WhatsApp update: Here are 5 latest features you can’t miss

At the recent Facebook’s annual developers conference F8, the company announced that WhatsApp will soon get some new features. These include some of the Facebook for Business app. WhatsApp has also responded to latest European General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) law by letting users know what personal data it collects from users. Here are the five latest WhatsApp features you can’t miss.

*WhatsApp group video calling

WhatsApp group video calling has reached select users on Android and iOS and is expected to be available to general public soon. This feature can be seen during a one-to-one video calling on WhatsApp. During the call, a small icon is visible on the top right corner of the screen from where users can add more people in the particular call.

*Request account info report

Through this feature, users can create a report of their WhatsApp account information and settings, which can be accessed or ported to another app. This report, however, doesn’t include personal messages. Once you open the report you will find your information such as your phone number, previous IP connection, device type, device manufacturer, profile picture, all your contacts’ numbers, groups names that you are part of and the contacts you have blocked.

*Restrict group feature

WhatsApp is reportedly rolling out a "Restrict Group" feature for its iOS, Android and Windows Phone apps. This feature will only allow WhatsApp group admins to send messages in the group. While all group members will be able to see these messages, only admins will be allowed to respond to these texts. Other group members can only read them. The ‘Restrict Group’ feature will also prevent non-admin participants from sending photographs, videos, GIFs, documents or voice messages if the group admin or admins doesn’t allow them.

*Share Facebook posts to WhatsApp

Facebook is reportedly testing a new feature for mobile app which could enable Facebook’s content to be shared on WhatsApp. While there is no official confirmation from Facebook or WhatsApp on the same, several beta users claimed to have received this feature on their Facebook app.

So, how will this feature work? Once you tap on the ‘Share’ button on the Facebook app, you will be given three options- ‘Share Now’, ‘Write Post’ and ‘Send in WhatsApp’. If you opt for a particular content on Facebook like an image or video to be ‘Send in WhatsApp’, you just need to select this option from the ‘Share’ menu and a link will be generated. This link can be shared to any WhatsApp contact.

*Chat filters

For the Android business app, WhatsApp will reportedly add ‘Chat filters’ that will help admins of WhatsApp Business accounts search messages quickly. The ‘Chat filters’ options will group users in unread chats, groups and broadcast categories. The admin will just have to tap on the search bar to access these filters. This is very similar to the ‘action button’ on Instagram which helps businesses to bring chats of priority customers directly to the inbox. With this feature on WhatsApp, businesses can expect to have better and timely communication with their priority and potential customers to provide better service.

Did you know you can pin your important chats on the top in WhatsApp? Or that you can read WhatsApp message without informing the sender? Like these, there are several other nifty features/tricks/tips that can change the way you use the world's most popular instant messaging app, WhatsApp. Here's a look at 15 such tips and tricks that you must know about.

Read WhatsApp message without informing the sender

Do you know that there is trick in WhatsApp which will enable you to read a message without informing the sender? All you need to do is scroll down to the notification plan and enable the flight mode on the smartphone. Once done, just open the WhatsApp chat and read the message. After reading the message just make sure that you close the app from the multi window so, that it don't run in the background and sync you when online. After the complete process just remove the phone from flight mode and Voila! you have read the message without informing the sender.

Share your live location

After rolling our live location sharing on Messenger, Facebook rolled out the feature on WhatsApp too. Once you share your live location with someone, they would be able to track wherever you go for the time period you select. The three time frames that can be selected are -- 15 minutes, 1 hour and 8 hours. It is very simple to share one’s live location with their friends. Just open WhatsApp, tap on the 'Attachment' icon on the typing space bar and select ‘Location.’ Once you do this, you’ll get two options – ‘Share live location,’ and ‘Send your current location.’ Tap on the former option and select the time frame.

'Unsend' messages

Did you just send a wrong message to the wrong person on WhatsApp? You needn’t panic. There is still a way to delete it. Just select the message press ‘Delete’ on the top bar which has other options like reply, mark star, copy, forward and information. Once you press ‘Delete,’ you’ll get two options – ‘Delete for me’ and ‘Delete for everyone’. Select the second one so that the recipient cannot read the message that you mistakenly sent them. However, you only get seven minutes to delete the message after you have sent it.

