsApp has a hidden screen which shows information regarding the time of reception and the time of reading of each of the messages. This only works if the recipient does not have “Confirm Read” checked in their account privacy preferences.

This option also shows who in a group has read and received a message.

As: Go to a chat screen and hold your finger down for a few seconds on one of your messages sent. An information “i” will appear at the top of the menu for Android or in a pop-up menu for iOS. Click to access a screen with details of reception time and time of reading that message.

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How to read messages without marking them as read

If we are not convinced by the option of hiding the reading confirmation of the messages from everyone, it is possible to read the messages without the other person seeing the double check.

With this trick, in addition, the connection time will not be updated nor will it show you “online” while reading the messages.

As: The trick is to put your phone in airplane mode and leave it without an Internet connection right after you have received a message.

When we receive a message, the phone downloads it but until we enter WhatsApp it does not communicate with the servers to indicate that we are “online” and that we have read it to mark it with the double check. Being in airplane mode, and therefore without Internet or access to the servers, we will be able to read them without a trace.

NOTE: When you disconnect airplane mode, the application sends all the movements made during the disconnection to the server, so the interlocutor will receive the WhatsApp double check indicating that the message has been read.

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Hide your profile photo from strangers

WhatsApp groups are a great invention that helps us organize events, surprise parties and work meetings. However, sometimes we are added to a group full of strangers who can have access to our profile picture. Through the photo they access our privacy, they can know if we have children or catch us in a relaxed attitude that is not the image we want to project. In these cases it is best to hide the photo from strangers.

As: Go to the drop-down menu > Settings > Account > Privacy > Profile Photo. There you can decide if everyone can see it, only your contacts or if no one can see it.

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Mute group chats

Group chats can become a real hive and exceed 100 messages a day if not more. If a notification rings on your mobile with each message, it can be a little hell. For the most active groups or those to which we belong by commitment and cannot leave, the best option is silence them.

As: Enter a group chat, click on the group name at the top of the screen, and in the options select “Mute”. You can choose between 1 day, 1 week or a year.

Special tip: You can change the notification sound for each group chat and add the one you like the most to differentiate them. On that same screen select “Notifications”

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Chat icon on mobile screen

When we talk a lot with someone or a group, whether it's mom or boyfriend, it can be interesting to create an icon of direct access to chat on mobile screen. This will be displayed as another application on the mobile screen with the profile photo of that person or group. By clicking, we will enter the chat headlong, without having to search for it in the conversations list. We are sorry for Apple users as this trick only works with Android.

As: In the chat list, press for a few seconds on the chat that we want to create a shortcut icon and when the drop-down menu opens we select “Add shortcut”.

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How to send up to 10 photos at once

If you have sent us photos from a party or we have taken a series of photos on a trip and we want to send them at once instead of one by one, WhatsApp allows you to send up to ten files in one go.

As: Within a chat, click on the clip at the top and select “Photo Gallery”. We look for the directory where the photos we want to share are and instead of selecting one with a quick press, we select the first one by holding our finger for a few seconds. It will be marked and allows us to select up to ten in total.

Another way to do it is to select the first one with a normal press and on the screen that allows you to give it a title before sending it, click on the plus “+” symbol that appears next to the photo thumbnail. This way we will return to the selection screen and we can add 9 more. Just press OK and they will all be sent at once.

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Mark a chat as unread

Sometimes we read a chat and think that we will answer later, but then we forget. To avoid this, it is good advice to mark a chat as “unread” with which a visual mark will appear in the chat list indicating that we have unread messages, although in reality it is our mark to remember that we must answer them.

As: The system is different on iOS and Android but the result is the same. In the list of chats, on iOS you have to slide your finger on the conversation that you want to mark as “unread” and on Android you have to keep your finger on the conversation until a drop-down menu appears. You have to check “Mark as unread” and a green marker will appear next to the chat as if we had received new messages, reminding us that, although we had already read it before, we have to enter to answer.

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How to cancel sending images or videos

If at the time of sending a video or an image we realize that we did not want to send it to that person or that this was not the image we wanted to send, just click on the X cross that appears over the blurred image while it is is sending. This will cancel the shipment and since it will not have reached the server, it will not be delivered incorrectly to its recipient.