With an estimated 800 million users currently active on WhatsApp, this new application has virtually eclipsed SMS in sending and receiving messages. But not everybody knows about the treasures and tricks of WhatsApp; read on to discover how you can unlock the magic of this application:

1) Use WhatsApp on the web

WhatsApp recently started providing a web interface for its popular messaging client supported via almost all browsers: Chrome, Firefox or Opera. Android, Windows Phone 8.1, and Blackberry OS. The most notable omission from this list is iOS, in part because of its inherent limitations.

For the others, point your browser to https://web.whatsapp.com, and follow the instructions as shown in screenshot below to enable WhatsApp on the web:

2) Email your WhatsApp messages

After an intense WhatsApp conversation with a group of friends, there might be messages that you want to share a friend not using WhatsApp. Or you might want to save a conversation in your archives in case your phone gets lost or stolen.

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On Android, tap the menu button More Email Chat from within a conversation. And for iOS, inside a conversation, click on the top bar and then choose email to open the email client as shown below:

3) Muting group chats

One of the most popular features on WhatsApp is group chat. It is fun mostly, but the persistent buzzing of notifications from group chat messages can be irritating. Thankfully, there is an option available on Android to mute conversation; it can be accessed by clicking on the menu button.For iOS, it is accessible by tapping on the top bar and choosing mute.

4) Hide timestamps, read receipts

Some people prefer to keep their last seen status, read receipts status hidden for privacy purposes. You can disable your last seen status on Android by choosing Account Privacy within the app; for iOS, click on Settings Account Privacy to access all the settings. It is possible to disable all the statuses and prevent your profile photo from being viewed.

5) Archiving your chats

Archiving your chats on WhatsApp hides the conversation from view. You can enable archiving of individual, group chats and all conversations on a whole. Access Settings Scroll down and click Archive All Chats.

Images: Lifehacker, itunexextractor

Published in Dawn, Sunday Magazine June 14th, 2015

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