We left off with the last article, in which I told you about another 4 of the 20 promised tricks, so today we get to 12. Maybe you didn't know about their existence or maybe you haven't found one that's useful for your use of the messaging app, but today I'm sure someone will capture your interest, but in that case, keep following us because I promised you 20 and so more articles about them will follow.
Topics of this article:
HIDDEN AND PROTECTED CONVERSATIONS
Sometimes our phone ends up in the hands of friends and/or relatives with a consequent violation of privacy, because we know that wanting to stick your nose into other people's business is too strong, otherwise it would be inexplicable why programs like BIG BROTHER are still standing after decades of broadcasting. So if we want to protect the most important chats on WhatsApp from prying eyes, we must select the chat (not enter it) that we want to protect and click on the 3 dots at the top left to open the menu and then select the ACTIVATE PADLOCK item. From the pop up that opens now you will have to select "continue". Now you will have to confirm the operation with the fingerprint or PIN that you use to lock/unlock the phone. The chats that you have "padlocked" will be hidden from the chat list but at the top of the list you will find the CHAT WITH PADLOCK item. Only after selecting this item and unlocking with PIN, fingerprint or Face ID will you be able to read the content. To remove the padlock you simply have to repeat the procedure, this time selecting the REMOVE PADLOCK option.
CREATE A CUSTOM GROUP
We often find ourselves sending the same message to multiple people or needing to give information for an event or something else. In WhatsApp, the ability to create a personal group, made up only of the people you want to belong to that group, can be useful. To do this, simply click on the + symbol that appears on the chat overview page, select the NEW GROUP item, then select the members you want to belong to it and give the group a name. You can also customize the profile photo, enable ephemeral messages and change the group settings, such as blocking members from sending messages (useful if the group is purely informational), adding new members or changing the settings so that no one does harm. You can also decide whether to approve the registration of new members by the group administrators. Now you have your own personal group and avoid sending the message you wanted to share with multiple people one by one.
CLEANING…NOT JUST IN SPRING
The beauty of the WhatsApp messaging app is the ability to receive photos, videos, audio, documents and much more, but all these files will eventually saturate the memory of our smartphone. There is an option that will allow you to do a good cleaning, simply by entering the WhatsApp settings (click on the 3 dots at the top right and then Settings), scroll down the menu to the STORAGE AND DATA item and then tap on MANAGE SPACE. Now we will be shown a series of statistics on the memory occupied with the relative space occupied in memory by the individual chats, but also a list of received files that take up the most space. Now you can, for example, select a chat to see the files contained in it. At this point you just need to select the files you want to delete or choose the SELECT ALL item to delete them all together. Now you will click on the trash icon that appears at the top right and you will have freed up precious memory to use for other things on your smartphone.
MIND YOUR OWN BUSINESS
Speaking of privacy, how many times have you heard: "but why don't you reply to messages, and yet you're online"? Well in WhatsApp we can also smooth out these details, which often make the difference and avoid furious arguments. In fact, if you go into Settings and then choose the PRIVACY item, you can choose who can see the last access and if you are online, customizing the choice between everyone, only your contacts, no one or your contacts except those you select. The same privacy settings can also be extended to the profile image, info, links and status.