Pin your chats

There are times when you want your most important chats on the top of your conversation list. Scrolling down through scores of messages to find that chat can be tedious. Not anymore. In a recent update, WhatsApp added this function. To pin a contact to the top of the list, you have to long press on the chat from that person and then press the ‘pin icon’ that appears right next to delete, mute and archive icons on the top of the page. As of now, only three contacts can be pinned to place them on top of the conversation list.

Create GIFs

WhatsApp has been supporting GIFS for a while now. But did you know that you can even create GIFS within WhatsApp and send it to your friends? However, we should point out that you can only create GIFS using videos that are saved on your smartphone. Open the WhatsApp chat of the contact whom you want to send the GIF to. Click on the attach icon > Select Gallery > Go to videos. Select the video you wish to create in a GIF from. As soon as you do this, it’ll open up in the video editing section of WhatsApp. Here, you have to adjust the length of the video to 6 seconds or less, as longer GIFS are not supported by WhatsApp. Once the video length is less than 6 seconds, the option of converting it to a GIF will appear as a slider on top right. Now all you need to do is take the slider towards GIF, and you’re set.

Editing images

When we say that you can edit images on WhatsApp before sending them, we are not talking about Snapchat filters. What you can do here is doodle on pictures, and add text and emoticons on them before sending. Select attach > Go to gallery > Select the image you wish to share. Once you do this, the image will open in WhatsApp’s photo editor. On top right, you’ll see options of adding text, emoticons and doodle. You can resize and change colours of all three once you add them to your image.

Format text

There’s a good chance you’re already aware of this feature but have never used it. Somehow, changing formats of text on WhatsApp never really caught on. We’ll tell you again how to format text on WhatsApp as it is a handy feature to use. You can bold text on WhatsApp by starting it and following it with an asterisk ‘*’. Similarly, for italics, make sure the text is preceded and followed by an underscore sign ‘_’. You can also make your text appear struck off with Strikethrough. For that precede and follow it with tilde ‘~’.

Chat in different languages

English isn’t the only language in which you can communicate on WhatsApp. You would be glad to know that WhatsApp supports a number of Indian regional languages. If you ever want to type in a different language, open WhatsApp > Go to Settings > Select Chats > Click on App Language. You can then pick the language you wish to type in.

Add conversation shortcuts

We all have a favourite friend with we are constantly yapping on WhatsApp. Rather than opening WhatsApp and going to their chat each time you want to talk to them, you can add a conversation shortcut on your home screen. Just long press on the conversation, click on three dot on top of the page and click ‘Add chat shortcut'.

Customize notifications

Did you know WhatsApp can send you customized notifications for certain contacts? It’s very simple to enable them. Open the contact you wish to customize notifications for, click on the top bar, and select ‘Custom Notifications'.

Suicide hotline numbers

Very few people are aware of this feature, but WhatsApp actually has suicide hotline numbers. Just go to Settings > Help > FAQ > Security and Privacy. The second last option in the list that’ll drop down is ‘Global Suicide Hotline Resources.’ The security and privacy section may also answer other queries you have about WhatsApp.

Find out when your message has been read

With the option of turning read receipts and last seen off, it is hard to know if someone hasn’t read your message or they are simply ignoring you. WhatsApp, however, has a solution for this. Just long press on the message you have sent and then select information icon ‘i’ on the top bar. You’ll get to know if your message has been read or not. However, you can only know the exact time of your message being read if the person does not have read receipts and last seen off.

Turn off read receipts

Chances are you already know about this one. But we’ll mention it for those who don’t know about this feature. You can turn off read receipts on WhatsApp by going to Settings > Selecting Account > Clicking on Privacy and then deselecting Read receipts.

Turn off last seen

Do you feel that people getting to know when you last opened your WhatsApp is intrusive? You’ll be happy to know that WhatsApp lets you change that. Just go to Settings > Select Account > Click on Privacy > Choose Last Seen and then select the most suitable option.

Switch off media auto-download

Almost on a daily basis you perhaps receive a multitude of photos and videos on WhatsApp -- half of them are actually not needed. If you are a part of any pesky Groups on WhatsApp, chances are you’ll be getting a lot of “Good Morning, have a nice day” type of pictures and videos on a regular basis. You can manage what gets downloaded automatically and what doesn’t. Go to Settings > Select Data usage and choose the most