4 Useful WhatsApp Tips You Should Know

1. Backup And Restore WhatsApp Chats

WhatsApp makes automatic backups of your chats, but you can also make a manual backup. On iOS, go to: Settings > Chat Settings > Chat Backup, then tap Back Up Now.

On Android, just go into Settings > Chat settings and tap Backup conversations to create a backup. This won’t backup your media, so you’ll need to use a file manager to copy the media folders in/sdcard/WhatsApp/Media.

There’s no way to restore chats directly from WhatsApp, so if you want to restore a backup you’re going to have to uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp. When you start WhatsApp after the reinstall, you should be prompted to restore your most recent backup. Just follow the procedure and your chats should all be back.

2. Change Your WhatsApp Phone Number

If you’ve changed phone numbers but kept the same phone, you don’t need to uninstall and reinstall WhatsApp just to change numbers. There’s a setting within WhatsApp that will let you migrate your WhatsApp account to a different phone number.

Go to Settings > Account > Change number. Enter your old phone number in the top field and then your new phone number in the bottom field. Then press Done. Verify your new phone number, and all your chat history, groups and so on will be migrated to the new number.

3. Hide "Last Seen" Timestamp

By default, WhatsApp shows a "last seen" timestamp, telling other users the last time you were on WhatsApp. Some of you may want to disable this timestamp, for privacy reasons. You can disable this timestamp on both iOS and Android. If you’re an iOS user, you’re in luck, since all you need to do is go into Settings > Chat Settings > Advanced and set Last Seen Timestamp to Off. If you’re an Android user, you won’t have  access to this setting from the app itself. Instead, you’re going to have to rely on a third party app such as Hide WhatsApp Status  . The app disables your WiFi and data connection when you open WhatsApp. Once you exit the app, your WiFi and data connections are reactivated, WhatsApp will sync, and your messages will be sent.

4. Lock Your WhatsApp

Last month I wrote a post on how to lock your WhatsApp. If you missed it,  read it here.