Almost everyone has WhatsApp on their phone, but most people only use a small part of what it can do. At Asandada24, we use WhatsApp every single day for work and personal chats, and over time we have picked up a long list of small features that genuinely save time. This guide rounds up the most useful ones, explained in plain language with clear steps.
Format Your Messages Without Extra Apps
You do not need any special keyboard or app to make your WhatsApp messages stand out. The app has built-in text formatting that works on both Android and iPhone.
Bold, Italic, and Strikethrough
To make text bold, put an asterisk on both sides, like this: `*hello*`. For *italic*, use underscores: `_hello_`. For strikethrough, use tildes: `~hello~`. You can even combine them, for example `*_hello_*` gives you bold italic text.
There is also a monospace option. Put three backticks on each side of the text and it appears in a fixed-width font, which is handy when you are sharing code snippets or want something to look different.
Reply to a Specific Message
In a busy group chat, it is easy to lose track of who is answering what. Long-press any message (or swipe right on iPhone) and tap Reply. Your answer will appear attached to the original message, so everyone knows exactly what you are responding to. This one feature alone makes group chats far less confusing.
Star Important Messages
When someone sends you an address, a phone number, or any detail you will need later, long-press the message and tap the star icon. Later, go to the chat info screen and open Starred Messages to find everything you saved. It is like a small bookmark system built right into your chats.
Take Control of Your Privacy
WhatsApp gives you solid privacy controls, but many of them are turned off or set to the widest audience by default. Spending five minutes here is worth it.
Choose Who Sees Your Info
Open Settings, then Privacy. You will find separate controls for your Last Seen and Online status, Profile Photo, About text, and Status updates. For each one, you can pick Everyone, My Contacts, My Contacts Except, or Nobody.
Asandada24 recommends setting your Profile Photo to My Contacts at minimum. There is no good reason to let strangers see your picture. The same goes for your About text if it contains personal details. WhatsApp documents every privacy control on faq.whatsapp.com, which is worth bookmarking since the menus shift slightly with each app update.
Turn On Two-Step Verification
This is the single most important security setting in WhatsApp. Go to Settings, then Account, then Two-step verification, and turn it on. You will create a six-digit PIN that WhatsApp asks for whenever your number is registered on a new device.
This PIN stops someone from taking over your account even if they somehow get hold of your SIM or verification SMS. If you want to understand why this kind of protection matters beyond WhatsApp, read our guide on what two-factor authentication is and why it is important.
Silence Unknown Callers
Spam calls on WhatsApp have become a real nuisance. Under Settings, then Privacy, then Calls, turn on Silence Unknown Callers. Calls from numbers not in your contacts will not ring your phone anymore. You will still see them in your call log, so you miss nothing important.
Manage Storage Before It Manages You
WhatsApp can quietly eat up gigabytes of phone storage with photos, videos, and voice notes you never asked to keep. A little management goes a long way.
Stop Auto-Downloading Everything
By default, WhatsApp downloads every photo and video sent to you. Open Settings, then Storage and Data, then Media Auto-Download. Turn it off for mobile data at least, and consider turning it off for Wi-Fi too. You can still tap any individual photo to download it when you actually want it.
This one change is often enough to fix a full phone. For a deeper cleanup, check our guide on how to free up storage space on an Android phone.
See Which Chats Use the Most Space
Go to Settings, then Storage and Data, then Manage Storage. WhatsApp shows you exactly how much space each chat is using, with the biggest ones at the top. In our testing at Asandada24, one family group with two years of videos was using over 8 GB alone. You can open a chat and delete just the large files while keeping the text messages. It is a fast way to reclaim space without losing your conversations.
Send Photos in Full Quality
Tired of WhatsApp compressing your photos into blurry versions? When you attach a photo, look for the HD button at the top of the screen before sending. Tap it and choose HD quality. The file will be larger, but it keeps far more detail. This Asandada24 guide would not be complete without this one, because almost nobody knows the button exists.
Get More Out of Group Chats
Group chats have their own set of tricks that most people never discover.
Mention Someone Directly
Type the @ symbol in a group and pick a name from the list. That person gets a special notification even if they muted the group. Use it sparingly and only when you genuinely need their attention.
Use Polls to Make Decisions
Instead of twenty messages arguing about where to eat, tap the attach button in a group and choose Poll. Type your question, add the options, and let people vote. It works for planning trips, picking dates, or settling any friendly debate.
Pin Important Chats to the Top
If you have chats you open constantly, long-press them on the chat list and tap Pin. They stay fixed at the top no matter how many new messages arrive in other chats. You can pin up to three chats, which is usually enough for family, work, and your best friend.
Back Up Before You Need It
Everything above is useful, but none of it matters if you lose your phone and your chats with it. WhatsApp can back up your messages and media to Google Drive on Android or iCloud on iPhone automatically.
Open Settings, then Chats, then Chat Backup, and set it to back up daily or weekly. Make sure the backup includes videos if those matter to you. We wrote a full walkthrough in how to back up WhatsApp messages and media, and it is worth reading once so you never have to panic about a lost phone.
The same thinking applies when you switch phones. WhatsApp has a built-in chat transfer tool that moves everything directly from your old phone to your new one. Our step-by-step article on how to transfer WhatsApp chats to a new phone covers the exact steps for Android and iPhone.
A Few More Small Wins
Search inside a single chat. Open any chat, tap the contact or group name, then tap Search. You can find old messages without scrolling for ten minutes.
Send a message to yourself. Start a chat with your own number (search your own name in new chat). It works as a quick notepad for links, reminders, and files you want on both your phone and computer.
Use WhatsApp on your computer. Open web.whatsapp.com on your laptop and scan the QR code from the Linked Devices section in your phone’s WhatsApp settings. Typing long messages on a real keyboard is so much easier. For official help with linked devices, WhatsApp’s own support pages at whatsapp.com cover the latest steps.
Disappearing messages. For chats where you do not want a permanent record, turn on disappearing messages in the chat settings. You can set them to vanish after 24 hours, 7 days, or 90 days. Handy for one-time codes and temporary plans.
Lock the app. On both Android and iPhone, you can require your fingerprint or face to open WhatsApp. Find it under Settings, then Privacy, then Fingerprint Lock or Screen Lock. If someone borrows your phone, your chats stay private. We covered this in depth when the Asandada24 team reviewed everyday privacy habits, and it remains one of the simplest wins available.
FAQ
Do WhatsApp tips work the same on Android and iPhone?
Almost all of them do. A few menu names and button placements differ slightly between the two, but the features themselves, like starred messages, disappearing messages, and chat backup, exist on both. When something is platform-specific, we say so in this Asandada24 guide.
Will turning off media auto-download delete my old photos?
No. It only stops new incoming media from downloading automatically. Everything already saved on your phone stays exactly where it is.
Is two-step verification really necessary?
Yes. SIM-swap scams are real, and WhatsApp accounts get hijacked every day. The six-digit PIN takes thirty seconds to set up and blocks the most common takeover method. There is no downside to turning it on.
Can I use these tricks on WhatsApp Business too?
Mostly yes. WhatsApp Business shares the same core features as regular WhatsApp, so formatting, starred messages, disappearing messages, and backups all work the same way.