Chat Lords Come Over Here

WhatsApp has a marvelous user base in Nigeria, South Africa, South America, Southeast Asia, and Europe and it is a great way to keep in touch with near and far-away friends.

Apart from casual communication, WhatsApp has become essential in countries such as India, where hospitals are using it to make sure medical professionals show for shifts and to organise heart transplants. Whatsoever you are using WhatsApp for, here are some tips that will help you get the best out of the platform.

Snoops

Do you want to be friendly but not give too much away on WhatsApp? Then protect your privacy by going to Settings > Account > Privacy. There you can change who can see when you were last seen, your profile photo, and status. You can also turn off read receipts, though you will then in turn not be able to see others' read receipts.

Back It Up

To save chats, whether you're sentimental or stocking up on blackmail material, you can go to Settings > Chats> Chat Backup > Back Up Now.

Shine On

Have a message you just do not want to let go of? Star it so that it is easily accessible. Tap and hold the message and the Star icon will appear. To unstar it, do the same. The message is now viewable by going to Settings > Starred Messages.

Lock your Chats

You can password protect WhatsApp but only if you have Android and you are going to need to go through a third party (iOS users cannot lock an app with another app). Google Play has Lock for Whatsapp and a lot of similar apps that can be used to password protect WhatsApp and most other apps.

Carry your Friends Along

WhatsApp does not just operate on your phone. You can communicate when you are at your computer, too. On your computer go to web.whatsapp.com and then on your phone go to Settings > WhatsApp Web. Then scan the QR code on your computer screen from your phone.

Say it Loud

To send out a message to multiple people without them realising they are not the sole recipient, there is a broadcast list feature in WhatsApp. You can only send messages to those who have you in their contacts. To broadcast, go to the Chats > Broadcast Lists and then either select an existing list or create a new one by clicking New List and typing in contact names. When recipients reply, it will be only to you and not the rest of the list.

Group Healing

If you want to constantly be in touch with your friends, then you need a group chat. Go to the Chats tab and select New Group. Name the group, select an image if you'd like for there to be one associated with it, and then tap Next and add participants by either selecting the + and adding them from a list or by typing in each name individually. Select Create when you are done.