Top 7 New WhatsApp Tips & Tricks on Android in 2019

DID YOU KNOW

WhatsApp is one of the most downloaded Android apps.

1. READ MESSAGES WITHOUT GOING ONLINE OR CHANGING LAST SEEN

We have all been in a situation where we wanted to read WhatsApp messages without opening the WhatsApp app. In other words, reading messages without changing our last seen or going online.

Well, there's a simple way of doing so. And no, we are not talking about the Airplane mode trick. All you need to do is use the WhatsApp widget on Android. Whenever you get a new message, it will be shown in the widget. You can then check messages without changing the last seen.To do so, long-tap any empty space on your phone’s home screen and tap Widgets. Scroll down and look for WhatsApp.Hold the widget that has messages in it and drag it to your home screen. If you have any new messages, those will be shown in the widget.

You can add or remove this widget any time. It's not necessary that you should have added this widget before you receive a new message. Even after you receive a message, you can create the widget to read messages. 

2. SEND MESSAGES WITHOUT CHANGING YOUR LAST SEEN

Similarly, using another trick you can also send messages without opening WhatsApp. Meaning, your WhatsApp last seen will not change and your friends won’t be able to see your online status.

To do so, you need the help of Google Assistant. First, you need to set up Google Assistant, in case you haven’t yet. Then, open Google Assistant by holding the Home button of your Android device.

Tell the Assistant the following command: "Send a WhatsApp message to", followed by the contact name. For instance, if I have to send a WhatsApp message to my friend Trump, I will say the command, "Send a WhatsApp message to Trump.

"The Assistant will then ask you to dictate the message. Finally, when you have spoken the full text, the Assistant will confirm before sending the message. Sending messages by this method will not change your last seen. By the way, while you are exploring Google Assistant, 

3. SEND APKS, ZIP FILES

Last year, WhatsApp introduced the functionality to share all types of files. You can send APK, ZIP, RAR or any other file type through WhatsApp now.

To do so, open the WhatsApp chat thread and tap the Attachment icon. Tap on Document from the list of the options. Select your file and send it.

Thanks to this feature, now you can also send uncompressed photos and videos. For the unaware, when you send photos and videos by selecting Gallery in the WhatsApp attachment option, it reduces the size of media affecting its quality. So, to send a file in its original size, use the Document attachment option as mentioned above.

4. CHECK THE NAME OF UNKNOWN NUMBERS

Many times, we receive messages from unknown numbers on WhatsApp. While the Truecaller app could help in identifying the person, you can use the built-in feature of WhatsApp to view the name of an unknown number in case you don’t use Truecaller.To do so, open the chat thread of the unknown number and tap the top bar where the number is present. On the next screen, you will see the senders name on the right side of the phone number in the top section. The name will be shown only fornumbers that are not in your contact list numbers that are not in your contact list

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5. CHANGE YOUR WHATSAPP NAME

To change your WhatsApp name, tap the three-dot icon in the top-right corner of WhatsApp and select Settings from the menu.Then tap the first option and enter your new name in the Name section. WhatsApp clearly mentions that this is not your username or pin, but it’s simply a name to identify you

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6. LISTEN TO VOICE RECORDINGS PRIVATELY

WhatsApp plays voice recordings on speaker, by default. It's fine when you're alone, but might not be a good idea when you've got people around (especially friends who love being nasty).

WhatsApp knows this and hence it has given us a hidden feature to listen to voice recordings via the microphone of our device.

7. HIDE CHATS

While WhatsApp doesn’t have a built-in mechanism to lock the app or even hide chats with a password, you can use the Archive chats feature to hide your chats. This feature puts all the chats that you archive under the Archive list, present at the bottom of WhatsApp.

This might be a good way to hide your chats from prying eyes. However, keep these two things in mind while hiding your chats using this method. 

First, if you receive a new message in the archived chat thread, it will automatically come out of the Archive list and will be visible like normal chats. Second, Archive chat is just a simple way to hide chats and not the best one.

To hide a chat, hold the chat thread that you want to archive and tap the Archive icon in the top bar. You will get a pop-up at the bottom saying Chat archived

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